Exhibition up and open!

Part of the installation at MoMA

It's always both a relief and a bit of an anti-climax when many months of work and maybe a bit of stress, the prints are all up on the walls. Luckily, the gallery at MoMA Machynlleth have great technicians so they undertook the hanging and did a great job. There's never just one way to hang a show, too many factors have to be taken into account. Size of the gallery, scale of the works, juxtapositions of individual pieces. What will work against what etc.  I had already decided to separate the colour prints from the B&W platinum prints and as there wasn't any particular 'running order' or sequence to adhere to that affected the reading of the prints this was a straightforward hang by most standards.  You can't really influence the way that any visitor will negotiate the gallery so with the best will in the world you just have to take on faith that they appreciate each work as it comes.

Part of the installation at MoMA

'Double hanging' isn't always the best way to put stuff up but in this case, a combination of factors made it necessary. The room we were allocated in the gallery isn't the biggest but neither were the prints too large that they could not be scrutinised at the heights they were hung. Inevitably, there's always a compromise along the way. 

Lighting too is important. A well-lit wall. brings the work to life and clumsy lighting placement or illumination can kill the prints. Again here we were lucky that the lighting worked well. I know from experience that it can take a lot of fiddling and adjusting to get it right.

Part of the installation at MoMA

Print sales are another thing. Pricing is difficult. Sadly, Wales is not the most receptive place for folks to acquire photography so I'm not expecting great sales. The cost of just producing great mounted and framed prints is expensive, and the reality is that even if sales are good, fortunes are never going to be made. The actual material costs are only one factor in the making and production of a finished print. People never quite appreciate that to make work like this, I had to tramp around the landscape in all weathers lugging heavy large format camera equipment  using my skill and judgement to select viewpoint and framing. Not to mention the high level of technical skill needed to bring back high quality images. 

The group of platinum / palladium prints

The platinum prints are yet another thing with regards to pricing. Quite apart from the horrendous cost of the platinum and palladium solutions, we have the added factors of time and extra expertise. The reality is that we can never fully quantify or rationalise how any piece of work may sell. Too many factors are involved including the type of work, the immediate audience for that work, and sadly of course, financial constraints that prevail at any time for the general population. Add to this the prejudice against photography in general being a 'legitimate' art practice and it becomes difficult. However, we plod on regardless! 

 

New Exhibition

 Opening Saturday June 13th. At The Museum of Modern Art, Machynlleth, Powys is an exhibition titled 'Impressions of an Ancient Landscape. Features work made in the woodlands around the ancient Cistercian Abbey site at Strata Florida, Ceredigion.

Strata Florida, 2004

I have photographed there before for my 'Wildwood' exhibition and book, but have been invited to make more work there for a forthcoming book and this exhibition. 

Strata Florida, 2004

The original work was in colour and printed as Crystal Archive, chromogenic prints. For the new work, as as a foil to the older work and to bring a new perspective on the location, I photographed in B&W and decided to make platinum prints of the images made. 

Strata Florida, 2026

Working in a very different way meant that I was looking at the woodland in a different way too, and hoping that the juxtaposition of the two styles of photographs shown together will also allow the viewer's minds to wander and gain a new perspective on the particular location.                                                                                                                                                       

Strata Florida, 2026

All these photographs were made using a 10" x 8" camera. The original colour prints made in 2004 were enlarged to about 4 feet wide for that particular exhibition. The current prints are 20" x 24". Platinum printing is a contact printing process so the platinum prints are 10" x 8". 

To see videos of my platinum printing techniques, visit my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@pete-davis-photography/about

 

More platinum

Preparing for a new exhibition in June, I have been making new B&W work in the woodlands of Strata Florida Abbey in Ceredigion, mid Wales. 

I have photographed there before some years ago as part of my 'Wildwood' exhibition. Those were colour images but the new work will address some different ideas and invite a different response from the viewers. 

Strata Florida, 2004

The new work will be presented as platinum prints, made from the 10" x 8" negatives. 

As I'm getting older, I have noticed that carrying a heavy 10" x 8" camera with even heavier tripod on my shoulders, plus a backpack with holders, lenses, meter, notebook etc. was getting more difficult. Particularly over rough, uneven and sometimes very soggy ground. So after over 60 years of lugging large format cameras around on my back, I came up with a cunning plan. 

