Last Saturday we went to The Photographers Gallery, just behind the Palladium Theatre.

http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/

We started with the Saul Leiter exhibition on the top floor, It seems remarkable that Saul Leiter (1923-2013) is only just beginning to acquire significant mainstream recognition for his pioneering role in the emergence of colour photography.

He moved to New York intent on becoming a painter, which he continued in parallel with his photography, yet ended up working for magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, Elle and British Vogue and became known for his fashion work.

As early as 1946, and thus two decades before the 1970s new colour photography school (William Eggleston, Stephen Shore et al), Leiter was using Kodachrome colour slide film for his free artistic shots, despite it being despised by artists of the day. Instinctively for him, colour was the picture.

We then moved down a floor to the first major UK solo installation by acclaimed Brazilian artist Rosângela Rennó presents images from the salvaged archives of photojournalist Aurelio Gonzalez and uses 20 analogue projectors.

Taken between 1957 and 1973 it’s drawn from 48, 626 negatives that were hidden between the walls of the Communist El Popular newspaper to prevent them being seized before the military coup and which were only rediscovered by chance 30 years later.

Finally 2 floors down to what was the most interesting exhibition.

The Easter Rising of 1916, it has always been difficult to get into perspective exactly what the troubles in Ireland are all about, this exhibition puts it all into order and makes it easier to comprehend.

The exhibition investigates the significant role played by photography in informing the national consciousness that led to Irish independence, using the 1916 rebellion as a central focal point. It features approximately eighty rarely seen photographs and ephemera, including souvenir postcards, albums, stereoscopic views, press and military photographs.

If you are ever in London and at a loose end, this gallery is a must see. Free entry if you arrive before 12 noon. And just around the corner opposite Palladium is a Ping Pong, one our current favourite London Chinese Dim Sum eateries.

Made the link clickable Terry. Thanks for an interesting post

We are lucky to have good venues to see photographic exhibitions. Photography is alive and well, not just to provide the public with pretty pictures much loved by calendar manufactures which are largely "pap", but a medium which has the ability to hit us between the eyes and make us think. When next in London I would very much like to visit the Photographers Gallery. 

Tomorrow,  I intend visiting the Open Eye Gallery here in Liverpool, a venue which constantly provides me with the chance to see hard hitting images. Sometimes I come away feeling inspired sometimes let down, but that's photography when it veers away from the banal. It certainly makes me want to be a better photographer.