Photography Now! at Gateway Gallery
At the end of July, we handed the walls of Gateway Gallery over to 22 photographers.
There was no theme for Photography Now!, and that was really the point. Everyone was simply asked to choose up to four photographs they wanted to show.
Put together, they’ve made an exhibition that moves through street photography, documentary, portraiture, landscapes, travel, analogue photography and plenty that doesn’t fit particularly neatly into a category at all.
Some of the photographers have been making and exhibiting work for years. Some have come back to photography after time away from it. For others, Photography Now! has been a chance to put their work on a gallery wall for the first time.
The photographers taking part are:
Aaron Child, Alex Gunton, Alex West, Andrew Fusek Peters, Becky Haywood, David McCutcheon, David Yates, Emma Bacon, Hamish McKeown, James Warman, Liam Bray, Maria Jones, Matt Harrison Clough, Mike Ashton, Mike Matthews, Ming de Nasty, Nana Mazharova, Oliver Wilkins, Phil Langstaff, Richard Hammerton, Ruth Yardy and Tom Potter (I Am The Storm).
We opened the exhibition on 31 July with many of the photographers joining us at the gallery, alongside friends, family and visitors. Earlier in the day, Oliver Wilkins also brought his travelling Tintype Portrait Studio to Gateway, making portraits using the wet plate collodion process developed in the 1850s.
One of the nicest things about the exhibition has been seeing such different approaches to photography sitting next to each other. There isn’t one idea of what a photograph should be, or one kind of photographer represented. It’s simply a collection of people who enjoy making pictures, brought together in one room.
Photography Now! is also part of this year’s Shrewsbury Arts Trail, so if you’re making your way around the trail before the end of summer, make sure you come and have a look.
Photography Now! is open at Gateway Gallery until Friday 4 September, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. Entry is free.