Made from bits of M.D.F. I had around, plus an old garden fork handle and two new pneumatic wheelbarrow wheels for rough ground, I present the Davis patent large format photo trolley. I gave it a good testing last week and it worked well. The box contains everything I need and is padded inside. The wheels worked well, even over rough stony ground and the various soggy bits of the woodland. Still quite hard work but does mean I can spend longer on location than before. Of course, being Welsh I couldn't resist putting a 'tongue in cheek' label on it. 

Maybe the only down side is that whereas before I would carry the camera screwed to the tripod on my shoulder, now, to save the weight on me, I have to take the camera out of the box and screw it on the tripod for every 

Different location I visit. A bit slower maybe, but working with a 10" x 8" was never a rushed affair anyway. Actually, it gives me a bit more thinking time before setting up. I also don't have to ration my kit down to a minimum but I like to keep it simple anyway. 150mm wide angle lens, 240mm sort of slightly wide standard and the 300mm is all I need. I have longer lenses but don't take them on that sort of trekking location. Limited kit focuses the mind and I can visualise quite well with what I carry. Or pull along now! 

Strata Florida, 2025. Platinum Print

The platinum prints are being made at the moment and this is just one of them. I'll post more as the work progresses and more prints emerge. 

You can see me making platinum prints on my YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@pete-davis-photography

New Book

 Just out... 'City Stories' - Photographs of Cardiff, 1969-1977

52 pages, 210mm x 210mm perfect bound book. 

Available in the UK from: https://petedavisphotography.bigcartel.com/

Front cover

CITY STORIES

These photographs were part of a series I made in the late 1960's, and early 1970's. They represent random slices of life from the Cardiff streets at that time. They were originally made with no particular project or strategy in mind, other than I recognised that the city as a whole was in a state of flux and it seemed appropriate to document this. Sections of the old, immediate post-war environment and elements of inner city life were, for a while more at least, existing alongside the newer surroundings and atmospheres which were replacing them. Fifty years on from when many of these photographs were made, they have acquired another dimension and now appear as documents and time capsules of another age.

Page 9

As I went about my work as a photographer in the city centre every day, those many transient and sometimes surreal moments that make up the life of a city began to fascinate me. As Garry Winogrand used to assert, 'I photograph things to see what they look like when photographed'. Later, as the images began to accumulate I became aware of how the indigenous population navigated and inhabited this particular evolving urban landscape and environment. While many of these actions were inadvertent on their part, they created, for me at least, many imaginary narratives about their thoughts and lives.

Page 11

The photographs of Splott, where I was brought up and went to school, were made at the time that the main employer in the area - the steelworks - was closing, and the area being pulled apart and re-developed. This was a substantial part of the city not just in transition but about to disappear altogether. Conscious of the very major changes there and the upheaval to the many residents at the time, I would return on numerous occasions to record the street life and the gradual decay and destruction of the urban landscape that I had regarded as home until the mid 1960’s. 

Page 18

Ideas and attitudes to creative work alter as time progresses and reactions to particular images change as they are viewed in a different historical and social context from the ones in which they were created. This applies to my own reviewing of this work for its revival exhibition over forty years since they were last exhibited, in addition to the opinions of others. Accordingly, there are a number of images here that I have ‘rediscovered’ that were never previously exhibited or published before. 

Page 43

Much of the work here may appear to concentrate on the more prosaic elements of the environment. However, photography has the ability to not just represent but to reveal and re-present these in a form that transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary. Bruce Gilden has noted that ‘you find out what’s interesting by photographing it’. I have always loved almost every aspect of life and our environment and it has always been my intention to capture those seemingly mundane moments and surroundings that might pass unnoticed unless observed and captured by a sympathetic eye. 

Page 47

Print Sales Day Coming Up

A date for the diary for those of you in S.Wales.

Saturday, September 20th. Turner House Gallery, Penarth Nr. Cardiff. 

A number of photographers will be there to chat to about their work and will also have their books, zines and prints available for sale. For my own part, I will have almost all my books and many affordable prints from all my major bodies of work will be available - for that one day only. Special prices for a special day. 

