Ever set off to visit somewhere, arrived and then been overcome with self doubt?
This week my wife was visiting a touring art exhibition in VIctoria Methodist Church, Whiteladies Road, so I thought instead I aught to do the RWA Photo Open Exhibition 2023 | RWA Bristol next door. Challenge no1: "ah, £9 entry ticket- oh, well, it was a late birthday treat". However, I then found myself holding the door open to a party of Bristol's finest excitable Year 6's.. Challenge no2: "oh no its already turning into a menagerie of uniformed sketchpad wielding diminutives". I directed full attention away towards the first exhibits. Immediately I see Challenge no3: this is a substantial showing of a variety of 'pictures'; many are mixed media, a few play around with like cyanotypes, photogravure, studio sets, and a couple were difficult to detect where the photograph might be underneath the 'technique'. However, as my hour unfolded, Challenge no4 just seemed to happen: I became more engrossed in listening for the 'photographers' speaking and less "click-WYSIWYG-move on". Finally, there was separate gallery devoted to a west country photographer who had documented the seasonal landscapes from A Bend in the River Exe. This series particularly struck me with the photographer being entirely comfortable with taking picture in very poor light, in marshland and not disturbing the wildfowl. Atmospheric.
And so I took away Challenge no5: how can i make my photography 'speak' like that? In all, the show was leagues away in an entirely different direction to DPIC!! More a place to go to be challenged rather than inspired...anyway, that's my personal view after a full hour so do give it a look yourself. And take earplugs in case there's a party of schoolkids again.