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Setting up your first photographic exhibition

Congratulations you have a collection of photographs that you would like to see displayed in an exhibition, here are some tips to help you have a successful exhibition.

Author: Sahayak Plowman

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Congratulations you have a collection of photographs that you would like to see displayed in an exhibition, here are some tips to help you have a successful exhibition.

• Be ruthless in your selection, cull heavily. You only want to show the very, very best of your work. You may have enough shots for an exhibition covering one theme, if not then choose a wider selection that shows your photographic skills.
• Depending on the size of the venue, and if you are sharing the gallery space and costs with another artist, then choose an appropriate number of prints. 15-20 of average mounted size is a good starting number.
• Framing can be very expensive, so look for commercially available frames at a fraction of the costs. Then of course you will need to cut your own mounting boards.
• When fixing your print to the back of the mounting board use a good tape and fix only at the top of the print, allowing the remainder to hang freely behind the mount board. This technique prevents your print warping particularly if there is humid weather.
• Choose a selection of prints that are both vertical and horizontal format.
• Once your choice is made and you have finished framing stand your selection against the wall and stand back to look at the entire selection. Now rearrange your prints so they have balance with each other and available wall space.
• When cutting your mounts, be particularly careful of the corner cuts, make sure they are at right angles and do not run past the corner into the body of the mount board.
• Go to the gallery at night to see how bright the lighting is. These days it is common to have spots directed onto exhibited prints. If this is your case then you shall need to have your photos especially printed so as not to be under exposed. In other words print them darker with more contrast than normal to compensate for the bright lighting.
• Hang your prints not too high or too low. The correct height ultimately comes down to the size of the print, but on an average the centre of the print should be at eye height for the average height viewer.
• Hang all prints so the tops the frames are all at the same height off the floor.
• If signing and dating your prints, and it is a good idea to do so given the number of art collectors who are now purchasing art for investment, make sure the depth of the mat under the bottom of the print is wider than the sides and top. This gives you space to sign, while maintaining a balanced proportion of mount board around print.
• If exhibiting B/W prints consider that a dark mount board will make the print look smaller and heavier, whereas a light mount board will help expand the image, making it appear larger then life.
• If showing coloured prints a rule of thumb to help you decide on what colour mount board you should choose, is to pick out the average colour within the print and make that colour the colour of your mount board.
• With bright spotlights ensure BOTH sides of the glass within the frame is fingerprint and dust free.
• Place a description card on the wall next to each print, with name of artist, year, print title and price.
• Have in addition to this a program giving further details of each print, your photographic history especially any awards or art degrees you have obtained.
• Invite prominent people who will hopefully buy.
• Before the exhibition opens place a sold red dot next to one of your prints. This decoy often prompts people to buy at the official opening.
• Have a guest speaker open your exhibition, it could be your lecturer, teacher or friend someone who knows your work and can talk in an authoritative manner.
• Also invite an art editor from your local or national paper.

Best of luck, hope you sell many prints.

About Author

Sahayak Plowman has travelled extensively through S.E. Asia and Australia as a freelance photographic journalist. He has had four feature articles published in GEO Magazine and won first prize in an international landscape competition. He has had five solo and numerous joint exhibitions, his prints are in various private collections throughout Australia, and he is studying meditation with Sri Chinmoy and is the webmaster for Sri Chinmoy Books.com http://www.srichinmoybooks.com/

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Setting up your first photographic exhibition