Dorset Art Weeks

One of the great things about living in the South West, ie, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, means that there are always 'arty' things going on.  Lyme Regis is already preparing for its ArtsFest in September by laying out art trails of sculptures by local artists.

We, in Dorset, also have Dorset Art Weeks - this year from May 28th to June 12th where you can visit exhibitions, artists' studios and various other art locations around the county.

http://www.dorsetartweeks.co.uk/http://www.dorsetartweeks.co.uk/

I'm looking forward to visiting some of the venues next week where visitors can experience a varied collection of painting, printmaking, textiles and photography together with sculpture in the gardens from over 15 local artists.  They include night photography by Stephen Banks.  Stephen has been to my local camera club and explained how he creates his amazing night sky photography.  It's absolutely stunning.

Mother Teresa exhibition in Sorento, Italy

Found a very touching exhibition, called The Light of God, in a back street church in Sorrento,Italy. A photographer called Rafael Selantano was allowed to photograph Mother Teresa at her orphanage in India, something not many people were able to do during her lifetime.

The pictures were not just of Mother Teresa but of the whole orphanage. It was very moving see how the nuns all lived and worked together with the children

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I'm surprised, if you read the history of the photographer above, how he was given access to the nuns and watch them praying, eating and working. I would have thought a female photographer would have been more acceptable but who knows what motivates people.

Book: Women by Annie Leibovitz & Susan Sontag

This coffee table book by Leibovitz was featured in the manual accompanying the G&M course so I managed to get a copy from my local library to peruse.

The photos are beautiful and portray women from all over the US and with all types of backgrounds. There is also a short section written by Susan Sontag, Leibovitz's late partner, with background information about them.  The book helped me realize that there are lots of opportunities in life as one gets older. Many of the women in the book are old but they still seem very much alive. Most of them have done some astonishing things in their lives!

There are photos of actresses and other famous faces, but I prefer the pictures of "ordinary women" - the ones that we meet every day but don't pay attention to.  Whether famous or unknown each woman is photographed by Leibovitz to bring out their strengths. Image after image of staged and unstaged shots draw you through the book, revealing each woman. Ultimately it is a book which celebrates and empowers womankind.  The book is one I would like to own but its cost is prohibitive.

WCPF (Western Counties Photographic Federation) Members’ Exhibition 2016

This exhibition is one of the highlights of the WCPF’s year where 100+ of the best print images and a showing of all accepted images were on display for two weeks in May. 

I went with three other members of my camera club went to Buckfast Abbey yesterday (May 12^th) and enjoyed a wide range of images of all subjects. The WCPF award gold, silver and bronze medals to the images they consider the best in various categories.  There was also a display of 130+ images on a loop, the majority of which were superb.  

It’s certainly an eye opener to view such amazing images, especially when you can identify with some of the photographers and we all came away highly impressed with what we saw.