Gallery updates

It's been a long time I've not updated the blog, and it's about time. I blame my lack of time, though! I just came back from a quick meetup at Cardiff City Council to discuss (briefly) the status the Third Floor Gallery and handing them a copy of our trust deed. Since the last time I wrote on this blog we've shown a few nice photo exhibitions...


David Solomons - Up West

For the lovers of street photography, one of its main exponents on this time and age...

Jocelyn Bain Hogg - Muse

New work by Jocelyn Bain Hogg from VII Network. Muse dwelled in the little details of natural beauty.




ffotoCardiff

A group exhibition that showcased a large variety of photography produced in Wales.




Chris Steele-Perkins - For Love of the Game

For the duration of the Football World Cup we produced an exhibition with Magnum heavyweight Chris Steele-Perkins showing the social aspect of the game in Ghana, Japan and England.




Carolyn Drake - Paradise Rivers

And currently we are showing Paradise Rivers by Carolyn Drake. Some of the most beautifull documentary photography you'll come accross.



Also, with Carolyn we have a novelty. For the first time we had the spare time on the day of the opening to interview her and produce a little video on vimeo. It is just good enough, but they'll definitively improve over time!

Carolyn Drake 'Paradise Rivers' from Third Floor Gallery on Vimeo.

Donations - Third Floor Gallery

Securing public funding seems tough, most seem to require that we survive on our own for a period of time, so now we are asking for donations at the gallery. Currently it goes to the Print Stravaganza account with a line saying that it is for the Third Floor Gallery. Don't worry, everything will go where it has to be.

You can find a donate button at our about page:
http://www.thirdfloorgallery.com/about.html

The main worry right now is to pay the £1400 of a quarters rent. We have part of this money, but by far not the whole amount, so any help is more than welcome. We also are preparing a gift at the end of our first year for all those who donated £200 or more, so that you have a memento of your good deeds.

Auction for Third Floor Gallery

We're auctioning this professionally handmade print of mine:



... to raise funds for the Third Floor Gallery. We obviously need some way to get enough funds to be able to sustain all the costs of having the place open. For a typical month:

-£433 go into the lease.
-£141 go into business tax (although I am afraid this might go up in April).
-£200-250 go into gas and electricity.
-£66 go into the building's service charge
-£60 go into advertising and publicit
-£100 go into buying drinks for an opening

That makes just over £1000. And we don't even have a fridge or microwave yet!

By bidding on the print you can help us to cover our costs. All the money will go into the Third Floor Gallery. Auctions of donated items will become a staple of the gallery, and there will be one item donated with each exhibition. So keep your eyes peeled.

Third Floor Gallery

We've been working for over a week on the Third Floor Gallery. Check it out:



It's a very pleasant place to hang around. Views over the bay and to Penarth, being close to the Millenium Centre, more of a seafront feel to it. Being up there it has a strange 'underground' feeling. Amazingly enough, our first show is Love UK by Peter Dench.



Love UK is Peter's search for what is loving like in Britain like nowadays. It tends to be honest, harsh and humorous. If you're around, the opening is on the 12th of February. Casually, the other opening around, is a Martin Parr opening on the 11th, to which we'll be going too.

Christmas and a few words about the times to come

Guests have arrived to my mother's house. It has stopped raining, and the leg of deer that I have in the oven is almost ready. There's a Pedro Ximenez, cranberry and apple sauce going with it, so fingers crossed.

I have been ill during these last days, and extremely busy. Maciej Dakowicz and I are opening the Third Floor Gallery in Cardiff Bay in February. We have the first two shows scheduled already (if you're interested, get in touch, even if it's because of curiosity on how things work). I just bought the domain but we have not set up the page yet. Next goes creating something followable on facebook and flickr, so that people can stay in touch. It is going to be quite a blast. Exciting photography is coming up and I must say I'm excited myself. On the other hand it is all quite hard work and economically risky, but once in a lifetime it's worth trying. It has been a very long journey to get to this point, and it all started about a year ago.

So, I'll stop emailing, registering stuff, and so, get back to my leg of deer and wish a merry xmas.

Good times are rolling for the street

It looks like as of late lots of momentum on street photography are actually turning into products, physical objects, things you can see and find around. Up to a point this comes from the pressure and drive generated online, and how the net has allowed the few distant practitioners to group together.

Some selected items:

Publication, is the first street photography magazine to date, as far as I know. It is published twice a year and is made out of a little magazine with essays and interviews (Meyerowitz, i.e.) and 22 lovely prints on heavy paper and nicely edited together. You can buy it for £14.

David Solomons has self published two great books. One of them, Happenstance, is the best of his black and white work to date. It is a great book, with a nice flow, and very stylish pictures. The second one, Underground, reveals the underground life of the London Tube lighted up by Solomons' flash, in fascinatingly contemporary colour. You can get both books for £30, which is a steal.

Jouko Leskelä has published Tilannekuvauksen Opas. It's a title in Finnish, but as far as I know is the first practical guide to event and street photography. It covers things from themes and methods to practical tips given by the author. The style is very approachable (many of the photographs are very approachable too!) and the tips instead of patronizing just reflect the practice of the author. I wonder if something similar (or a translation) will appear in English. Price online is 24e.

Dr Karanka's Print Stravaganza: LONDON - 9th of October

The next Print Stravaganza is going to take place in The Others, in East London on the 9th of October as part of the London Photomonth. Samuel Bedford is the main organizer of this one. You're still on time to submit your work. Also, I have finally figured out how to use paypal to process donations for the Stravaganza. Yes, the Stravaganza is as close to free as it gets, but everybody is running some costs. Now the main one is submitting the accumulated work to the next venue, because we have several kilograms of prints. Samuel has been doing a great job, and the event in London will have promotion such as fliers, which incurs in extra costs. If you wonder whether your donation will be well spent, check the photographs of the events that you can find here.

Anyway, there's the donation button: