086 - Deliver us

086 - Deliver us
Originally uploaded by gingerpig2000

This is one of the images from my current exhibition in the city hall of Lublin, which shows a range of different images of the city and its surroundings. It was an interesting experience, with every visitor having a different reaction to the images. It was satisfying to see people linger over the images, even more so when they returned later with a friend.

It was also an opportunity to meet friends I d o not see very often, which I expected, but also many of them had not seen each other for a long time, which I hadn't expected. The event became larger than a mere exhibition through this.

One friend started to ask what camera I used, and I could see the discussion go off to talk about camera technique, not an area in which I have much interest because I like time to get the image to say what I want it too rather than attempting to control the living environment into giving what I want. Anyway, since he is a visitor to Lublin and believes that a photo of a place should give an attractive and clear image of that place, he had problems understanding my images. he even suggested that I should put notes under the images stating where the pictures were taken. This has given me food for thought and is part of the interest in showing other people my work.

Imagine that we decided to visit Paris. It is highly likely that while we are there we would take some pictures of the Eiffel tower, even of ourselves in front of it. This type of image is a record, for our own pleasure or even to encourage others to visit. However, Parisians are likely to have seen hundreds or thousands of such images, and even have seen the tower in all seasons. So if one were going to photograph the tower for an exhibition in Paris for Parisians creating an image of a type they were already familiar is hardly going to satisfy many people, we would have to do something different. We need to surprise them, because they already have a much stronger bond with the subject, one that may barely exist with the visitor.

Audiences do differ, and it is something that we need to cater for. Imagine taking a book of accounts and showing them to an accountant, and then showing them to the average person on the street. There expectations of different groups of people will vary, depending partly on their familiarity with the subject, their level of interest and expertise.

The exhibition location was hard as there was not the good lighting you would expect in a gallery, and many of the pictures were on the wall of a staircase with the sun shining in from large side windows. It made the exhibition a little like some kind of installation.

That, and looking how the words of this are white-ish and running over the border, I would like to try creating image an image with an apparent reflection on it, as if from a window, partially obscuring the image. Again, it would be a form of strong contrast.

Anyway, I was pleased with this image, the almost poster quality of it.