Outdoor Photography Exibition

As a photographer there is something rather nice about stumbling unexpectedly upon an outdoor exhibition featuring the work of a fellow photographer. I have noticed that in France there seem to be plenty of these exhibitions dotted about, or perhaps I have just been fortunate to be in the right place at the right time.

Last year we came across a superb exhibition in Dinan in the aptly named Jardin Anglais, by photographer Thibaut Derien; his series “I Live in a Ghost Town,” a collection of photographs of permanently closed shops gathered over the past 20 years throughout France. In the words of the good burghers of Dinan …. “Located on the upper part of the ramparts behind the Saint-Sauveur Basilica, offering a panoramic view of the Rance Valley, the English Garden hosts an outdoor photography exhibition each year. It is the ideal place to house and offer passers by, whether curious or regulars, high-quality photographs that invite contemplation, examination, and absorption……..”

While we were there we saw a continuous but modest footfall of people in the garden, but in the thirty or so minutes it took us to look at all the panels, we were the only ones who took any notice of the exhibition – apart from us, not much sign of any “contemplation, examination, and absorption”. Were all the people in the gardens regulars who had seen the exhibition before? It didn’t look like it. It’s hard to explain the lack of interest or curiosity of the general public in exhibitions like this, but I have noticed this before. How do you entice passers by to stop and look? Comment below if you have the answer! There is an ulterior motive to this question that will be revealed in due course.

You can see Thibaut’s gallery of images for this project on his website here – a stunning collection of images and such a good idea for a long term project. Definitely worth a look.