Trio in VAM35 at the Art Gallery of Mississauga

Trio, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Well, the opening (VAM35 @ AGM; see this article) is over, and it was really well attended. In fact it was a crush of the kind where inching sideways was necessary to navigate at times. Surprising as Mississauga is not known as a cultural hot spot and it was also pretty cold (-9C) and snowing last night.

I took my SLR but didn't really bother with it. It seemed more of an enjoy-the-moment kind of evening to me. Met some friends, drank some wine, and snacked on a couple of veggie spring rolls. Wondered how on earth a few of the works ever got selected, but on the whole quite enjoyed the show.

This was the first year (of 35) that photography was included with traditional fine art media, so I was proud to have been selected and to represent the photographic intruders. I printed my shot at 30 by 20 inches on gallery-wrapped canvas, which I thought was plenty large enough, but it was dwarfed by the paintings, some of which were enormous. I'd say the size of the average work in this show is 3x4 feet -- clearly Big Art is In.

But interestingly the show's First Prize winner was a conceptual piece made up of a collage of photos. Not strictly Photography per se as it's documentation of the work which is really an installation, or a series of smaller installations.

I didn't win anything, except for a warm buzz of participation -- or from the wine; unsure which.

Undercover

Undercover, a photo by Bruce M Walker on Flickr.

Light on the right is courtesy one of the best bargains in lighting, one that anyone can afford: a Fotodiox 36" silver umbrella softbox. List is $34.95 but I got 25% off during Christmas so it cost me $26 with free delivery!

Update: it's actually very easy to use with a hotshoe flash: put both on a stock umbrella mount and slide the flash and mount right inside the umbrella through the opening in the white diffusion fabric. Set the flash on wide. I flipped-down the fresnel diffuser on my Pentax AF540 as well.  It's a little tricky to use with a hotshoe flash (the opening is positioned for a studio strobe), but with a couple of umbrella mounts and a Lowell Tota clamp I got it going with my Pentax AF540.  It provides beautiful soft light with a gradual fall-off.

Light on the left is a Fotodiox 24" folding softbox with the front diffuser off, acting similar to a beauty dish; ie: more specular than normal. Pentax AF540 inside.

Background is a 42" 5-in-1 reflector set to The Dark Side. Lights triggered by Cowboy Studios wireless triggers.

Model/MUAH: Louise Peacock
Photo/Retouch: Bruce Walker - Model Mayhem # 1440574
Studio: The Family Room :-)

Invitation to VAM35

A work of mine was accepted into Visual Arts Mississauga's VAM35, and the opening reception is Thursday the 17th, Mississauga City Hall, at 6 PM.

If you are in the Mississauga/Toronto area (Ontario, Canada), I'd love to see you there!

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO ATTEND

VISUAL ARTS MISSISSAUGA’S

35^th Annual Juried Show of Fine Arts

@ the Art Gallery of Mississauga

January 17 to March 2, 2013

300 City Centre Drive

Mississauga, ON   L5B 3C1

Opening Reception & Awards

Thursday, January 17, 6 p.m.

Walk the Talk

Saturday, January 26, 1 p.m.

Exhibition hours

Weekdays 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (8 p.m. on Thursdays)

Weekends: noon to 4 p.m.

Admission is free

VAM │ Celebrating 35 years of making art