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The Wirral Spring Art & Photography Exhibition 2013

On Friday evening we were supposed to attend the preview event for the annual Wirral Spring Art & Photography Exhibition held at the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead. Unfortunately, because of the poor weather we couldn’t make it.

For those who don’t know I entered this last year for the first time and was fortunate enough to have two pieces accepted for the exhibition. This year they changed the rules so that you could only put forward one piece for consideration, but like last year my image was selected for display. I knew about this a couple of weeks ago, but it only dawned on me the other day that I hadn’t actually shared the news or the image with you…..so here it is:

I should also mention at this point that my darling wife Lizzy also decided to enter a shot this year and this was accepted into the exhibition as well. Below is Lizzy’s lovely shot of a pollen laden Bumble Bee going about it’s business…..well done Lizzy, very proud:

We eventually managed to beat the snow and get down to the gallery on Sunday to see our shots displayed in the exhibition. Overall the standard was high, although not quite as good as last year in my opinion. There were 47 images displayed in the photography section of the exhibition (I have no idea how many entries there were originally). Of these 47, five were recognised by the judges – 1 prizewinner, 2 highly commended and 2 commended. Unfortunately Liz and I weren’t amongst these five and I have to say that I was surprised with 2 or 3 of the judges’ choices, as personally I think there were shots in the other 42 that were more deserving of recognition…..;0).

Still we shall keep trying and hope for better luck next year.

If you’re in the Wirral area and fancy popping in to take a look, then the exhibition runs until 5th May.

© Mark Simms Photography (2013)

Blue Mosque

I took this shot sometime ago now, back in September 2010 to be precise. It depicts the magnificent Sultan Ahmed Mosque (popularly known as the Blue Mosque) semi-silhouetted against a fairly dramatic Istanbul sky.

So why, I hear you ask, am I now posting images taken two and half years ago? Well I shall tell you….

I’ve been inspired to look again at some of the shots from our Istanbul trip, because an artist friend of ours – Tilly Wilkinson – mentioned to me the other day that she liked the images from this collection, but couldn’t find them on my website. Unfortunately these fell victim (like a few hundred other photos) to the decision I made when I started blogging on WordPress not to post a whole load of shots from my back catalogue, but instead to choose some for my galleries and then to move forward with new images. So although I do have a couple of shots of the Blue Mosque in my Architecture gallery, that is about it…..until now…..:0).

Suitably enthused I shall post some more images from our Istanbul adventure over the next few days and weeks…..so watch out for those if you’re interested. In fact I may (in those rare lean periods when new work is a little thin on the ground) look to see what other photographic gems I can unearth from the past and share them with you too.

© Mark Simms Photography (2013)

Wirral Photo Exhibition – Opening Night

For those of you who read my previous post on the Wirral Photo Exhibition – well here’s the follow-up.

On the evening of Friday 29th June all those individuals who had entered work for the exhibition (and their family and friends) were invited to a private viewing at the Williamson Art Gallery. It was an excellent evening and very busy – in fact it’s usually the galleries busiest night of the year.

I was delighted to see my two pieces up on the wall……and even though I do say so myself I think they stand up pretty well against most of the other photos in the exhibition. Having said that there were a few stand-out shots. The winner, ‘Abandoned Boat’ by Marianthi Lainas, is a beautifully simple image. In fact it also won the landscape round in Practical Photography and Digital Photo magazine’s ‘Photographer Of The Year 2012’ competition. So the standard is pretty high…..I had heard that approx 2/3rds of all entries get rejected. Now that I know the form and standard of work I’ll definitely be entering again next year.

Although I’ve concentrated on the photography part of the competition, I ought to mention that a friend of ours, Tilly Wilkinson, had a very succesful evening as one of three prize winners in the Art section. As a result her enamel wall panel of one of Hartley’s Towers on the Liverpool Dock Estate has now been bought by the Williamson Art Gallery and will form part of it’s permanent collection. Well done Tilly…!!

The exhibition is now open to the public until 9th September – so if you’re local to the Wirral and have an hour or so to spare then pop a long and take a look.

Wirral Photo Exhibition

I’ve already posted this on Facebook, but I thought I would repeat it on my photoblog now that it’s up and running!

I had some excellent, ego and confidence boosting news last weekend. I received written confirmation that the two shots below have been accepted into The Wirral Spring/Summer Art & Photography Exhibition 2012.

The exhibition is held at the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead and is open to the public from 30th June to 9th September.

There is a preview and prize giving evening on 29th June – I don’t think for one minute that I’ll win anything, I’m just delighted to have both my entries included in the exhibition itself!

I’ll post again after 29th June with an update of how the preview evening went.