Exciting new challenges in the year ahead – including my first exhibition
There are many reasons why I am looking forward to this year. In early April I have been invited to present an evening talk to my local camera club; something which I have not done before. Later that same month I will be traveling to The RPS Headquarters in Bath with a panel of fifteen images for an assessment in the hope that I will be granted an Associate Distinction of the Royal Photographic Society. And finally towards the end of the year in November, I will be exhibiting my work for the first time.
All of these events come with their own set of challenges and as the year progresses I expect to share my thoughts as I plan and prepare for each one.
Perhaps the most exciting but also the most daunting of the three, is the exhibition, and fortunately I am not alone. There are a total of six photographers who have formed a group called The Image Circle. A WordPress site was published at the end of last year, so do visit that site to find our more about the group and to see the work of the other photographers.
The exhibition is to be held in the main gallery at The Oxmarket Centre of Arts in Chichester, West Sussex, starting on Tuesday 14th November and finishing on Sunday 19th November. The group will be getting together on a regular basis between now and then, as we all have to decide what work to exhibit, how it should be framed and presented, and what can be done to best promote the event as we naturally wish to attract as many visitors as possible.
Although the exhibition is still many months away, I know how quickly the time will pass, so early preparation is key. Perhaps the most important decision for me to make at this stage is what work do I wish to exhibit? Should they be images from my current portfolio or new work which has yet to be taken? Should there be a specific theme? How many pictures do I display and how should the work be framed and hung? Many questions and in my mind some of the answers are becoming a little clearer.
As I write, I have reached a decision to exhibit a new body of work which will be taken in and around Chichester Harbour. It will be my vision, a personal portrait of this rather special Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which is close to where I live. All the photographs will be in monochrome and likely to be square format. The process of making images is already underway and a recent photograph accompanies this post.
Plenty more to consider and do in the weeks and months ahead, but 2017 is certainly a year I am looking forward to with great anticipation.
alan frost photography 
11 Responses to “Exciting new challenges in the year ahead – including my first exhibition”
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This one is a beauty! All the best for your exhibition, Alan. May it be even better than your expectations. 🙂
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Thank you very much. A lot of work to do but really looking forward to it.
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I am thrilled to hear about the exhibition in particular, Alan. I think the image above will be a great inclusion. Wise decision to focus on one location nearby, so you can shoot and re-shoot (if not happy with the light on any particular day).
Do you especially like square format? That sounds like a challenge to me (as I’m just used to portrait or landscape size).
I hope the RPS presentation will be successful and wish you good luck on the day.
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Thanks for your good wishes Vicki. Shooting locally for the very reason you have stated made sense to me. I have always liked the square format and don’t particularly find it to be a problem from a composition point of view, but it does perhaps require a different approach. In other words when I press the shutter I am cropping the image in my mind to a square, knowing this is how I want the finished picture to be presented.
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I’ll look forward to seeing some of the images (which I hope you’ll share for us overseas folk).
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I will certainly be sharing some or all of the images in the months ahead and certainly be creating a gallery page in due course.
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A busy year ahead of you Alan. Wishing you all the best with the RPS and exhibition, I’m sure it will be a success. Thanks for the link to The Image Circle, enjoyed visiting the site and I’m now a follower!
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Thanks Simon. Plenty to keep me busy in the coming weeks and months. Glad you visited The Image Circle site and thanks for following.
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An exciting year ahead, Alan. I look forward to hearing more as the year unfolds. I have already made an entry in the diary of the dates of the exhibition. A lot of work involved bu,t I am sure it will be a success judging by the quality of work by yourself and your fellow photographers in the Image Circle. I too have been busy in the last few weeks re-writing a talk for camera clubs which starts circulating this March. It’s always good to have a project on the go – it provides a focus for work and concentrates the mind. Something that is so much easier in retirement, as we both know.
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Thanks very much Andy – I hope to meet you at the exhibition. I am thoroughly enjoying the various projects and as you rightly say ‘retirement’ gives me the time to do so. I’m less than a year in, so still adapting to the change but how welcome it is! Thanks again.
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