Visions of Japan at Global Gallery (AutoStitch image by Pete Leong)

It’s been a couple of months since I held my Visions of Japan exhibition at Global Gallery. I’d promised I’d write a  post about the experience of putting on this exhibition, sorry it took so long. (If you haven’t read it all ready, take a look at my previous post Zen and the Art of Photography Exhibitions in which I talk about what I learned from my first few shows)

1) Space

I had more space for this exhibition. It was great to be able to show a large range of images. I did however only hire half the gallery to save on rental costs. I was able to display around 20 framed A2 landscapes and 24  matted A3 portraits.  The larger area also gave me the space for several tables from where I could display and sell prints.

2) Costs

The basic costs for gallery rental, postcards and posters came to a little over 100,000 yen or $1000. In addition to this were the costs of producing the pieces for display.

3) Sales

This was the first exhibition where I had items for sale. Rather than just handing over a business card and telling people to go through the website, people could browse through the prints and purchase them then and there. Along with the larger prints I produced some smaller pieces to give people a greater selection. (The smaller pieces are not available on the website but can be purchased at Kadena Gift Corner on Okinawa). Over the week I sold several prints, which covered the cost of the exhibition. I’d like say a huge thank you to those who purchased prints, it’s really appreciated and it’s an honor to have my images on display in your homes.

Vision of Japan at Global Gallery (A ropey first attempt with AutoStitch for the iPhone)

4) Visitors

There were around 320 visitors to the exhibition over the six days. The majority of visitors came to Global Gallery having been invited directly by me, having received a postcard from me, or having read my blog. Surprisingly few visitors were passersby. The main reason for this was due to the location of the gallery. Although in a busy shopping center,  Global Gallery is located on the 3rd floor along with restaurants, a hairdresser and a photo studio. People browsed on the first two floors, but didn’t make it up to the third floor unless they were going to the restaurants (or for a hair cut). As the space is not always occupied with exhibitions, you also don’t get people who habitually drop by the gallery to see what’s on show. Overall, if you don’t get the word out about your event, people probably won’t come. Advertising and promotion is just another skill that photographers need to learn. (It turns out that simply watching Mad Men doesn’t make you an advertising genius.)

5) Digital Photo Frame

Back in 2009 I had an exhibition at Cotonoha Art Space + Cafe. One of the great things about Cotonoha was the presence of a digital projector and screen that allowed you to display far more images than using wall space alone. At this exhibition I tried something similar but on a much smaller scale. I bought a 8-inch digital photo framefrom Amazon Japan for about 80 dollars, uploaded a selection of images, and placed it on the counter. It worked really well, although it’s not quite the same as having comfy sofas and your images being projected onto a wall.

Overall the exhibition was a good experience. Thanks again to everyone who came by. Your support is really appreciated. If everything goes to plan I’ll have my first exhibition in Tokyo this year. Watch this space 🙂