Wednesday 16 October 2013

Post Unseen & beyond...


Our beauteous stand at Unseen with 


Well back in Blighty & a wonderful new show to boot. 

Deborah Baker's show opened to much fanfare last week, if you haven't had time to visit please drop in to see it. Her talk next week (Tues 22 Oct 18.30 - 20.00) is not to be missed, and another Salon session too (only one for this show I'm afraid folks) see all the details here.  

The audience begins young these days

Her talk will include an exclusive glimpse into the development of both her photographs in conjunction with the creation of her stunning woodland garden. Places are filling fast so book your place to avoid disappointment on the night. Doors close at 18.20 so don't be late!

So Unseen Photo Fair, what a great week. After lectures the week before at Foam Museum on collecting photography I was happy to bump into most if not all of the attendee's at the fair. This was a wonderful way to feel right at home. My assistants Emily & Katherine were invaluable & kept me going. Katherine will be blogging about the most amazing experience I had at the fair, namely having 2 tintype portraits done by the wonderful people at the Tintype Studio - so I won't say too much here, keep an eye here for her post!


For the time being here is a great video of one of mine developing! It was so exciting & really interesting as it is a mirror image, making me think about doing a self portrait as I haven't for many years - over a decade in fact. The image was easier for me to look at because of this, but odd for other people...

Here I come...ready or not

Then there was also the JR fun after a wonderful meal with fellow gallery directors & collectors. I had seen a similar setup in Arles but had no time to partake, so I seized upon the opportunity. Several friends did as well. 

As you can see I was quite pleased about it


Sadly Katherine's pic was scuffed by the time I had chance to see it, but her 'blue steel' look is superb!


Then I spotted us on the cover of a Dutch newspaper! 


Here is the floor plastered with our mugs. 



Now another wonderful exhibit that is not to be missed in Amsterdam is at the Stadsarchief Amsterdam which is on till 5 Jan 2014. The building is amongst my favourite in the city, with it's wonderful art deco facade. I shall be reviewing the book that accompanies it also. It was a wonderful surprise to come across it & one of the best shows I have seen in a long time. You can also choose the cover of your catalogue here


A.Jager 
c. 1866

An exhibit on the ground floor of stereo images, fascinating. I have a stereo camera myself & really enjoy seeing the results, stepping back into a place via the 3D image. These pictures although taken long ago showed how little has changed in this wondrous city.


 Going through 40,000 glass negatives - to find this selection - the curator has shown dedication beyond all imaginings with a remarkable show of works by Jacob Merkelbach's studio.


One of the studio's specialities was portraits for actors to display their talents. Here we can see one actor with a whole plethora of 'looks' with cleverly styled hair & makeup which allowed her to transform from one character to another. 


Examples of the films that the actors were in placed underneath the photos really is a great way to see a moving image as well as a still one.  


Again, here is the transformation from a black & white photo to a theatre poster. 


Some of the photo's were just plain stylish...


Curator & Assistant Conservator


Then the building itself with the vault below is fantastic. 





Some of them have also been used as small gallery spaces.


Needless to say I had a marvellous time with many museum visits in between. 

Even the parks have photo's in them.

More soon...