Photography News issue 23

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Photography News Issue 23 absolutephoto.com

Exhibition

Interview Mistresses of Light Vanda Ralevska and Beata Moore are the driving forces behind the Mistresses of Light exhibition, which celebrates the work of women landscape photographers and is soon to be on show at the trendy OXO Tower in London. We chat to both organisers to find out more

Interview by Megan Croft

What are your backgrounds in exhibiting? Beata: I have never put on an exhibition of this scale; it was a daunting task, but sharing the responsibility with my friend and fellow photographer, Vanda, made it a bit easier. Vanda: I have been involved in other exhibitions, but similarly toBeata, I have never organised an exhibition on such a scale. It has been a very steep learning curve for me, and it certainly made it easier to share the journey and workload with my friend. Supporting each other and sharing the frustrations as well as the joys made it a life-changing experience for me. What inspired you to put on this exhibition? Vanda: Beata and I have shared the passion for landscape photography for years. We often wondered if there were other women who felt the same way. Let’s be honest, you don’t see a lot of women landscape photographers being published or talked about. We started a community called Landscapes by Women, to support and encourage other women to share their work with the rest of the world. After running the group for three years it felt natural to do more than just show our work on social media and our website. Lately, I have seen more and more work by very talented women so I asked myself, how can I bring their unique and compelling images to a wider audience? What better way than an exhibition in London? Beata: The idea behind the exhibition is to showcase and promote the work of female landscape photographers. I am convinced that an exhibition in such a prestigious location will give women photographers more exposure and a fair share of the attention they deserve. Getting to know some of the extremely talented photographers around us in person made me think about an exhibition which would bring together their beautiful work and which would show the diversity of their approaches in seeing and capturing the surrounding world. What can visitors expect from the Mistresses of Light exhibition? Vanda: In my opinion there is something for everybody. The visitors can admire stunning grand views or the intricacy of intimate landscapes, black & white images depicting quintessentially English countryside, serene long-exposure seascapes, soft tones of autumnal scenes or extraordinary light on the shifting sands and dunes. The variety of individual interpretations connected by the magic of light on the land and sea. Beata: I firmly believe that all visitors will find something interesting in the exhibition. There are classic and modern images, open vistas and details, plenty of colour but also sublime monochrome. The images flow effortlessly, taking viewers on an artistic journey through landscapes and light.

Above Pebbles and Pastels by Cheryl Hamer. Right Golden Waves by Sue Bishop.

There are many talented women who enjoy taking photographs in the great outdoors, they just don’t seem to be known to the public

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