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What I learned from hosting my first solo photography exhibition

One year ago, I was lucky enough to hold my own solo photography exhibition. It was something I wanted to do for years but didn’t expect to ever get the chance. The opportunity came about one evening at a newly opened art gallery …

One year ago, I was lucky enough to hold my own solo photography exhibition. It was something I wanted to do for years but didn’t expect to ever get the chance. The opportunity came about one evening at a newly opened art gallery, showing a few of my photographs to the proprietor. He liked them a lot, and proposed the idea of an exhibition, with live music accompaniment and the chance to sell my own prints. A date six weeks in the future was decided on and that was it - I was to have my own exhibition of my photographs. Now all I had to do was prepare for it!

I decided I would display the entire eighteen photographs from my first project “Alone at the Seaside”. This meant I would have to find somewhere to print them and frame them, as well as a way to display them all. I also had to think about how large I wanted these prints, on what kind of paper, what type of frame I wanted, how large and at what price I would be selling extra prints, how many book copies I should produce, what to write on business cards that I would leave for people to take with them on their way out and how I would design a flyer to advertise the event. I also decided this was a good time to design and launch a new website that I had been thinking about for months. Nothing like a bit of preassure to get things done.

After a few mishaps, I managed to find a professional local print house that was able print all of my pictures to a standard I was happy with. Finding suitable frames was a lot harder but I got very lucky and was able to get a great deal on a bespoke picture framing service in south London. Jonathan hand-made me some stunning black frames to showcase my pictures beautifully. I ordered a few book copies to sell and got a few extra prints made of the strongest photos for anybody that wanted one.

Things I learnt for next time:

  • Framing prints is the biggest headache imaginable - or it was for me. Print sizes are usually measured in inches while frames are in centimetres. Finding 18 well-made, identical, 20” x 16” black frames on a budget is not easy.

  • Advertising a photo exhibition is so niche that not many people will not care. Although I tried my best sticking my flyer up in many local notice boards and posted on many local online communities, I think my advertising only brought a few people. Most people that came were there due to word of mouth of browsers of The Gallery. I am happy with my efforts though and don’t think I could have tried many more advertisement methods in the timescale I had.

  • If there is not space to hang everything, make sure you have an alternative display method in mind. I ended up staying up late the night before polishing and tightening a dozen tatty music stands so my frames would look great and be secure.

  • You will sell fewer prints and books than you think, but it is always better to have too much stock than too little

  • Remember to take lots of pictures of the event while it is going on - time will go so fast that you will forget to do this. Make sure you also get some photos taken of yourself with your display as you will want to look back on this day in years to come.

Overall, I enjoyed hosting my first photography exhibition very much. It was a great day talking to people about my photography, hearing nice and constructive feedback and being able to show my work to friends and family, away from a small 6” screen. I would recommend it to anybody given the opportunity and hope I get to do it again someday.

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Experiences Luke Kenny Experiences Luke Kenny

My First Exhibition

My very first solo photography exhibition is just days away.

Over the last couple of months I have learnt a lot about printing, marketing and what it takes to make an event like this come together.

My very first solo photography exhibition is just days away.

I remember back in early 2016 when I first exhibited a few of my photographs in a local gallery, thinking “I could fill this whole place up with my own work”. Looking back now, I was 100% wrong as I now wouldn’t want to exhibit a single one of my best photos from back then and I had no idea the work that would go into such an undertaking.

From initially choosing the photographs to exhibit, to editing final versions of them, trialing a few different print-houses and eventually finding one I am happy with, having a LOT of bother with searching for the right frames before deciding to have them hand-make by a recommended frame maker.

I then decided to create a book and a website for the project also so spent the necessary time making these right.

After all that I had to then advertise the exhibition, putting up flyers and posting in as many local social media groups as possible.

Over the last couple of months I have learnt a lot about printing, marketing and what it takes to make an event like this come together.

I have almost everything ready now. I’m sure on the day it will look like just a few photo prints in frames being displayed but a lot of work has gone into it behind the scenes, thankfully assisted by my friends, family and wonderful girlfriend.

I do hope it all comes together on the day and I can stand proudly next to my art.

I am equally excited and nervous about Sunday.

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