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.
