The Talk

I am getting a bit excited about the opening, I think the little speech part should go OK. When I saw Edward Burtynsky at the AGA (Art Gallery of Alberta) he talked for over 1 hour about his photographs. I intend to follow Burtynsky's example, I will not be talking about the great Gerry Yaum's philosophies on life (who wants to listen to that crap). I'm going to just tell the story behind the making of the photos like Burtynsky did, some background history and a few short stories is what I'll do.

I have also been working on a write up for the show, I think it is near completion, the idea there is the same as the short show talk, the history of the photographs and stories behind their making.

I think by telling the stories and the first person background stuff it sort of personalizes things a bit for the viewer. I do not like influencing what they see and how they react to it, they should react in strickly visual impact terms but I think maybe they can learn more and understand more if I talk about my experiences making the photos. I guess its a bit like Fazal Sheikh's books where he writes the back stories behind the people he makes portraits of. Sheikh's technique gives a fuller understanding than the photograph alone.

Will post the show story write up here when its completed.