It’s that
time again, where my winter darkroom course has come to an end. The finale is a big exhibition at the end of term to show
off the schools work and it officially starts today! It covers a wide range of Art subjects from painting to drawing,
sculpture and jewellery making, the list is long! So if you live in or near Aberdeen you really should go
check it out.
As most of
you may know, I’m slowly turning into a photography geek as my mum put’s
it. She finds herself yawning as I
explain how water being one degree out can ruin your film processing. I never realised I'd got that boring. But, this is good, it means I'm actually absorbing information. However dull it may seem to others, this for me is progress. Last term I completed the Foundation Photography course and this term I moved in with the big kids in Intermediate Photography. It is expected that the intermediate class, “yeah that’s me” will print bigger images than the foundation class, which puts a bit of pressure on. The intermediate class is generally full of very experienced photographers and it’s easy to feel inferior, but that's not the atmosphere of the class. People love it so much that they come back year in year out. As you can imagine, it’s tough to get a place. The tutor Neal is highly recommended and has a wealth of experience in both digital and old school film.
I had a few ideas over the duration of the
course on what I would exhibit at the end of year show. The images you see on the wall
wasn't the ones I had originally planned. I borrowed an old twin reflex
camera from Neal and went out with it one chilly weekend in December capturing the madness of
Christmas shopping. I had planned to show them, just people going about their everyday business. Neal made comment that some of my images reminded him of the work by Diane Arbus, which I was absolutely delighted about. She is a Photographer who's work I really admire. Her artistict taste probably wouldn't be socially acceptable in this day and age though. After much deliberation with my subconscious I
decided to exhibit some studio portraits and some of Daisy because they had grabbed the eye of my tutor Neal and I could display in my home afterwards. Portraiture has to be the genre of
photography I am most passionate about. When I was printing up the images a few weeks ago, I found myself again being compared to yet another famous Photographer. Someone from my class last year said the legs image reminded him of the work by Helmut Newton. I had no idea who that was and thought nothing more about it until a few days ago when, "the man from wales" said, the picture reminded him of Helmut Newton! After googling him yesterday I quite like his stuff. Verging on the weird and wonderful just like Arbus.
Yesterday, I took my mum
and Daisy along to the private viewing. Daisy was very keen to meet my teacher, as I tell her I’m
going to school whenever I'm going to my classes. We popped into
the darkroom so she could see where mummy works her magic. I’m sad to say this will be my last
year at Gray’s and I was sad opening up the prospectus that was sent to my house knowing I wasn't going to be going back next term. However, I was absolutely over the moon to see that one of my images from last year had been used in the school prospectus. It kinda feels like a small victory, that I somehow made it. I’ve loved the
past three years at Gray's but now it’s time to move onto pastures new. I’ll no doubt keep you all up to
date with what I decide to do next. To be continued…..
I’d also like to take this opportunity to give a big shout out to my bang tidy models Shannon and Fraser. Thanks for giving me free reign to do as I please. I think you will all agree that the lovely Miss G would be in with a shot for "rear of the year", and I wouldn't mind a pair of legs like hers either!
The
exhibition is on for one week.
Sunday 9
March – Sunday 16 March 2014
Open Monday –
Friday 9.00am – 10.00pm
VENUE: GRAY’S
SCHOOL OF ART
Garthdee
Road, Aberdeen AB10 7QD
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