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Review: Exhibition Planned for OPF Photographers, if we're lucky, Nov. 13th to Dec. 13th 2013

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I'm invited to tend a set of photographers works for an exhibit at which I'm a guest curator in a Los Angeles gallery later this year. There's no charge for any entry from OPF. Just add a reply here that you are interested and how many pictures and the topics you could contribute. You will own your work and all rights, except you will allow pictures to be used in promoting the exhibit if your work is selected.

I do not know, as yet whether or not there will be sales. I'll be looking into that of course, but don't bank on that! To get your work considered, respond below, putting your name down with ~ 600x600 max size [update: required size now 1000 pixels i.e., largest side is 1000 pixels] copies of your proposed submission. You can submit up to 6 pictures per topic you choose and up to 4 topics. Based on what we receive in the posts below in this thread, and the themic content, we'll try to develop united ideas. I'll compose all the needed unifying text for the exhibit. We'll announce that. Then, you can resubmit if you have work for that set of topics, but not submitted them at that time, as yet.

We are also considering creating a new Museum of Modern Photography for pictures worthy of collecting and preserving and bringing to schools and Universities, museums and other like locations. Your work could also be considered for such a collection if you so wish.

Don't email me. Let's do things in an open way. Everything should be posted. That way we can all see what our group can deliver. Just forgive me if your work is not selected on this first go around. Don't be angry if you see other folks work seems obviously of poor quality. Submission does not mean the work will be used. Still, we might also want to include work that is naive and not technically perfect. I have never believed that technical perfect is absolutely required. Just the work must move us. Despite such generosity, the skilled artisan who takes imaginative pictures and delivers them in a professional form is going to be at an advantage.

If you can't print your work, let me know you need that help well in advance so we can arrange an agreeable solution. Otherwise, we'll assume you wil deliver a professional quality matted print of the size you commit to.

Looking forward to your participation. Just post your interest below and what subjects you will show us.

For this first curated exhibit, no nudes will be included, as parents of children seeing the exhibit will have issues at this first location. For the Planned Museum and other exhibits, no such censorship is expected.

Asher Kelman
 

George Holroyd

New member
I'm interested and can probably make a contribution to the "naive and not technically perfect" section. Seriously though, I work in series but would be willing to submit within an established category if I feel my work fits. For those of us overseas, printing and shipping may be prohibitively expensive. More information on options would be appreciated.
 

Chris Calohan

Well-known member
What size will the prints be if selected. I am interested and at a later date will send to you something I proposed to Freestyle Photo some years ago in hopes of getting a revival of the "Family of Man" project only by high school students. Perhaps some of that concept could be used in your Museum of Modern Photography traveling show.

Put me down for several submissions.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Thanks Chris and George!

Looking forward to seeing your first choices and sets!

OPF deals with our journeys in art. So instead of I, myself, making categories in which you must fit for this exhibit, I'd like to have you announce and give examples of your series. We can have up to 6 images from that series in each post you share at this point. From these submissions we'll know where the riches lie and then choose topics which stitch the disparate images into a fabric for one thematic exhibit where each set of images add something to other work by a different photographer. However, from the start, it must be your work that drives the first collection.

So as people show, the ideas will build. What's not selected for exhibit can be used for the museum and also in the next show.

but we do need to see representatives of the pictures you would submit when requested.

Once we have the shaping of the exhibit, photographers can even add just one of two to a themic or motif-linked set so at that point we'll enrich the collections.

Asher
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
I am a bit surprised that nobody has answered in a week. Maybe everybody is waiting for someone to test the waters? Well, since there has to be a first, I'll present those 6 pictures on a common topic:

 

Ben Rubinstein

pro member
Theme: Opening your Mind.

So many directions that you could have taken, did you ever wonder what would have been had you gone the other way?

ohel_shlomo.jpg

You imagined that the concept of choice was hidden behind a closed door.

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There were so many paths open to you that you feared to even chose one.

tiferet_yisrael.jpg

But then you realised that there was a wealth to be gained by just taking that step in a new direction..

ruth.jpg

Once you have made the decision you realise the gate had been open the whole time, the future a wonder to behold.

the_doorway.jpg
 

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
Theme: No place to stay.
Alternate Title: Uninviting.

Look for yourself if you would like to stay at these places for longer than a few instants.



Best regards,
Michael
 
What size prints would be needed? What would you think a rough estimate, in cost to me, to print to the desired quality you are looking for? Size of prints?

I just realized those are all 640 x .... To big? I would have to edit to remove some dust spots first.






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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Excellent contributions, all of them. Jerome, Ben, Michael and Jake and looking forward to George and Chris's sets too.

8x10 is a standard size for many collections, but, of course a few pictures at 11x14, 16x20 or even 20x24 would be wonderful. The larger pictures allow the exhibit to work at different distances. folk come in close for the 8x10 and can appreciate the larger pictures next to them, just glancing as they enter. So they work together well. If you are hand-making a print and it's in albumin, platinum, sliver gelatin or some other process where you can only work with small sizes, such as 6" x 8", that's fine too. Just the majority would be about 8x10 and we'd like to have a few larger prints too.

We'll treasure all submissions starting with classic wet plates and pinhole all the way to large prints with archival pigments or dyes. If your work is already printed and matted, just say what size you've done it in! We don't want folk at this stage to spend money. Pictures can be printed by any process that satisfies you that the ideas you wish to export from your mind into the substrate you choose. If the picture evokes, at least, those ideas and sentiments you'd imagined, then your work is complete for us!

