Here | There | Everywhere . . .

Recently, I was asked by contemporary artist, Estelle Woolley, if I would like to attend and photograph the opening night of  'Here | There | Everywhere ' .  This is an exhibition of the work produced by the artists in residence on the AA2A scheme at the University of Chester 2011-12, and took place on 6th July, at the Contemporary Art Space, Chester University of Chester, Kingsway . Obviously, I jumped at the chance - aside from the benefit of the photography experience this would give me, I'd seen several examples of some of the work that would be shown, on the Chester Contemporary Artists page - Estelle is co-manager of the group - and I was very keen to see it in the flesh, so to speak .  Estelle asked that I 'catalogue' each piece of work, and perhaps get a few shots of the event as a whole .

So, during one of the recent bouts of 'Summery' torrential rain we have been having, I braved Chester rush hour, and arrived at the venue, just before 5pm. 

The Contemporary Art Space straight away struck me as a really lovely venue for exhibitions - a large, high ceilinged main space, with quite a bit of natural light .  The artists involved greeted me really warmly, although I had only met 2 of them previously, and it was easy to feel comfortable and get to work .

First job was to work out what settings would work best for the venue.  With exhibitions, there are often several light sources, which can make getting the white balance tricky.  You often get fluorescent lights above, individual artificial lighting types use to highlight some pieces of work, and sometimes (as in this case) you can add natural light to the mix too.  Wanting to avoid the flash (yet another light source!), I set ISO initially at 400, set the camera to P mode,  and then took several 'test shots', close ups and long shots, going through the different WB settings on the camera.  In this instance, AWB produced the best results, so I started with that, checking each photograph after I had taken it, and 'stopping' up and down as required to get the best image I could.

I had to keep focused on the fact that I was supposed to be taking pictures - the work was innovative, intriguing and in some cases, beautiful - I often found myself just stopping and looking !  However, over about an hour, I worked my way around the main space, and managed to get photographs of each piece of work, that I was pleased with.

 

 

 

Looking at this piece, I loved the shadows it cast on the wall behind . . .

There were also two smaller area's, one of which kept me occupied - and entertained - for quite a while, as I got engrossed trying to work out the best settings to capture the work . . .

Another area, that contained work by MA students, had very different lighting - it was far darker, subdued - but totally suited to the work in it, which  made me feel a little like I had stepped back in time .  ISO had to go up to 800, even though I decided to try and capture the pieces with the lower lighting effect .

Quite a few people had attended the opening, which also gave me some photographic opportunities .

The photographs featured here give just a taster of the work exhibited - the exhibition is at Chester till the 13th of July, after which it will be touring, with one of the venues being here in Wrexham - its really well worth going to see if you get the chance .

Some of the images I took have been featured on the Here | There | Everywhere FB page, and I believe they are also going to be used possibly elsewhere - once links and info is sent, I'll update.  

Here | There | Everywhere 


Many, Many Thanks to the artists who created the art work, and who made me very welcome - Estelle Woolley, Jo Marsh, Tony Evans, Guy Mayman , Ruth Cullis and Rebecca Key - it was a pleasure to meet all, and I really enjoyed the experience.


More info on the artists and their work can be found at the following sites 


aa2a.biz


Estelle Woolley


Tony Evans