Oriel Colwyn in Colwyn Bay always have lots of things going on. There are serial exhibitions, the current one being “Hollywood, New York, Colwyn Bay” by Dafydd Jones. This is a collection of his photographs of New York society in the 1990s, including many famous people. The exhibition has been up for a couple of weeks, but my first chance to see it properly will be in a couple of days, when I go to the gallery’s “Darkroom Clearout” event.
The clearout is happening to make space in the reopening community darkroom, one of the only community darkrooms in North Wales. The darkroom is serves as a creative space for photographers of all levels, but was closed during the Covid lockdown. I don’t really need any more cameras, but there’s one that I’m hoping to see in the sale. Quite a few years ago, I had a Fuji S8100fd bridge camera that I deemed surplus to my needs. I donated it to the gallery, in the hope that it would be of use to young, aspiring photographers. By today’s standards, it’s quite low spec, but I’d quite like to reacquire it, just for old times’ sake. We’ll see.
Next week sees another Talk Photo evening. I’m particularly looking forward to this one, as it’s by Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale, of The Caravan Gallery fame. I’m a big fan of The Caravan Gallery; their style of documentary photography is right up my street. They’ll have at least one super-attentive person in the audience!
Finally, the Northern Eye festival is coming to town in October. There will be lots to enjoy this year, as always, including talks by many esteemed photographers, including the redoubtable Martin Parr, as well as exhibitions and lots more besides. I can’t wait!