Look forward to seeing you there and having a chat.

Here are some samples of what will available:

Vermont, U.S.A. Archival pigment print. A3+ size: £60.00 only on the day.

Powys, Wales, 1993. Archival pigment print. A4 - £30.00, A3+ - £55.00. Only on the day.  

Langdale, Cumbria, 1991.Archival pigment print. A4 - £30.00, A3+ - £55.00. Only on the day.  

Splott, Cardiff, 1969. Archival pigment print. 10" x 8" - £30.00, A3+ - £55.00. Only on the day. 

Also most of my books will be for sale on the day too. They are also available from:

https://petedavisphotography.bigcartel.com/

Two More Books

 Following on from the last post I have produced two more books.

'Cader Idris' - Soul of a Lonely Place is a new revised and much expanded edition of the limited edition first published in 1997. This edition sold out but was still in demand. As explained in the last post, the advantages of digital printing is that you can produce relatively small runs at a price that makes them affordable. This new edition has many more images that were in the original edition, plus all of the images that were contained in the platinum print portfolio and their accompanying 'Haiku'. It also has an introduction by Professor Alistair Crawford and a long essay by myself on the seminal painting of Cader Idris by Richard Wilson made in 1765. 

The book has 76 pages, 210 x 210mm perfect bound.

See more here: 

See more details here:   https://petedavisphotography.bigcartel.com/ 

And on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@pete-davis-photography/videos

Video of the Cader Idris book below

'Silentium' is a new, perfect bound and more affordable edition of the hardback book published in 2021. It has more images than the original edition, most in colour. 210 x 210mm ,perfect bound and 80 pages. 

    

All the images are from plant forms found in Pete's garden over a period of several years. Picked across all seasons and most are photographed when they are past their horticultural prime but display many other qualities that are usually missed or ignored. Some specimens are kept in Pete's studio for days, weeks or months until they reveal the qualities that seem to demand a closer look. 

Video flipping through the book below

See more details here:   https://petedavisphotography.bigcartel.com/ 

And on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@pete-davis-photography/videos

Publish or Die

See some of Pete's books here:            https://petedavisphotography.bigcartel.com/ 

More information on YouTube:                               https://www.youtube.com/@pete-davis-photography/videos

Probably one of the most important ways of getting your work seen by a wide audience is through the book form. A very long time ago when I was a very young photographer, photo books, in the U.K. at least were rare and relatively expensive. In the U.S.A. they were far more common and it took a while for them to bee seen in the U/K. I have been buying photo books for as long as I can remember and they are a constant source of ideas and inspiration. Not that I copy the work, but the breadth of the subject matter and the many ways to approach projects is always a stimulus for one's own work. 

A bonus today, which makes small runs of books economically possible is digital printing over the old, photo-mechanical, offset litho process. This only made economical sense, per unit, for long runs into the many hundreds, if not thousands. Now, it's possible to make photo books affordable with short runs, even in the tens and low hundreds. Making them affordable means more people see your work and there's no point in making work unless its seen.

The new 'Great Little Tin Sheds of Wales' catalogue. 

It's also a great way to revive older work that is still of interest or maybe the original publication is now out of print. My 'Great Little Tin Sheds of Wales' work was from 1984 and the original little catalogue that accompanied the exhibition at the time sold out very quickly. Reprinting this not only prompted a new exhibition of the work but allowed more images to be included than in the original and new essays to be commissioned which contextualised the images in an up to date manner in addition to reflecting on the impact of the work over the years. It also satisfied a demand from many individuals who had regretted not having the original catalogue. 

'Innocence of Eye' book

It also allows work to be published that might not have been seen in an exhibition
or maybe not a particular single project but a collection that, nevertheless, can sit together as a coherent whole. My 'Innocence of Eye' collection reflects many of my interests and what catches my eye as I travel around, maybe on other projects and work. It's an opportunity to collect all this together and make it accessible at an affordable price allowing folks to expand their photo book libraries without spending a fortune. Photography is a very democratic medium so this is another way to extend that. 'Innocence of Eye' has over 60 images taken 'off assignment' while on my travels in the U.K. & Europe. 

