Photographing Photographs

Swept along by Katrina Aleksa of Predella House:

I’m sat, once again, in a taxi, frames stacked up in the back, with my arm stretched out holding them upright. Transporting them round London to various exhibitions and events seems to have become a regular occurrence recently.

But this time feels different – an indescribable extra something – a frisson of excitement, lighting up my sixth sense. I am taking them to a photoshoot in Vauxhall, right on the Thames. It’s an area of London that is growing and changing fast, fizzing with feelings of new beginnings and possibilities as an old, edgy London mixes with a shiny new future. The same sensations I can feel echoing around my insides, in all my hopes for the future of my work.

As I unload the frames Katrina comes out to meet me and her eyes light up as she glances – almost involuntarily – from me to the work. Her desire to get them on the walls is obvious…she has a way of looking at your work that makes you feel like a proud parent. Her eyes seem to glaze over as she mumbles “beautiful”, almost to herself.

I first had the pleasure of experiencing this reaction to my images in April 2015 at the Rooftop Collectives Goldcrest Exhibition and I was hooked. I wanted – needed – to show her more images, like a child waiting, wide eyed, longing for approval. And luckily for me, she wanted to see more. We spoke for what seemed like hours, about my work as well as everything she was hoping to achieve with her company, the newly founded Predella House.

As we push the frames, balanced (almost precariously) on a trolley up to the flat she is using, we chat about her plans for the day. To celebrate, showcase and promote Predella House and its’ artists, Katrina has organised a day of drinks, interviews and networking with interior designers, bloggers and journalists in a couple of showcase apartments. A day of showing off her artists and also, while the work is up, photographing the work in situ.

A fantastic, proactive idea.

And there it is, the reason behind my sixth sense lighting up. Katrina’s ideas, enthusiasm and contagious excitement, as well as professionalism, knowledge and work ethic. The perfect set of ingredients for success in the art world (so I’m told), and I am proud to be a part of it – excited and itching to greet the future, working with Katrina to send my photographs out into her big wide world.

Fun times ahead.