I am looking to host my first Photo Exhibition and need some advice with regards to pretty much everything. The local newspaper has agreed to give me some coverage which is what prompted the decision in the first place and now I need to make it all happen. I see this as a great opportunity to start building a rep for myself but its a big task and I need some HELP!
Consider doing something different in terms of presentation, location, etc. A couple of years ago an artist for whom my wife does fine art printing had a show of her Antarctica images in a parking garage in downtown Atlanta in the winter. The show was at night and the images were backlit, which made for a dramatic presentation. One of the local media outlets called it the best art show that year.
Framing gets pretty spendy so if you can borrow them that might really help with your production costs. Frames may not be required however. Some ideas:
Large prints can be mounted on a substrate such as Dibond or Plexiglas. For plex, they can do a face mount (front of print is glued to the plex with a transparent adhesive). There are mounting systems that permit hanging without frames, the prints stand off the wall a half inch or so. Very nice looking.
I don't think there's much fine art photo work being mounted on canvas but I think it's popular in the hotel market (commercial applications). Digital output to traditional photographic paper is more common than inkjet ("giclee"), but you see both used for fine art.
If you are presenting smaller images consider placing small prints in oversize mats and framed in nice neutral frames. A 4x5" print looks very nice in a 16x20 frame.
Give yourself plenty of lead time. It's best if your lab does the mounting due to the risk of damage. Where color and density is critical the lab should be able to FedEx tests to you for approval if they're not local.
Hi, Jamie. I second Jim's thoughts on framing being expensive and that driving you to perhaps consider other alternatives. I had a show about a year ago to the date at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis (if interested you can see the images here: http://www.deepgreenphotography.com/...it-in-the-usa/).
Along with the exhibit manager, we decided to mount luster paper prints directly on gatorboard and just let the images stand on their own. A light clear coat over the images was all they had. The show got really good reviews, and the exhibit manager was really happy with the look and the cost savings. He liked it so much that he was going to use this display type for future photographic exhibits.
This said, if you are planning on selling the framed prints directly from the show, then you might make some different decisions.
While I do agree that creative presentation can be a great idea, I think that as long as you have interesting images and a diversity of styles in your exhibit collection, you'll be good to go. I would choose images that don't all look similar as I think you'll find that people respond well when each image is something different than the last.
Hosting a Photo Exhibition
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