'The Expressive Land' book

'The Expressive Land' book was an opportunity to gather together a lot of work from several major projects into one volume. A hundred images from three separate major bodies of work made over a thirty year period. The original book was a limited edition hardback, this new one is a slightly smaller paperback but with more images than the original and being a paperback and not limited, much more affordable. 

More information on how I put these books together is on my YouTube channel. 

 https://www.youtube.com/@pete-davis-photography/videos

Pot Hunters and Parasites

 My YouTube videos are here: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pete-davis-photography/videos

 And my online shop: https://petedavisphotography.bigcartel.com

Someone who had watched some of my YouTube videos and read previous blogs emailed me with this comment about British camera clubs. 

“The talk in clubs is nearly always about gear not pictures. I was once told, as a very young man, by a senior club official in my home city’s photographic society that in order to produce work that was any good I needed to aspire to a Leica rather than the tatty Pracktica I was using. Needless to say I never went to that club again and I’m not convinced that attitudes have changed much over the years.” He’s dead right. Not only have they not changed but have become even worse, if that’s possible. 

 

Alltyblaca, Ceredigion, 2022. From the series: 'Flying the Flag'

Many years ago, when I was a very young photographer, there may have been just a scintilla of an excuse for camera club types not being aware of the wider world of serious photography because there were no books, (in the U.K. at least), very few exhibitions apart from the odd historical show in a museum and the amateur magazines were dire. (Nothing much has changed with them either). Now, with all the great galleries specialising in photography, the wealth of important photography books being published and the many talks, seminars, portfolio sessions that are taking place all over the U.K. there is no excuse. Of course, the people you never see at these are members of British camera clubs. They are actively discouraged from getting involved by the club ‘officials’, in case they may learn too much and realise that what is being pumped into them in the clubs has nothing whatsoever to do with contemporary photography. They continue to foster the ludicrous ‘competition culture’ for cheap silver-plated egg cups and the like for categories of imagery that has no relevance whatsoever in the contemporary world. What you end up with is a pointless and risible ‘parade of the pot hunters’ kept in ignorance by the club officials. 

 

Ceredigion, 2022. From the series: 'Flying the Flag'

Likewise, they deliberately censor and edit what is written in their club magazines and newsletters, withhold information and ‘dumb down’ the writings in case their members might end up knowing more than them. They edit out anything that challenges the archaic, out-dated and totally irrelevant ideas that they espouse to their members. Any article that deals with ideas around contemporary culture and photography or uses the current language of photography go straight into the editor’s shredder. If they have guest speakers at all, these are selected on the basis that they will not ‘rock the boat’ and simply pander to their outmoded photographic practices. These club officials are nothing but parasites feeding off the ignorance that they deliberately foster within their clubs. They then strut around with a self-importance that attempts to disguise this lack of knowledge. Maybe the worst of these are the so-called judges that hand out prizes based on a mythical rule book. They use this as an excuse for their own ignorance of contemporary photographic practice. Another way of keeping the members down. 

 

Drefach, Ceredigion, 2022. From the series: 'Flying the Flag'

Unfortunately, the R.P.S. must share in the blame for this. That this organisation, which was pretty much discredited some years ago when its important historical collection was removed from its ‘care’ still exists, is a national disgrace. Sadly, the camera club ‘pot hunters’ are still fooled into thinking that it is a credible organisation and persuaded to buy the worthless, so-called ‘distinctions’ that it peddles. We will never know what was lost or irreparably damaged from that collection before it was taken from it and put into the care of the then National Museum of Film and Photography – (now the National Media Museum in Bradford). The R.P.S. has never disclosed this. What remains of that collection is now in the V&A London.  

 

Sadly, many who initially join camera clubs do so in the hope of furthering their photography and learning about contemporary ideas to support this. Sadly, these members, like the one I quoted above, either leave quickly because they can spot that the ‘officials’ and ‘judges’ are ignorant and arrogant, or they stay because they have been conned by the bluffing and swaggering and then subsequently, their photography is doomed to stagnate in the mire of the sad club competition culture. 

