An exhibition first...

I shouldn't over egg this, but today was an exciting first for me and Sonning Creatives, my first 'exhibition'.  Well more of a sale really…

It's Christian Aid Week - the key fundraising moment of Christian Aid's year.  Thousands of volunteers on door steps, services and collections around the country, and CA staff all get stuck in with fundraising around the office.  So I took a deep breath, prepared some stock and set up a sale, with 35% of all sale proceeds going to Christian Aid to support their fabulous work around the world.  As a result of today's sale I will be donating £38 to them, with a possible few extra sales to come later this week.

So what sold?  There were two clear winning images:  Ripples - a minimalist seascape, and Autumn in Pastel - a gentle, slightly muted shot taken at Westonbirt arboretum.  Most sales were of cards, but these were helped by having A3 and A4 prints on display in 20x16 inch and 16x12 inch mounts.  A few London shots were sold including St Paul's in HDR and St Paul's the dome, with Tower Bridge Blues also popular.

Among floral shots,Outstanding Lily was popular.

So what did I learn?  Well its fun discussing photos with colleagues... Price point is important for a work place sale - £2 cards (14cm square) outsold the £2.50 A5 cards.  Solid, middle of the road cards that people can keep in the draw for when needed.  Black & White shots are marmite:  you really love, or you really don't!  £15 A4 16x12s will sell if they touch people's interest.  But its not the chocolate box floral prints that really sell at this ad hoc sale.  Its the shots that are a little different, that succeed in bringing a little of the photographer's vision to life.  And when you can do that, people will purchase.

All I have to now is make more shots like that!

Christian Aid Week runs until Sunday 19th May.  I'm happy to continue offering the 35% donation on sales up till 26th May:

A5 cards £2.50, 14cm square cards £2.00.  Prints, mounted and backed:  6x8 inch, mounted to 8x10 £8.00; A4 mounted to 16x12 inch £15; and A3 mounted to an impressive 16x12 inch £25.  Carriage at cost - lets discuss.  Email me at Colin@SonningCreatives.co.uk if you would like to discuss an order.

Photography: feet can be as important as hands

 Photographs are taken with the hands - right?  Well, perhaps not!  Sometimes the photographer's feet are just as important!

In November I visited Snape Maltings - a gentle, reed-girdled river just in from the Suffolk coast.  It was a perfect Autumn afternoon, the river showing a classical mirrored stillness.  The colour contrast between river / sky and the reeds was glorious and I couldn't wait to get the camera out.  
This part of the east coast always offers huge skies, but with no cloud, the interest was in the landscape.  My first shot showed that big sky and good reflections.  But the image lacked something.  It had no pizzazz.

So I walked on a little … no more than 30 or 40 yards… and suddenly the vista opened up, revealing a beautiful S-curve.  The final key to the shot was to engage knees too and take it from a lower position to provide some foreground interest by emphasising the reeds on my side of the river.

The final image needed very little post-processing - a judicious crop, and a little detail boost was about it.

This shot makes a great canvas - but you wouldn't give it a second glance if I hadn't moved my feet!

Available as canvas or print at http://www.redbubble.com/people/colinkemp/works/9731016-autumn-in-snape