I’m on a bit of a high at the moment. Film is building up in the fridge for processing, the weather is now offically hot enough for Sangria, the rollei is working smoothly, and in the last two weeks I’ve had three people come by to look at work with a view to buying, and yes, two sales confirmed, one nearly so. I don’t usually see the people who buy prints, so opening up the boxes whilst someone is here is a rare experience.

Last night José Luis came around to view prints. We looked at the work on my terrace - he needs to smoke whilst he thinks, and I need to drink wine. José is a lecturer in Philosophy and Fine Art, so he is a critical viewer.

I was amazed. He is the first person I’ve met who could ‘read’ the reason for the pairings in the Scene of the Crime pics. He was also very enthusiastic about the new work, the trips, the urplace work. I got a real buzz from talking to him. He gave me a kick to take down some of the earlier work from the website, and to really concentrate on the montage and the less traditionally ‘photographic’ work - it was a real pleasure. We talked about the future, and different avenues to explore, both aesthetically and commercially.

It got me thinking about the relationship between artists and galleries. I’ve also had an interesting email from Jen Bekman who explained more clearly her work. Despite still not feeling comfortable with the Hot Shot side of things, I am very impressed with what she has created in such a short time and how clearly her photographers are benefiting from her efforts. However… whilst I think a gallery can be your best friend, I can’t help thinking it is an uneasy alliance. Chatting with some photographer friends I laughed myself silly at the following scenario… ‘Hi, yeah, who did you say? Fraenkel? Oh yeah hi. No, sorry, send me a cheque for 200usd and I’ll pop my portfolio round…’ Now while it is perfectly understandable that a gallery has to recoup their time and act as a gate keeper, it is just getting so darn expensive!

I also think there is a confusion between the act of getting your work shown, so you can communicate with an audience, and selling the stuff. In a way I’m lucky, I have three friends in various countries who act as agents. They have contacts to the right class of people. I give them a portfolio, and they sell from that. I get a steady ‘trickle’ of sales at gallery prices for a low outlay, but no more. I’m not getting critical reviews, which would lead to being able to show the work and actually get people to see the stuff. I think Bee Flowers seems to have cracked this and is getting some high profile shows. His focus certainly seems to be on the communicative side of things.

Anyway, I see a strong shadow cutting across the bar below, and there is a red plastic chair leg, partly in shadow framed by the legs of a yellow plastic table, plastic flowers on the table with that shadow bisecting them…