Hi Everyone

This weeks blog is about photographic exhibitions and what you need to consider during the planning stages of an exhibition.  I haven’t had a planned exhibition for a few years with covid being the main issue and as a fine art and event photographer operating around Edinburgh, Glasgow and throughout Scotland, I am looking forward to planning an infrared exhibition from scratch in the near future.  When I say from scratch I mean with new photos and a new outlook.  So what do you need to take into consideration when planning an exhibition. Here is my list of important considerations:

1 What do want to exhibit for, this is the main one, do you want to boost online sales, or just use it as a promotion tool to get your name out there, or as in my case, do you want to sell images at the exhibition and are the ones on display for sale.

2. The size of the images and the frames used are very important, for instance for infrared I like metallic images and I was A3 or A2 if possible but also some smaller prints, if I want to sell at lower cost for multiple sales.

3. Choose your venue carefully, do you want to utilise a local venue at lower cost, but one that would require more income outlay to promote the event.

4. Who are you aiming the exhibition at.  If I had a commercial event and corporate photography exhibition, this would be very different from a fine art, landscape or infrared photography exhibit and they would all require different marketing strategies.

5. Who do you want the exhibit to appeal too.ie is it a specialised market, or local and any walk-ins. You may not need to market it much if it is on a high street of a city for instance.

6. The pricing of the images is very important.  Are you going for high value limited edition prints or a higher number of sales.  Or do you not want to sell at your exhibition at all.

7. How will you market the event ie online, leaflets, local newspaper advert or story etc.

8. What format will the day take ie will there be an opening day with private invites, wine, special offers etc. and how long will it last, some stay open for a few weeks, others just consist of a planned one day exhibit.

9. how much is your total budget and when you set it try and keep to it.

10. Evaluate the success of the exhibition after it has finished ie did you make a profit with the sales, or has it helped get your name out there as a professional event photographer in Edinburgh or Glasgow, Scotland, for instance.

Anyway, hope that helps.  more info on my exhibition soon.  One thing is for certain mine will be on the subject office art infrared photography.

Until next time.

Kind Regards

Colin