IC:Innovative Craft Blog

A world of images

Posted Tuesday 20 October 2009, 01:37pm

Thinking about photography has dominated the last few weeks, as decisions about different ways of digitally printing our 20 plus images for Image/Craft (size, paper type, finish etc.) have been explored at length.  Edinburgh photographer Michael Wolchover has been fantastic, searching out paper and board samples to help the decision making process.  A low point was looking at samples in the North Gallery with two photographers, a curator and a maker – none of whom agreed on the best way forward!  A high point was talking to National Museum Scotland’s expert printer, Steven Baird, (IC is producing this show in association with NMS) who guided us swiftly from indecision to clarity and a way forward. 

Lots on in Edinburgh around photography at the moment.  ‘The Heart of the Great Alone: Scott, Shackleton and Antarctic Photography’ at the Queens Gallery, Holyrood is a beautiful collection of images by Herbert George Ponting and Frank Hurley which documents the landscape and the lives of the explorers in compelling ways that underline the skill – both technical (try taking a photograph at minus 40 degrees!) and artistic – of the photographers.  A different face of photography, ‘Salt of the Earth’ has just been unveiled at NMS – a collection of ‘famous faces with Scottish roots’ by Craig Mackay: lushly printed large scale portraits which invite the viewer into the lives of the sitters through carefully selected details and crops.  Image/Craft sits well in this context considering, as it does, the role of photography in creating the image, context and quality of contemporary making/makers. 

Joanna Kane, an Edinburgh photographer and contributor to Image/Craft, who created the amazing Somnambulist exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2008, is helping IC develop a special photography event at Dovecot later in the year.  Watch this space for details!

Amanda