[smarti77]

After months of planning, shooting, matting, framing, financial stretching and stressing... Its happened.
My photographs are currently on public display in a beautiful, country gallery in Millicent, South Australia.

I was very lucky to be able to be able to share the exhibition with another photographer who has helped give me this opportunity.
We are each displaying about 40 images for the next five weeks. About half of the images were framed and the rest were matted and backed.
Its been a very new experience for me. Its been a great challenge but very rewarding to see my images on a gallery wall.



Setting up...


Walls


More Walls


...and More Walls.


Open!

The opening went very well. I was very uncertain how many would attend and how it would be received. I am extremely greatful to have received some wonderful and positive feedback. There's even a few red dots appearing around the place to indicate sales!

Thank you to all the shuttertalkers who have given me advice and support in the long lead up to the exhibition. Sorry I havn't been around much lately!
Shane

[matthew]

Congratulations! That's great news, and an excellent turn out. The gallery looks really good.

[Keith Alan]

Fantastic!
I'm so happy this is going well.

That gallery looks very nice compared to...you know.
Lots of work I know, but well worth it.

[Irma]

Wonderful gallery Shane...

How nice to see your work in this exhibition.

Congratulations...

[Banded Drake]

Congrats ! the show looks great , well done !!

....... Shawn

[NT73]

Wonderful news. I recognise a couple.

[shuttertalk]

Wow, fantastic stuff, Shane!

I recognise some of the pics on the walls - great to see them there!

Congrats...

Some insight into the process would be much appreciated... how much work and cost was involved? Did you do lots of promotion? Any tips for budding photographers?

[Wedding Shooter]

So wonderful to see it all come together for you - the gallery looks great.

[Zig]

My, that's a lot of hard work there: expense, time, worries over mattes/frames, positioning...and great to get the venue for that long. Really well done: in my neck of the woods, this would be a decided cut above the norm. Excellent. I found that the ones I thought were naff, could sell repeatedly, whereas the ones I thought were belters went like lead balloons; I'd really value your evaluation and thoughts after; this sort of thing is a great example to anyone treading these boards.

[smarti77]

Thanks everyone.

I've always considered photography to be a hobby that I enjoy and I have used it to balance the stress from my career. Family and friends have told me previously that I needed to pursue photography as more than a hobby. I had always taken this 'with a grain of salt' because its hard to know how your work will be received by people who do not know you personally.

I was extremely lucky to land this exhibition. I would not have received the same opportunity if I had approached the gallery by myself. The other photographer is well known in the local area. He and I have helped each other significantly with our mutual interest in photography. He pushed me to pursue this exhibition and I am very thankful for it.

I tried to control the cost of the exhibition fairly carefully as I had no idea how many images I would be able to sell (if any).
Again I was lucky to find a very helpful and professional printer who printed my images at a good price. Most of my images were printed at around 12 x 18 inches but the best were printed at 16 x 24 inches. One thing that I have learned is to never allow your prints to be rolled up and stuck in a tube. Always keep them flat or they may never be completely flat again.

The biggest expense was framing. Early on in the process (with help from this site) I decided that I wanted simple black and white frames. I spent between $20 - $45 on each frame. We also purchased a large amount of matt boards and backings which we cut ourselves. About half of the images on display were framed and the rest were matted and backed. I was initially concerned that this would not look professional but they looked great on the wall.

In total I spent about $1250 to display my best 40 images. Most of these images were listed for sale from $75 to $160. A few of the images were for display only and not for sale.

The local community and council were very helpful in promoting the exhibition for us through local newspapers and radio (The gallery is owned by the council). We made a A4 sign which was displayed in many local shop windows.

About 100 invited guests attended the opening night.

It was a difficult task deciding which images to display. I stuck with my intial plan to display the images which I believed showed my best work rather than the most likely to sell.

Getting the images onto the walls and looking good was a big job. It took and day and a half getting it right and we nearly ran out of time.

In the first few days of the exhibition I have commitments to buy seven of the images. With four weeks still to go I am hopeful that I will go close to breaking even financially. This was never going to be a financial windfall for me. I priced my images to sell to get a better idea of which images were 'sellers'.

The feedback I have received from complete strangers has been the best part of the experience. On the night of the opening I spoke with an elderly man who is an experienced photographer of many years. HIs comments really made my night. To learn that people I do not know can make an emotional connection with my images is an amazing feeling. To discover that some of these people are willing to pay to put my images on their wall is pretty good too....

The results from the exhibtion and the above photo's may help us secure other exhibtions in the future. If not - I'm going to have alot of images to set up a sensational photo wall at home!

[Keith Alan]

My show paid for itself--on a much smaller scale of course--and I ended up with many "free" prints and frames for the future.
But as you said, the best part for me was the feedback.
Being able to listen as strangers discussed my work among themselves was a treat, and very educational. I also met an elderly photographer who had much to say.

I would recommend that anyone thinking about doing this should join a local club--my show was with a group that met on Flickr. This makes it less of a financial and logistic burden--the help and sharing really made it fun and easy for us.

[Zig]

Great Keith: "sharing" seems a key word here throughout, in terms of cost, encouragement, motivation and a host of other things. Shane, many thanks for the detailed and helpful summary; again, a real tour de force.

[Toad]

Congratulations! I am preparing for 2 shows myself now so haven;t been around much between that and work. I know how much effort a show is - but I think you will find it pretty rewarding - emotionally at least.

[Rabid Penguin]

w00t! go smarti