blog : Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2015

The Summer Exhibition is one of the highlights of the London art scene
An open competition which covers every 2d and 3d artform

The process involves a 3 stage judging process spread over several months, to say that my fingernails were bitten on the notification days would be an understatement.
I was ecstatic this year when on May 21st, I heard that both of my submissions would be hung in the exhibition, I was away on holiday at the time which is the same as 2 years ago when I was selected (last year I was at home and didnt get in) so will have to make sure im always away in May. It was my birthday as well which made the news even more special

Here are the prints that are being shown

This photo composite which in part takes its title from a Dj Shadow track [you tube] was taken in Tunisia at the actual film set prop used in Star Wars Episode IV.
These places were all found off the beaten track, no signposts or markings which would give away their locations and thankfully no giftshops to be seen at all. I had all the locations printed out on paper before I went there which helped a lot. Actually seeing these in real life is like every kids dreams and I was no different.

This image was taken in an abandoned theatre in Belgium, the cold and silent building was a stark contrast to how it would have been with music and dance filling the hall. The single row of chairs facing the fallen curtain enhances the sense of emptiness.

and some photos from the exhibition
The hanging position was great too, Curtain Call was quite high but it was above a really interesting piece where somebody had created a streetmap of london with just the street names
so it will hopefully still get seen

http://www.darrennisbett.photography

Under the towers

This was taken in a small grubby room at the end of a walkway underneath towering silos
it was an old brewery in Italy and this particular morning the place was bathed in an orange glow from the sunrise

Spiral

A winding staircase in a public admin building in Luxembourg

Sony World Photography Awards

The World Photography Organization just announced the shortlist for the 2015 Sony World Photography Awards. Creating a shortlist was no small feat. This year submissions swelled to a record 173,444 photographs from 171 countries. Shortlisted images will be on view at Somerset House in London from April 24th through May 10th, and Winners are announced April 23rd.

My Image “Nursery Rhymes” was shortlisted in the Low Light category

http://www.darrennisbett.photography/news/

Micro Landscapes

This is fresh from a post christmas outing today
although it looks like a night scene, this was a very underexposed image of a shaft of sunlight in a derelict brickworks
lots of bricks with moss and plants growing in between them just caught the light at the right time and it came out like this

Lukes House

The small hut used for part of the filming for lukes house in star wars episode IV

LumenPrize 2014

My digital artwork “Angels and Demons” made it to the shortlist for the lumenprize 2014 which im over the moon about.
its a collection of images taken in various places around Belgium and especially highlights the difference in modern architecture and the old buildings that made up most of the industrial areas of the country

There is a public vote and I don’t normally like these processes but if you dont mind helping me out and taking a few mins to register and vote I would appreciate it (but only if you like the image)

Any winnings from this will be donated to charity

the url for public voting is : http://lumenprize.com/user/register

The Lumen Prize Exhibition celebrates the very best art created digitally. Our goal is to focus the world’s attention on this exciting genre of art through an annual competition and global tour of the works selected by our eminent panel of judges.

more ozzy animals : Kangeroo

The other animal that I wanted to see as part of my trip to Oz was obviously a Kangeroo, Couldnt come all this way and miss out on that

These were at a nature reserve (although I did see a few wild ones which were unfortunately by the side of the road)

The baby Orangutan and the fly

There seems to be an overload of wildlife photo’s, normal service will be resumed shortly 🙂

I have discovered quickly that with wildlife, the photos that you get have one heck of a “chance” element to them, out of all of my Orangutan pictures its this that highlights this the most.
The one photo where the fly is actually visible and the baby looks like he has just noticed it. There was no way that I would have seen this but it was such a surprise seeing it on my computer screen.

I will upload some more of this set, but there are some more photos uploaded here at lensculture.com

Malaysia pt1

The arrival to Kuala Lumper airport after a long flight with a hectic stopover in Dubai where we were marched from one gate to the next to connect to the waiting plane. It soon transpired that although we had made it to KL, our luggage had decided that it would stay at Heathrow!!
We made it to the hotel with the understanding that our suitcases were on the next plane and would be delivered to the hotel that evening.
The hotel overlooked the famous Petronas twin towers which were amazing – 2 spires of glass and steel looked like something straight out of a CGI’d sci-fi film.
The arty hotel was nice although I was not really appreciating it at that point in time. We decided to take a wander around the towers and visit the shopping mall as it was air conditioned and I was still in my jeans from the plane ride.

The shopping centre was actually just like the big malls in England with mostly the same kinds of shops with the exception of quite a few more luxury brand names. The F1 was on this weekend and so there was quite a big Petronas and Mercedes stand in the main open area of the mall.
Outside the shopping centre and on our way back to the hotel which was only a matter of minutes away, we were met with a wall of rain – which is the best way I can think of describing it and it didnt look as though it was going to stop any time soon.
By the time we had gotten back to the hotel, I was drenched, It was like jumping into a lake fully clothed in heavy jeans and with my change of clothing currently being unloaded from another plane, things were not great… Damn you Emirates or more likely Heathrow for not putting the bags on the right plane.

So then I find myself ironing (I never iron) my clothes to try and steam them dry (this goes on for what seems like forever) – still cant believe im ironing but to be fair, once they got to the “just damp” stage, they were quite nicely ironed (not that this is going to change my mind about the need of an iron)

we went up to the bar which had a balcony which overlooked the towers and got a great view of the rain which still poured down in one continuous sheet.

The view was almost worth it, our bags arrived at 10pm and was a very welcomed sight indeed! the trip can only get better after this start…