 

Photography and comedy farce

 See Pete's videos here: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pete-davis-photography/videos

'Great Little Tin Sheds of Wales' - new 56 page catalogue
published by the Offline Journal. Available from
Pete's online store: https://petedavisphotography.bigcartel.com/

One of the great classic sketches of the 'Monty Python' series is the 'Ministry of Silly Walks'. John Cleese et al, loon around in a variety of ludicrous perambulations looking quite ridiculous. I'm reminded of this sketch every time I see amateur camera club prints displayed with a ridiculous 'title'. It's why British camera clubs are sometimes call the 'Ministry of Silly Titles'. Apparently it's virtually compulsory in British camera club circles to append a silly title because they think the viewers of the photographs are too dim to understand or decode the semiotics within the image. 

'Ceredigion 1982' One of the prints from the 'Great Little 

Tin Sheds of Wales' series purchased by the National Library 

of Wales to add to its collection my work they hold.

There have been so many examples that I have seen it can't just be a random thing. Photographs of mist in the morning titled 'morning mist'. Tombstones in church graveyards titled 'solitude', 'at rest' or 'peace'. One of my recent favourites was a picture of a guy going down an escalator titled  - wait for it - 'going down'. I have often wondered if they get extra points for these in their toe curling, embarrassing club competitions for prize candlesticks or plates. 

What it shows of course is that the knowledge and understanding of British camera club members are so far removed from contemporary mainstream photography and that they have probably never set foot in a photography gallery to even begin to grasp the protocols of captioning work or not insulting the intelligence of the viewers with facile and infantile titles. There's also a sad cult among camera club members of putting the make of camera and lens alongside their silly title. Is this some kind of show-off? Never mind the image, look at the camera I used! 

'Pembrokeshire, 1983'. One of the prints recently 
purchased by the National Library of Wales to add
to its collection of my work that they hold.

It's possible of course, for apposite titles of books, exhibitions or major bodies of work to be considered as a way of encapsulating the whole work in a way that summarises it, or draws attention to it. The titles or captions for individual images however, need to be simple and just factual in a minimalist way. Each viewer will then understand and can interpret the image according to their own social, cultural, educational or photographic background. To impose a particular viewpoint on any individual is insulting and patronising. It's this lack of sophistication and understanding of visual language found in British camera clubs that is most concerning. Even worse is the open hostility from them to embracing or even accepting, anything that appears to threaten their blinkered and outdated attitudes and ideas. Sadly, I have seen open hostility and sneering towards guest speakers at British camera clubs who have been sharing great images and contemporary knowledge and photographic culture. What a sad state of affairs, but at least we can be entertained by their silly titles!

I

Photography Competition Time! Not!

 Some of Pete's books and exhibition catalogues available here: https://petedavisphotography.bigcartel.com/

See videos of Pete here: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pete-davis-photography/videos

No, no, I'm not launching or entering any competition, not likely, given the appalling nature of British photo competitions, it's just another rant against the dreadful culture that's endemic in the British camera club scene.

Another list of possible prizes to win has landed on my studio desk from one such organisation and it's long list of ludicrous and totally irrelevant 'categories' to enter along with their equally ludicrous 'trophies'. It's clear from the categories that none of the organisers has ever set foot in a contemporary photography gallery, studied photography in any way or has any knowledge of recent trends in photography. When I say 'recent', in British camera club terms this means since the 1950's. 'Recent' to contemporary photographers means the last five years of course. Members of camera clubs have different notions of time and history! They are on a very different time zone. 

'Iris No. 8', 2018 Platinum / Palladium print

The categories include such things as winning the 'Nigel Snodgrass Candlestick' for the best 'large monochrome (not black and white of course) pictorial print with impact' and the 'Cecil Peabody Ashtray' for the best small colour non-pictorial print without impact. Imagine the prospect? Be still my beating heart! What's really sad is the deliberate 'dumbing down' that happens when you put photography into nonsensical categories like this. It's done on purpose of course to disguise the organisers own total lack of knowledge of contemporary ideas and trends and to drag down everyone else to their own level. Disgraceful. 

These attitudes and behaviour patterns relating to these silly competitions also impacts on how British camera club members relate to photographers who have devoted their lives to photography and produce exciting new work. I have witnessed this too many times and as well as being rude and ignorant, I find it very sad. I attended a talk last year by a prominent photographer who had produced much significant work and he poured out his heart, showed some great work and should have been well received. Sadly, the audience was infested with British camera club members who were less than respectful. A few near me in the audience just stared at the floor for the whole illustrated talk, shuffled their feet and mumbled and grumbled all the way through. 

