A Few More Exhibitions

I've visited a few more photographic exhibitions in central London in the last month or so - "Shadow Catchers: Camera-Less Photography" at the V&A, "Take a View" at the National Theatre and "World Press Photo 10" at the Royal Festival Hall. Ironically, of the 3 exhibitions visited, the one I enjoyed least was the only one for which  I had to pay an entry fee - albeit only £5 - which was "Shadow Catchers" exhibition at the V&A, It shows the work - of 5 contemporary photographers - photographic images made without the use of cameras. Good to see contemporary work - and one offs - but they seemed to be too abstract for my liking.

The other 2 exhibitions were both free. Free exhibitions are great for encourging  repeat visits which I had to make to properly view the "Take a View" landscape exhibition. Shame the first time around I was with people who were in a hurry on somewhere else. Their loss, not mine. Having said that, the second visit was almost as bad, as the exhibition space was crowded with a pre theatre audience. Once they'd gone into the performance, I could enjoy the pictures. Liked the large black and whites. Wondered how some of the photographs got into the exhibition - this is supposed to be a Landscape Exhibition , and whilst a section is classified as "Urban View", several of the selections seemed to be more reportage or documentary, or even portaiture.

World Press Photo 10 despite the "10" in the title, featured press photos from 2009. Seeing the exhibition in late 2010,  I had to rely on memory to put a context to the photographs, and if the photo was taken early in 2009 its almost 2 years ... in some cases this isnt a issue, in other cases it is. Good to see several sequences of photographs on show, as well as individual images.