Do-it-yourself photography exhibition
Love photography? Your friends keep telling you how great your photos are? You should hold a photography exhibition! You can hold it in a gallery, a local coffee shop, or even in your own home.
Let’s go over some tips to putting together a top-notch photography exhibition that will showcase your digital photography creations.
A photography exhibition is a great way to get inspired and to inspire others
Photography exhibitions are a great place to get some inspiration, and if it’s your exhibition, to inspire others. You can find photography exhibitions that focus on all sorts of themes: portraits, travel photos, artistic images, landscapes, and more. Some exhibitions are a permanent fixture in a venue and some venues have rotating exhibitions. In most cases, a single photographer is showcasing her work to anyone interested, but there are also instances where a group of photographers will share an exhibition, as in an exhibition showcasing the works of a graduating photography class. Photography competitions also hold exhibitions that showcase the photos that were sent in, the finalists, and the prize-winners (you can sign up here for emails that will alert you when new competitions are made public).
Love to take pictures? Hold your own private photography exhibition
If you would like to present your work to the public, a photography exhibition can be quite enjoyable. We’ve assembled some great tips that will guide you:
Choose how you will display the photos – you don’t have to frame all your photos, or lay glass over them. It is expensive and can be unnecessary. You can glue your photos onto construction paper, or add a photo mat – a border around your photo to separate the photo from the frame. You can use a hot glue gun to hang your photos on the walls, you can hang them using a wire and clothespins, you can lay them on an easel, or use any other creative idea you may have.
Find a venue for your exhibition – you will be hard-pressed to find a renowned gallery that will showcase your digital photography work, and even if you do, they will ask you to shoulder the costs of the exhibition. Instead, find a location that you already know well and ask to use it for your exhibition. The owner of your local coffee shop will be happy to have unique works of art displayed in the store, and you will have a public place to show your art. Another idea would be your local community center, or a members’ club.
Don’t forget that you can hold the exhibition at your own home. Clear the living room, place your photographs on your chairs, tables, and counters, and invite friends and family over. Add some finger-food and beverages and you have a recipe for a lovely evening.
Choose a theme – a theme for a photo exhibition is something that’s open for interpretation, but keep your audience in mind and avoid choosing something too narrow or esoteric. The theme, by the way, doesn’t have to fit neatly into one title. You can show a variety of photos within a few subjects (it doesn’t have to be only one subject), but try to maintain some level of uniformity (even if it only pertains to the size of the photos).
Only pick your best photos – even when you want to share all the photos you took, that kind of an exhibition might be exhaustive. Your audience will probably enjoy quality over quantity. So only choose your best work, and take the space you have into consideration – a small space can only handle a few photos.
You can hold a web exhibition!
The Internet lets you share your photos with the entire world, so why not hold your photography exhibition on the web? You can use social networking sites, photography sites, and photo-sharing sites. We recommend incorporating your photos into a PowerPoint presentation so you can add some background music, titles, and descriptions. Send the presentation to some friends first and ask for their honest opinions.