Exhibition Layout

In preparation for our degree shows, we have been asked to design a mock exhibition to get a feel for when we come to create our own shows. 

Using a website called Exhibbit, you are able to create a virtual gallery space, giving you a feel for the layout and feel of what my exhibition could/would look like...

The simplicity of this layout is something that I would like to keep in mind for my own exhibition, keeping more focus on the actual images rather than looking too much into the layout and design on the show.

The square format of the images works very well for this show, showing the images a window into the golf course and the subjects.

As I have mentioned Alec Soth before, I had a look into some exhibitions he has held and found that the simplicity I speak of works well, shown in a real world exhibition...

The clean, open look of this layout is not too distracting for the viewer. Also with all my images being the same format and size, it keeps a flow going throughout the walk.

Framing My Work

I think that best layout for my images would be printed and framed, rather than on a canvas. I feel that the colour and brightness of the images would be toned down or lost if they were to be put on a canvas.

With them being square format, I would like to aim for a 40x40in print on each image, all dependent on if the file sizes permit this.

Developing My Final Images

So as my final deadline approaches, it's time to make my decision on the final layout of my images. Having had my feedback session just before the Easter break, we spoke about whether to keep my images in a landscape aspect or to crop them in square format. Now I've had a little play about with the different ways they would look, I feel that the square format works best and keep the focus on the subjects, taking away any distractions threw up in the background. 

 

The distractions aren't too 'noisy' as there's not much going on in and around the golf course but some background trees and bushes give a slight over shadow to the portraits and I feel with the square layout, this works to keep this 'noise' to a minimum. The only thing that is a bit of a worry is the size of the files now they have been cropped. Something that I should have took into consideration when shooting, a mistake that I have made in previous shoots, namely my homeless work, where I should have work out the composition at the time of shooting. Hopefully they won't be affected too much when it comes to getting them printed on a larger scale. 

Similarities In My Work And Others

Rineke Dijkstra has cropped up a few times at the feedback sessions that have taken place at university throughout this module, and now my project is entering its final stages, I now know why. The portraits I have been creating are somewhat similar to some of the work she has created, not in terms of aesthetics, but from the awkwardness and uneasiness that crops up in her work, namely the beach portrait series.

With the reference to the awkwardness of the subjects, I feel that Dijkstra's works has a lot in common with the underlying theme I have come to discover in my project.

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Alec Soth is another photographer that had been recommended for me to look at. His work is something again that is similar to where my work has been heading, he shoots on a medium format camera, creating a square format image, the way in which I have edited my images.