Countdown

There are only a few days until my exhibition, and this morning I discovered it's going to rain heavily on Saturday, my opening day. Besides decreasing attendance, it will make things messy, but I have to plan to try to make is smooth as possible.

Besides the bigger chores like having photos printed and framed, there are a lot of details I overlooked. I'm still putting together sound (editing and mixing it on Garage Band). I also have to make sure the printers are on time for the exhibition programs. Some things I've taken upon myself to make the gallery more pleasant. For instance, now with the rain, I'm going to have to get some mats, throw rugs, and make sure to have extra towels on hand because here you just never know what kind of crazy things might happen with a lot of rain.

I've been making final preparations the past few days. I've sent out invitations and reminders aimed mostly at the expat and diplomatic community. I printed formal invitations and am going to make a final run through to hang up more posters and personally take invitations to select people. I had my summary printed and am finishing captions, sales lists and title cards. I bought and assembled hanging supplies like fishing line, adhesive velcro, hooks and various glues and sticky things.

Odds and ends that are on my list for the opening are items like wood spray (for fixtures) and glass cleaner. But bigger things on my checklist include the food and beverages: wine, juice, coke, water, food (I made it myself: small empanadas (meat pies), cheese, crackers, spiced almonds, and a vegetable tray with dip), nice plastic cups, napkins, tablecloths, folding table, purified ice and an ice chest, and garbage bags. I hired a bartender, waitress, gallery attendant (gallerista), a security guard and a couple of guys to hang the show.

Other little things I've done at the suggestion of Melissa, my assistant, are getting a register or guest book, putting together a price list for anybody who might want to purchase a print, getting a business card holder for my cards, and a cup of sharpened pencils. Pledge, wood cleaner, has to be found to tidy up the stands which will hold the three-dimensional map of the Marginal I had an artisan make.

Today, I have to go back to my framer and pressure them a bit. A thing that drives Americans here crazy (and just plain confuses Scandinavians) is the lack of promptness. Last week I was told that my frames would be finished this past Saturday. When I went to pick them up yesterday, they weren't done. Unfortunately it is to be expected, and I prepared for this cultural laxness so I wouldn't be completely out of luck on Friday when we hang the show. Such is life in Mozambique.

Exhibition Press

I've been working hard on my major project exhibition. I finally got all of my prints done. If anything, this has been an excellent experience. So often, I have been dealing electronically with photographs whether correcting and editing on my computer to sending to clients or agencies by FTP, posting on blogs or filing on to my hard drive. Stepping back a few weeks ago to my tutorial with John Easterby and his advice to print my photos to help with the edit, it was an exercise in simplicity. Physically seeing prints of my photographs made me recall what I used to do daily when I started in newspapers, that is, printing.

It's such an essential part of the photograph and one of our lecturers even made the point that a photography doesn't really exist until it's printed. I had a couple of very large prints made (A1) and it is really sort of breathtaking. If I had a few thousand dollars extra, I would have loved to have printed them all that size, talk about impact.

Now I am working on my text for the show and am busy translating the statement for the show into Portuguese with the help of friends. I have also started on publicizing the show which is less than a month away. Today, I got my first press. It's always a bit odd being the one written about when you're used to putting others in print.

Links:

All Africa

Casafree (French)

Living in Maputo

Exhibition Drama

I met with a friend of mine from AMF (Mozambican Photography Association) to protest my being bumped. After presenting my case, it was obvious that it was some funny business going on that more than likely involves money and payoffs. While in the scheme of things, it's small potatoes, it was a big deal to me. Despite having all of the evidence, saved e-mails, text messages and other documentation that showed that my gallery booking was agreed upon, I was stuck. The other venues that I was interested in as alternates were booked, and I would not want to stoop to one of the smaller galleries.

In the end, I was only able to negotiate 2 extra days. My new exhibition dates are 21 November – 2 December. We're working on the poster and the program. Melissa is a wonderful designer and has been great to work with. We've spent the last few days trying to finish it and send them out to print. I'm finishing my summary and biography. A draft of the poster can be seen above.

This has been much more of an adventure than I anticipated: more work, pressure and stress than I imagined. I gave a lecture this evening about picture stories and photo essays, and showed my project. It was nice to simply talk about the pictures while seeing them projected big without thinking about the events of the past week.

Major Project Tutorial Update

My final project is titled "Vanishing Coast," and I will present it in an exhibition scheduled November 14 – 28 in Maputo, Mozambique. With the exhibit, I will have a 30-page catalogue printed up as well as promotional posters. The exhibit will include 40 prints and ambient sound that I have collected from various groups I have photographed.

This project is a continuation of one that I began at the start of the course examining the 10 kilometer strip of coast in Maputo called the Marginal. Working from the idea that coastal erosion, a major problem not only in Maputo but throughout Africa, may completely wash away the beaches here in what an expert estimated between 10 and 50 years. It is an ethnographical study of the people who use the beach: religious groups, fishermen, and those using it for recreation as one of the only green spaces in the city, whether for football, martial arts or sunbathing.

Ultimately, I'd like to have the work published in book form, using the exhibition and catalogue as a selling point in pursuing publishers.

Here's where I am. I have tight deadlines. My catalogue and posters must go out to print in two weeks time to make the show. Yet, I am still pushing for at least one more sponsor. At this point I only have one, Southern Sun Hotels, and have gone to several corporate entities such as Anadarko (an American oil company), Mozal (an aluminum corp), several banks, telecommunication companies, and a major beer company. This week, I should get the answers from the remaining groups I met with and did presentations.

Next, I actually have to have my work printed, which will be done in Nelspruit, South Africa-four hours away. However, I am working on my final edit, which has been very stressful. Then I will start doing promotion and publicity in the city. I have a friend, a photographer and former sports marketing expert, who has been assisting me. I also have a Mozambican photographer friend who will help me in publicizing and translating into Portuguese.

This has been an intense experience so far and has been underway really since February, but has picked up steam as the date approaches. It has been eye opening as far as the amount of work, planning and money it takes to do a credible exhibition that one can be proud of.

Finally, I intend to do a multimedia piece aside from my exhibition for the final which will include interviews and ambient sound. I don't intend to shoot anymore for the project but am planning a number of interviews with several of my sources in researching. Editing, again, I expect to be toughest.

www.vanishingcoast.info

Exhibit Momentum

I've been spending a lot of time working on my final project exhibit. The good news is that I have a date and location secured: the Mozambican Photography Association, or Associação Moçambicano de Fotografia (AMF). This week, I've dealt with rejection for corporate sponsorship from Mcel, the national cellular company and Rezidor Hotel group, but as much as I despise doing this, I'm going to others with my hat out. I've been pricing printers-not that there's a lot of choice here, but I'm going with a person that I've dealt with in Nelspruit, South Africa where I went earlier this week and met with to work out a deal which comes out to almost half of the price the big printer here estimated.

I have a check list that I'm working on now planning things like posters and post cards for advertising, a catalogue, information cards for the exhibit, framing and presentation, and my opening reception including food and beverages. More than anything, I need to do a final edit to get my prints and catalogue rolling. The time is going to go by really quickly, and deadlines are already looming.

I created an informational blog which I am going to register a domain name for and use on my promotional items.