Cry Me A River

Well, maybe not to the extent of actual, real tears, but as I sit down to write this, I’m pretty made-up, emotionally. Why? Because I’m just home from dismantling the “Watching The River Flow” exhibition, which I’ve lived with for the last month.

No, actually much longer than that. I committed to making the best of my photos of my local stretch of the River Medway into an exhibition about 13 months ago. I began taking the photos as long ago as 2011. The story has been told in one form or another on this blog occasionally since then. When I began, I didn’t have any thought of an exhibition in mind. I held a more general show in February 2014 and included in it three or four pictures of the Medway near to where I live. These were well-received and two even sold. That show got exhibitions out of my system for a little while, but 18 months later, I made an optimistic booking of the “Below 65” Gallery for November 2016, and it was suddenly “a thing”.

At the time, and for a few months, it seemed a pretty distant “thing” too. Gradually, gradually, a collection of the cream of my photos began to form, although I was, of course, adding to the pile very regularly and often. To be honest, I was still juggling the selection as late as three weeks before the show opened.

My last blog here was of the ever so slight sense of anticlimax and anxiety that arrives once the show-building is over, stuff is on the wall, and the artist is waiting for his public to arrive – and wondering whether they even will.

And now, they’ve been, and gone. A thousand thanks to all of the friends, old and new, who visited, encouraged and supported the show. To those of you who bought stuff – work off the walls, unframed prints, souvenir mugs, or Christmas cards – thank you especially. You have a piece of what became a significant part of my life in recent times. Care for it well, please.

The exhibition enjoyed good and regular foot-fall pretty much from the off. The local paper screwed up on publicity initially, but things really picked up once news of the show had appeared in print. It would be facile to categorise the visitors into “buddies, browsers and buyers”, although I was supported by all three. Highlights for me came from meeting old friends, in some cases after quite a break, and in sharing “my river” with everyone. I’m going to remember for a long time the local fisherman who took me on a tour of my own show, and told me the fishermen’s local names for nearly every stretch of the Medway I’d photographed. I had no idea there were such things. Many running friends visited, and the support from amongst the Maidstone Parkrun regulars, who I photograph almost every Saturday morning, was huge. Thank you all.

I sold ten pieces of work during the course of the exhibition, out of the 33 framed prints on display. As exhibitions like this go, I think that’s impressive. It’s certainly a relief. I’d hoped for some sponsorship to underwrite the show, but ended up self-funding it all. I’m much less out of pocket now than I ever expected to be!

The absolute stars of this for me have been Elaine and Chris, who run the Gilbert&Clark framing and printing shop upstairs to the “Below 65” gallery. I’ve had the benefit and great joy of their company, skill and experience right through the life of this show. Their printing and framing skill has wowed my visitors every day and will continue to do so, I hope, as I try to find homes for the pieces of work as yet unsold. I cannot recommend them too highly. If you need printing and framing, look no further.

And would I do this again? Well, not for a while, I think. I’m open to offers, of course. I’m not currently working on anything that (yet) has the makings of a full-on exhibition. But as little as two years ago, that’s pretty much what I’d have said about my Medway work. We’ll all just have to wait and see what happens.

Now, where’s that celebratory special whisky?