Time to Start a Photo Story!

You may remember a few posts ago I told you about shooting in Queenstown. I went to Q-West Gallery and had a look around, took some photos... remember? Good! Now, do you remember I said I wasn’t done with the gallery and I would be going back?

Well, I had a chat with my super-secret contact at the gallery, during which we discussed the possibility of my doing a photo story about the gallery, its art and its artists. He said the members would possibly be amenable, so I sent down a proposal for the members to peruse and I waited.

It only took a couple of days to an answer. And that answer was? Put it this way; this weekend, I’m going back to Q-West Gallery to start work on a new project! Woohoo!

“What’s the project?” I hear you ask? Well, in broad strokes, the project is an exploration of Q-West Gallery; its life, its personalities, what it means to the members and what it means to the artists in the region.

Blog-wise this means you will be getting updates on the progress of my project as when there is actually progress. I can’t tell you how often I’ll be doing this, or even promise you any kind of regularity, because progress will depend not only on my schedule, but also the schedule of the gallery and the artists. And for a project like this, trying to coordinate a comparatively large group of people over a period of weeks or months is, I can assure you, akin to the herding of domestic felines. But there will be posts, I promise!

How about I start the ball rolling by telling you what the plan is for this weekend?

I sat down to think about exactly that today and the first thing that occurred to me is that every story has a setting. Be it a house or a space ship or a desert island, there must be a location in which the story can occur. So part of this weekend will be dedicated to establishing the location for this story. First I’ll get a nice wide shot encompassing Queenstown, the town in which the gallery resides, and the valley it rests in. Then I want to show where the gallery sits in relation to the town centre. From there I want to show an exterior view of the gallery, then go inside and tour around the gallery floor, following the path a gallery visitor may take. My thinking is that, by taking the audience on the journey to, and through, the gallery I will be taking the audience into the story with me. I’m also thinking about maybe getting a couple of images of the actual journey from my place in Somerset to Queenstown, but I’m not sure. What do you think? Please comment below or email me at bobcartledgephoto@gmail.com if you have any thoughts.

Anyway... Where was I? Oh, yes, I was in Queenstown at Q-West Gallery. And this weekend is a great time to be there; for me and for anyone in the in the west, northwest, north, east or south of Tasmania at the time! Why? Because this weekend is the opening of an exhibition of pottery and ceramic art by artists of the region.

I have been invited to the opening Gala on the 28^th of October, at which I have been given permission to photograph the evening. This will give me the opportunity to document one of the essential ways Q-West Gallery, and indeed all galleries, interact with the community. I’m hoping I will be able to get some interesting images of guests engaging with the art pieces and with the artists who created them so as to give a sense of the dynamism of the gallery. I prefer to record dynamic images where possible. I don’t mean images that make the audience go “Wow!”, I mean images that give the audience a sense life or motion or something that says, “This is a moment in time – a small part of a greater whole. There is more going on that what you see here.” Does this make any sense? Hopefully you will get the idea when the images from this shoot are finally published.

(Of course, you could always go to https://bobcartledgephotography.myportfolio.com/ to see the sort of images I like. There are links to my Google+, Facebook, Flickr and Instagram on the site. Hint, hint!)

This project will be quite a challenge for me. You see, I haven’t really done much people photography. I have taken some candid shots, a couple of which I think turned out alright (my favourite is over there!) but I’ve never set out to really capture the human experience. It should be interesting to see how well I do. My prediction is that I will absolutely nail it, get excellent portraits and truly stun the photographic world with my skill and expertise. OR I’m gonna screw it up royally and never be allowed into Queenstown again. OR I’ll do alright for my first try, I’ll learn a lot about photography and portraiture, and my I will develop new skills.

I’m expecting it to be the last one.

That’s where I am at the moment, and where I’m heading. Where are you? What have you got planned? What have you just completed? Share your experiences with me; share your blog or your site with me – I’d love to see your work!