Philip Tonkyn's Exhibition Review

During my holiday in Somerset I visited Philip Tonkyn’s Photography exhibition which took place at the Hothouse, in Somerset College of Arts and Technology in Taunton. From looking at his amazing photography on his website and clicking on ‘News’ I found his exhibition on the following website which happened to be close to where I was going on holiday.

His exhibition was fairly small, but this allowed you to focus on the details of his photos rather than be overwhelmed by a vast amount of photography that you cannot take in.  A significant amount of his work involves the setting of the Glastonbury area especially the Glastonbury Tor, and he takes on showing the Tor in different conditions. I particularly like the colours of Sunset and sunrise setting and the atmosphere it sets of ‘The Avalon Sunset’ and ‘First Light Glastonbury Tor’.

Although most of his photos displayed at the exhibition were of landscapes, he also experimented with photo and created a different outlook to the image. His ‘simulacra series’ are a symmetrical image of a photo which is made up of reflection. His intentions of this series are to create the appearance of ‘spirit’ forms.

The setting of the Exhibition was a formal, but casual as you can relax whilst enjoying the photography. As the exhibition was situated at a college there were events and meetings taking place. Whilst I was visiting, people were visiting the exhibition in their break. I believe that this is a good venue for Philip Tonkyn’s exhibition as his work can be enjoyed by a variety of ages whether the audience expected to see the exhibition or stumbled across it unaware of him or his photography.