Uncle Willy's Photo Night

WillowC · Contributor Joined: 25 Jun 2008 Posts: 4 Location: London

by Sarah Burnside

You’re young, enthusiastic and wield a camera like a pro, but making sure other people see the results is a challenge many potential success stories never quite overcome. Being arty is not the same thing as understanding self-promotion.

Sometimes, however, an artist comes up with an idea that combines all the golden rules of getting the word out, and a photography exhibition by William Pine at 93 Feet East, a bar on London’s Brick Lane, did just that.

Choosing a venue in one of the most fashionable parts of London ensured that ‘Uncle Willy’s Photo Night’ attracted the cool, the connected and the self-aware and gave the experience an instant tick of credibility.

Pine’s second good decision was to base his event around beer and socialising, dispensing with the formalities and presenting his photography as an overhead slide show, accompanied by his personal collection of vintage soul and blues on the sound system. Relaxed and swigging lager, the audience had only to settle back and watch as the images flowed past.

Pine describes his work as relief, a way to escape his struggle with the social order and to capture the world forever. His pictures are unprocessed and taken using film, intended to document his turbulent feelings and love of the ‘truth’.

Each picture was shown for less than 10 seconds. The emphasis was placed as strongly on quantity as quality and the pictures, though loosely arranged by theme and topic, were random enough to feature something for every taste.

By making use of the venue’s readily available props, Pine made the evening cheap for himself and easy for the audience. By inserting his work into a relaxed, summer evening in the heart of the city, Pine made sure that, for 20 minutes, the eyes of London’s in-crowd were upon him. The word of mouth starts here.

pickles · MyVillage Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Posts: 297 Location: Kernow

looks great, i'll get back to you early next week at latest with links etc.

best wishes

s

pickles · MyVillage Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Posts: 297 Location: Kernow

hi sarah

this is great thanks, i've posted the article live on to the network, it will be promo-ed via our east london arts pages over the next couple o weeks.

just one or two minor things - i've removed the phrase ', a bar on London’s Brick Lane,...' - as we're aimed at local people i should think they'll already know.

i've also removed the sentance 'By making use of the venue’s readily available props, Pine made the evening cheap for himself and easy for the audience.' as i'm not quite sure what you meant?

otherwise - super lovely stuff.

here's your link:

http://www.myvillage.com/towerhamlets/fe-arts_uncle-willys-photo-night.htm

best wishes

s