Look; differently
1st-12th July 2008 at AirSpace
The camera has become an item that we take for granted; I remember my first camera, a plastic case with flip up view finder that I used to hang around my neck with pride on day trips. Now I forget that I carry a camera with me everywhere, because it is hidden within my mobile phone. Complex cameras have been reduced down to simple point and click, it seems professional photography is within everybody’s grasp. And yet upon entering an exhibition of pin hole photography I feel that I am brought down to earth, immaculate detailed photography holding places and people with such sensitivity are brought here from merely a hole in a box. I find it hard to understand exactly how that pin hole can create these images but the simple contraption is able to hold my attention much more than a shot from a 7 mega pixal digital camera. It is encouraging to see that although many of us are enticed by the easy click of a switch there are still those that long for the simple and archaic technologies of our past.
The latest exhibition at the AirSpace Gallery is that of International Women’s Research Resource, Iris. Look; differently uses the gallery space in a more traditional sense, the simple wall mounting draws you attention to the detail held within. And you are rewarded with detailed imagery and blurry long shots with comments such as ‘feeling naughty taking a photo in the national naughty’. From what the artists say I find that pin hole photography allows you to develop a relationship with your work, instead of seeing and taking you are required to make and risk. There is no way of knowing how an image will turn out. Seeing the exhibition has inspired me to bring out my dusty 35mm SLR and an old Lomo I got free from a website in my teens. The only question is how easy is it to get hold of 35mm film these days?
