Averylongexposure's Blog

National Open Art Exhibition 2011

averylongexposure — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:49:46 +0000

Last night I attended the Artist’s Preview of this years National Open Art Exhibition at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, West Sussex. It is a really nice exhibition of some terrific work. The space at the Minerva Theatre is great and well worth a visit. I feel really privileged to have a piece of work hanging alongside work made by some very well established artists. The image from the ‘Unstill Life’ series has done me proud this year.

It really does show the value of entering competitions to get work seen by some very eminent judges. It is also a great way of marketing yourself and your work. The picture didn’t win any of the £40,000 worth of prizes but that isn’t the point. It does mean that I have the impetus to carry on and make new work and test it through competition entry next year.

A gallery of the selected works shown at the exhibition is online at http://www.thenationalopenartcompetition.com/gallery.php

Artist's Preview at the National Open Art Exhibition 09 December 2011

The Castaways Project

averylongexposure — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 20:59:58 +0000

The Castaways project has now become a blog

http://thecastawaysproject.wordpress.com

I will be gradually adding all of the images from 89 glass negatives from the 1920s made by a photographer from the Hay-on-Wye area on the Wales / England border.

‘Castaways’ Project

averylongexposure — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 20:56:19 +0000

Using a blog as a record of my research is basically not working. I just cannot devote the time to it so I am resorting to a handwritten journal

What i have been doing is working on a project around a batch of 89 old glass negatives that I acquired earlier this year. They are from the 1920′s by the same photographer. Many of them are in little brown envelopes that have little bits of information written on them about the sitters and/or locations. It would appear that the photographer was from Hay (now Hay-on-Wye) in Powys, just over the Welsh border. Some of them are lovely portraits that I have been printing in the darkroom. The scans of three of them here do not do them justice at all. Anyway I have been researching the identities of some of the sitters, histories etc and will be visiting Hay very soon to make some photographs. In the meantime I have been experimenting with some reenactments.

Miss Williams // Nikki as Miss Williams

Miss Williams // Rachael as Miss Williams

Mary // Steph as Mary

Ultimately it would be good to find a home for these records of a community.

Work selected for the National Open Art Exhibition 2011

averylongexposure — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:01:58 +0000

'24 March 2011 - 04 April 2011' from 'Unstill Life' series

I am really pleased and excited that I can announce that once again this image has been selected, this time for the National Open Art Exhibition 2011. The selection process goes through two rounds of judging by an esteemed panel of judges including Gavin Turk (Chairman), Catherine Lampert, Lisa Wright and Francis Hodgson. The exhibition takes place between the 10th and 29th December 2011 at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester with an Artist’s Preview on the evening of 9 December.

The series is also featured in the Silvershotz Folios 2011 edition that has just been published and will be appearing on sale in various countries around the world.

Installation Pics at the London Group Open

averylongexposure — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:12:12 +0000

The London Group Open Exhibition (Part 2) opened on the 1st November. The exhibition is showing work by members of the London Group alongside the successful Open submissions. The resulting show is a terrific eclectic mix of work and well worth a visit to the Cello Factory in Cornwall Road, Waterloo, London.

Overlooking the gallery

My image from the 'Unstill Life' series

Time, photography and Futurism

averylongexposure — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:53:18 +0000

The Futurist Painter Giacomo Balla, 1912, Anton Giulio Bragaglia

Photodynamic Portrait of a Woman, ca. 1924, Arturo Bragaglia

The Italian Futurists were obsessed with showing natural motion in photographs and were opposed to the frozen images depicting motion made by people such as Eadweard Muybridge. They wanted to show the energy of movement.

Showing how much time and motion could be captured in a singular image was certainly a goal of the ‘Unstill Life‘ series that I began making in 2010.

Initial Research for Experimental Practices

averylongexposure — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:29:57 +0000

When we start to think about photography the 3 most important factors are LIGHT, TIME and a SUBSTRATE that will react to light and make an image. Experiments are how we came to photography. Artists had used the camera obscura to assist in making initial sketches accurately and realistic perspective. Science was used to fix the image. The great experimenters, Niépce, Daguerre and Talbot brought photography to the world and so it is appropriate perhaps to simply consider TIME and LIGHT for the Experimental Practices project.

Initial Word Map

60 Seconds of Light (1970) John Hilliard

Describing a Trajectory – Camera as a Projectile (1971), John Hilliard

Hilliard is constantly challenging the conventions of photography and testing the medium itself.

Light Rays through a Prism, Cambridge c.1958, Berenice Abbott

Abbott was interested in the relationship of science and photography and used the medium as a means to better explain scientific principles whilst editor of Science Illustrated.

Getting the introductions out of the way on the MFA

averylongexposure — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:21:17 +0000

Back at university at getting back into the flow of things. Inductions and introductions to a place I am already familiar with.

There are two units in the first semester and it will be good to get my teeth into these. Experimental Practices and Contextual Perspectives. The key element for both units will, of course, be research and developing a sound methodological approach. Experimental Practices in particular has an expectation that ‘you will push the medium of photography to break some of the conventions you have grown used to working with‘.

To break conventions you have to understand what they are in the first place. So, first question is ‘what are they?’. My first thought about this is to look again at the work of John Hilliard. This image for example looks at the interpretation of an image as a result of framing. What is in the image and what is left outside the frame.

'Cause of Death' 1974

More to follow.

London Group Open 2011

averylongexposure — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:58:41 +0000

I was really excited today to get an email from the organisers of the London Group Open. An image from the ‘Unstill Life’ series has been selected for the exhibition at The Cello Factory, Waterloo, London, SE1. The exhibition is in 2 parts and I am exhibiting between 01 November – 10 November 2011.

The exhibition is held every two years and it gives an opportunity for non-members of the Group to exhibit work alongside currents members.

The selection of works has been made by two independent experts, William Feaver, writer, artist and art critic and Jenni Lomax OBE, Director of Camden Arts Centre.

The selected image is ’24 March 2011 – 04 April 2011′ and can viewed at my website or Saatchi Online

http://www.thelondongroup.com/

‘Unstill Life’ series selected for Silvershotz Folio 2011

averylongexposure — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:56:36 +0000

Images from the ‘Unstill Life’ series have just been selected for the Silvershotz Folio 2011. Silvershotz is an International Journal of Contemporary Photography based in Australia and the UK and produce a high quality coffee-table style journal.

To see more of the series go to www.chrisspackman.co.uk