Holga Blog

One reasonably sunny Saturday on the South coast of England. The shops are open, buskers are clashing in the air with sporadic musical styles, tourists gather and take snapshots of local landmarks shrouded in the flap of scaffolding. And somewhere in a nearby park, a loose-knit gaggle of local Flickr enthusiasts sporting a strange selection of cameras are busy trying to attach lengths of washing line to an array of tripods and trees.

The plan was simple: Hang some photos in wide-open public space for the ‘enjoyment’ of the passing local populace. (And drink beer.)

Sure, you could get into a deeply intense and philosophical discussion about the whys and the wherewithals of ownership of space, content moderation, advertising versus graffiti, and who can do what where. But we decided to bypass that. Armed only with an eclectic set of prints, a bag full of clothes pegs, and an optimistic helping of common sense, we set out to set up our own D-I-Y Exhibition in the middle of Brighton.

Setting up on the beach

Who Would Do Such A Thing?

Everyone probably has their own reasons for undertaking something like this. Here’s what I can think of:

• The thrill of “using” public space for something different, something unexpected to the usual permissions
• The notion that photography (and, by extension, anything…) can be appreciated anywhere, by anyone
• A chance for local and amateur photographers to have their work seen without paying large amounts of cash
• Practice for selecting and displaying a small set of your photos for public viewing
• To meet other local photographers, discuss their work, and get a go on obscure cameras they’ve probably brought along with them
• Maybe, just maybe, people will like what they see, giving you a sense of philanthropic satisfaction
• Because you can?

I should emphasise right now that such an endeavour is not a selfish one. The motivation must arise from a desire to explore and to entertain, rather than the desire for profit-making. The focus must be on free-ness – free-ness of “public” space, and the free-ness to enjoy photography for what it is. Not only will this make it a lot easier if you get “approached by the authorities”, it also re-asserts our reasons for getting into photography in the first place – our love of the image and a passion for storytelling.

Photos taped inside CD cases, ready for display

What You Will Need

• People – everyone has their own particular style, and you can’t be picky when your audience is the “general public”, so it’s great to get a diverse set of participants to keep the “exhibition” interesting. It’s obviously easier if you have a local group that meets regularly and knows each other well already, but don’t forget that the whole point is to encourage people who haven’t done this kind of thing to come forwards and join in. There’s a reason that this is the first bullet point in the list.
• Pictures – anywhere between 1 and a dozen per person is probably good, depending on size and how they’re hung. Some variety is good, so encourage people to think creatively in choosing prints. You also don’t want so many per person that it takes ages to set up and take down.
• Washing line and/or string – to hang photos from. Try to get more than you think you’ll need, as you’ll go through a fair bit trying to tie it onto things, setting up second lines, etc.
• Tripods – to hang the washing line and string on, to make it easy to move from place to place, and to look like true “photo geeks”. Sturdier is obviously better – and there’s a good chance you’ll have to get creative about how to anchor these down, especially if there are any breezes stronger than someone makes flicking through the pages of a book. Setting up near trees, railings, and other immovable objects is a good idea. You can also try to anchor the tripods to heavy objects, or standing nearby with one hand on them at all times.
• Clothes pegs/bulldog clips/string and tape – or some way of attaching pictures to the above washing line/string. We used a variety of methods, including using clips at the bottom of pictures to weigh them down in the wind, a second line of string to attach the bottom of pictures to, large plastic wallets to hold a number of photos in, and CD cases tied on with string. It can be something of a learning process, but if it works, that’s a win.
• Info – it may be nice/useful to have some small details on your work, or how to contact you. A piece of paper with your name and URL is fine, for example. Moo cards work well too.
• A location! – or 2 or 3, depending on what’s available, how many of you there are, how long you want to spend out on the streets, and what the chances are of being told to move on. It’s probably best to find places that aren’t trespassing, that aren’t going to annoy shopkeepers, that aren’t too devoid of passers-by, that don’t channel the wind like a jet engine, and that have some decent anchor points as per above. It should also be somewhere you don’t mind hanging out in for a while, and that people don’t mind a group hanging around. Parks might be a good starting point.

Our first chosen location, before and after the exhibition.

Once you have everything, work out a time to meet up at, and how long you hope to be in each location. Getting everything prepared in advance is a big help as you’re likely to hit a few obstacles in working out the best way of doing everything.

Depending on how adventurous you’re feeling, and the kind of place you’ve got in mind, you might also want to make some subtle enquiries about getting permission to set up. Sometimes it’s better to ask forgiveness later, but maybe you already know the owner of a location or just want to not have to worry about these things. FWIW, we’d intended to be in our first place for a couple of hours. About halfway through, security approached us to check what we were up to, and then gave us the council address to contact for permission, and an hour before they moved us on. There are some common sense “rules” with regard to this: 1. Always be nice and patient with security. Any aggravation will result in you getting moved on a lot faster, in the best of cases; 2. As above, don’t be there to sell photos – this gets you into the murky legal waters of trading and all that, which are probably not worth getting into without good reason; and 3. Don’t display photos which are potentially offensive, duh.

If all goes well, your tripods will stay standing, people will be interested enough to come and have a browse, some will chat with you, and you’ll end up having a lot of fun.

How (not) to secure your tripod

What I Learned

I readily admit that this was the first and only time that I’ve done this. Despite some moments of anxiousness, everything did go well, and I ended up having a lot of fun. Some of my lessons learnt are probably rather subjective, but I list them here in the hope that others will have shared them in the past, or will build on them in future. But, as with everything else in this write-up, Your Mileage May (and indeed Should) Vary.

Lesson 1: Busier areas don’t always bring a bigger audience. The second location we chose, metres away from a boardwalk, next to a fairly busy pub, actually attracted no visitors. There may be more people around, but if they’re intent on getting somewhere else (often with family or friends or kids) then they’re less likely to stop and have a look.

Lesson 2: Think about what photos you take with you – it’s one thing to continuously post photos up to Flickr, but another thing entirely to be selective, and present a number of photos together. Pick a theme, or a style, and choose a number of your images which fit well together within that. Having some kind of consistency or link between your work will help them to stand out as a whole when they’re hanging on the line.

Lesson 3: Don’t underestimate how much you need to get ready before heading along – and try not to get too drunk the night before if you do so. On the flip-side, last-minute necessity can often breed creative invention. The CD cases as frames worked rather well, but I would probably never have used them if I’d thought my framing in any kind of detail.

For more photos, see our ‘Hanging on the Line’ group on Flickr.