What can happen in 210.9 seconds? The newest exhibition at the Godfrey Dean, 210.9 Seconds, shows a range of images depicting colour and motion through long exposures, from 0.25 seconds to 87 seconds in this show, with 12 photographers presenting their take on the idea.
Lori Maxim is a photographer and teacher, formerly with SIAST and now independent. She did the project with her higher level students, says it was a long process to decide what the theme of the exhibition was going to be. Once they did, the students had a large number of approaches to take.
“The requirements were that it had to have light, colour and motion through long exposures. A lot of the artists were exploring different ways they could achieve this, the hardest part was trying to make the exhibition cohesive.”
Artist Meagan Rae says it was an experimental project for the group, with many of them doing a long exposure for the first time. Given that the theme is relatively broad, the photographers were able to explore different ways of achieving the images, and the diversity of the results was partially due to the different approaches people took with their work.
“It’s everyone’s take on what long exposure is. There were a few different techniques we used, whether it was a lens pull, physically moving the camera, or your subject moving,” Rae says.
The experimental nature of the project also allowed people to create work which was very different from what they are used to. Donna McIntosh has been in the industry for 30 years, but her regular work is largely portraits, which is very different from the art in the show.
“This allowed me to enhance my skills, broaden my horizons and to become a part of a group like this was wonderful because I got to meet new people, make new friends, and learn different aspects of photography.”
McIntosh says that participating in the project has meant that she sees things around her in a different light, noting that driving from Regina had her seeing the potential in scenery she might otherwise ignore.
“That has really charged me over the past couple of years, to go out and do different things.”
The goal was also to do a minimal amount of Photoshop, being “purists in the camera” says Maxim. While people in the audience were sometimes convinced that there was a lot of post-processing work, Maxim says that they only did the bare minimum, if anything.
“We were priding ourselves on shooting technically correct in the camera and not having to do any post-production.”
The name of the show itself is a reflection of the work. Between all of the work shown, the shutter was open a total of 210.9 seconds.
210.9 Seconds runs until April 17 at the Godfrey Dean Art Gallery.