'Windfalls No. 1' 2018, Platinum / Palladium print

Questions at the end and any intelligent debate that might have ensued was killed stone dead by the first club member's question. His hand shot up and he asked, 'do you have a favourite lens?' After the high level of work he had shown, plus the obvious lifelong dedication of the photographer giving the talk, this was a real patronising slap in the face and actually insulting. Clearly these individuals have no notion of contemporary photography, ideas or protocols and are being pandered to by weak and ineffectual camera club organisers and officers who know no better themselves. 

Their patronising attitude to those of us who have made photography our life's work is akin to the old days of cricket where there were 'gentlemen' and 'players'. The 'gentlemen' were second rate amateur players who could afford to indulge their hobby and buy their way into winning worthless trophies. The 'players' who were looked down on and patronised by the 'gentlemen' were the real professional talent that gave the game its reputation and advanced the skills. I daresay they were sneered at by the 'gentlemen' in the same we that we photographers who have dedicated our lives to advancing and teaching photography are sneered at by British camera club members. (Attitudes are very different outside the U.K.)

'Cwm Rheidol', 2019. Platinum /Palladium print

If I'm asked what I do and I say photographer, most people accept this at face value. If I'm asked by a British camera club member they will inevitably ask 'amateur or professional'? My reply is usually to ask them if they would ask that if my response had been 'brain surgeon'? I know, brain surgery is a matter of life and death. However, photography is more important than that. Well, it is to a photographer but obviously not to a member of a British camera club. 

A short 'walk-around' my exhibition

See more of Pete's work here:

https://www.youtube.com/@pete-davis-photography/videos

Some of Pete's exhibition catalogues and books available here https://petedavisphotography.bigcartel.com

Just a short walk-around a part of the 'City Stories' exhibition at Aberystwyth University School of Art gallery running until January. The work was made between 1969 and 1977. 

One half of the exhibition deals with images taken mainly in Splott, Cardiff at the time that the area was being 'redeveloped' and the long-standing working class community broken up. 

The other part of the show are photographs taken around Cardiff City centre at a time just before it began its own redevelopment and transition from its post war look and feel.

New Online Shop Open

See videos of pete discussing his work and working here: https://www.youtube.com/@pete-davis-photography/videos

 Photo books and exhibition catalogues are a great and inexpensive way for folks to have a great collection of images. This is why contemporary documentary photographers are keen to distribute their work in this way. Exhibitions are great of course, especially when they tour, seeing original prints at first hand is a unique experience. 

However, the audience for those is by definition going to be limited and as documentary photographers want their work to be seen by as wide an audience as possible, the book or catalogue is a great way to distribute the work.

To make this easier for anyone wishing to acquire one of my publications I have set up an online shop here: https://petedavisphotography.bigcartel.com/

Shipping is to within the UK only at present.

The selection available will change from time to time. Many of the publications are limited editions and there are very few left of some so once they are gone, they are gone. The various descriptions of what's available at the moment are featured below.

56 page, signed, 210 x 210 mm catalogue published to accompany the new touring exhibition of this work first seen nearly 40 years ago. The original slim catalogue sold out almost immediately and has become a collector's item. This new publication contains a facsimile reproduction of the original catalogue plus all the images that were in the original exhibition plus some images never printed before. There are also essays by Geoff Young, owner of Ffotogaleri - y - Gofeb, Pete Davis and Susan Daniel-McElroy who, as director of Ffotogallery Cardiff in 1984, produced the original exhibition and catalogue.
https://petedavisphotography.bigcartel.com/product/great-little-tin-sheds-of-wales-redux-catalogue

Set of ten 'Great Little Tin Sheds of Wales' postcards.
https://petedavisphotography.bigcartel.com/product/great-little-tin-sheds-of-wales-set-of-10-postcards 

48 page, signed, limited edition soft back book. 240 x 300 mm. Published by Aberystwyth University School of Art. The photographs are printed in beautiful duotone with contextualising essays by Prof. Alistair Crawford and Pete Davis. Only a very few left.
https://petedavisphotography.bigcartel.com/product/cader-idris-book