This work could have been done anytime, as long as it's by you. If you also printed it with your controls, then let us know, but we probably won't declare that, except for classic processes, just would love to know who can not only take great pictures and also has resources themselves, these days, to print them too. It's respectable to have an expert printer help you, so don't feel that we'd consider anyone doing that in a separate class. It's the photograph, delivered, that counts!

Asher :)
 
Ok, because I have no means to print my own work, yet!

I'm saving to build a complete darkroom as I have swayed into film with a mint FM2n. It's already got me hooked and I, already, have medium and large format on my mind these days.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Everything here is work to be proud of.

Nothing is being selected yet.

So, do not be led astray by what others submit. Select based on what work you want to share. Of course, once we nail down themes, you may then go through your work and provide additional prints that could work really well with what's accepted to that point. Still, at this stage, focus on your own sense of what you've created that has life in it. When it passes that test, it's good for us too.

Asher
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
8x10 is a standard size for many collections, but, of course a few pictures at 11x14, 16x20 or even 20x24 would be wonderful. The larger pictures allow the exhibit to work at different distances. folk come in close for the 8x10 and can appreciate the larger pictures next to them, just glancing as they enter. So they work together well. If you are hand-making a print and it's in albumin, platinum, sliver gelatin or some other process where you can only work with small sizes, such as 6" x 8", that's fine too. Just the majority would be about 8x10 and we'd like to have a few larger prints too.

For the benefits of people outside of the USA, here are the size equivalents:

8x10": 20x25cm, roughly A4
11x14": 28x36cm, roughly A3
16x20": 40x50cm, roughly A2
20x24": 50x60cm, between A2 and A1 (A1 is about 60x85cm or 23x33").

I now that Asher does not want to discuss printing and matting now, but it is like the elephant in the room: it cannot be ignored. In addition, shipping prints to the other side of the world is expensive.

For digital pictures, the cheapest option would therefore be to send files and have the prints made on the spot. If this is not possible, and for the benefits of members in Europe, I am willing to make an offer. I can print up to A2 on an Epson 3880 and, under certain conditions, up to A1 (actually: 60cm or 24" wide and any length...) on a Canon IPF6350. I can offer to make prints at cost, within reason, and send all of them together to save on shipping. I'll have a choice of various papers, within reason.

I would rather only do it for members within Europe, because I may have to send you a sample (smaller) print for discussion, depending on what you need.

Matting is probably best done by a professional service in the US. It makes no sense to send matts over the Atlantic.

If someone needs a negative scanned, I still have a Nikon coolscan in working order. Just ask.

I won't do analog ("wet") prints, but maybe someone can make an offer... ;)

Basically, what I mean is that quality prints can probably be arranged for everybody. It won't be free, but the cost will be reasonable.
 

George Holroyd

New member
The problem is what to do with the work afterward. Do we have the prints removed from the frame and matting and returned to us? How do we provide for return shipping if the work is printed locally, etc.?
 

Ben Rubinstein

pro member
Tell me about it, I did an exhibition in California last year, I have the remaining 20 large foamcored prints sitting in NY in my dad's house waiting for me to do something with them which does not include the £150 shipping back :)
 

George Holroyd

New member
Ok, I have a number of small prints already prepared and ready to ship. I will submit the following now and standby to submit nudes later, as a second category. The prints were made at Picto Bastille using their Durst Lambda printer on 280gr Ilford Brilliant RC paper.

Series Name: 33 Meters Squared, Part I
Medium: Lambda print on RC paper, 21x29.7cm (approx. 8.25x11.7 inches), images size 18x24cm (approx. 7.1x 9.5 inches)


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No. 1, from the series 33 Meters Squared

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No. 4, from the series 33 Meters Squared


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No. 6, from the series 33 Meters Squared


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No. 10, from the series 33 Meters Squared


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No. 16, from the series 33 Meters Squared


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No. 24, from the series 33 Meters Squared

 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Thanks George!

The costs can be significant when heavy or really large things are shipped. Ben, I might be able to collect the prints, if I end up going to NY in April. Are they the ones you would use? What's the size and then what size is it packed?

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Jerome,

You're correct in addressing that big elephant in the room! What concerns me is the signature. I have ideas for that.

Asher
 

Antonio Correia

Well-known member
What a fantastic initiative ! :)
Please count me in !
Before I prepare the images to post, I would like to share a table which can be quite useful for Europeans not used to inches (as well to Americans not used to centimeters) in spite of the effort of Jerome. :)
If you click on the table you will find the original site.


I would like to print my own images because I can easily control the way they are presented. These days, I print on my own Epson R3000 with Hahnemuhle's Photo Rag Baryta 315gr and - because it is not so expensive - on Ilford Fiber Silk 310gr which I see as pretty good.
I am limited to A3 size (11.7 * 16.5 inches).

@ Ben
Perhaps it is not a good idea to place the images inside a tube as they would retain the curvature for too long because of the weight (thickness) of the paper. I do not have any experience on this but I suspect this solution can cause some kind of problem when unfolding the prints.

Now, I am going to prepare the images. :)
Thank you Asher !!! :)
 

Antonio Correia

Well-known member
Six images from the eight I have under the theme "Presences"
Presences ia theme I have developed recently photographing artists from an association in my home town.
I have them printed and they have been exhibited here, in my home town. My sold 4 of them at symbolic price - cost price - to the artists.

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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Thanks Antonio,

At this stage I asked for just 6 per submission, since with that number we easily establish the thematics. The exact number might be somewhat more in some cases. However, do not worry about that right now. I have to meet with the gallery and determine the wall-space reality.

Asher
 

Chris Calohan

Well-known member
Well, yes it is. It is an honor to be selected for such a prestigious award and as a member of this forum, I think others should also be aware of your accomplishment.

For the exhibition, I would be tempted to select two from each of the three sets.
 
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