#jimcasper

I've recently been paying more and more attention to Lensculture - an online platform which aims to champion the best photography from around the world - no small task there. 

I have to say that I am enjoying their site and even more so their Facebook page feeds which are a relentless stream of interesting photography based information, I love that I can log on throughout the day - and I'll be honest I am thoroughly bored of the drivel people put on Facebook so there are really not many reasons I want to log on anymore - and find a new interesting photographer or a project I want to read more about, which means the Lensculture feeds really are a highlight of my dwindling wall content.

Lensculture also run photography competitions and last night saw the show 31 Contemporary Photographers open at London College of Communication. The exhibition consists of 31 photographers, who hail from 20 different countries and who all either won, came as a runner up or were a finalist for the Lensculture Exposure Award 2013. I was invited down by their collaborators Genesis Imaging who have produced all the artworks for the show. I'm lucky to have been working with Genesis now for a year or so on the printing and mounting of artworks (this is about the most concise explanation I can offer regarding what they do as their professional advice, guidance, support and the amount you can learn from each of them make up a huge part of why they are so good at what they do).

The Exposure Award is an open call competition that aims to showcase the best photographers from across the globe who work in all genres of photography. Again, no small task there for Lensculture, and at first I did wonder - if you are going to tackle everything everywhere - how on earth do you do that well and not offer a slightly, well, mediocre or diluted exhibition. 

On arrival I was quickly educated in how.

London College of Communication lies in Elephant and Castle, a huge University building which even some of its staff agreed from the outside doesn't look all that inspiring. When you enter though and are directed up a set of stairs you arrive bang in the main exhibition space which is in a high walled, light and bright cavernous area of the college - immediate impact on arrival. 

The curation of the show - undertaken by Genesis Imaging's Creative Director Mark Foxwell - was fantastic. Entering at the top of the stairs you need a second or two just to take in the unexpected size of the space in, classically framed photographic works by finalist artists are on your left and lead your slightly dazed self into the exhibition calmly with a familiar exhibition visual, they kind of allow you a minute of comfort before you hit the arresting work of the competition winner. I particularly enjoyed Nick Ballon's piece here of the empty shell of a plane - very haunting through its simplicity.

The Lab Project - Nick Ballon

This section then leads you onto the wall which houses the winning artist - something you are well aware of from the moment you reach the top of the stairs but as I said the impression the space makes means you need to allow time to adjust. 

Artist David Favrod displays his winning series Hikari at least 6 ft high on the main wall - it bowls you over not in a polite soft way but in a way that you need to take a five minute step back to contemplate the scale of it before you begin to notice the details - amazing!

Hikari - David Favrod 

After this moment you can then begin to discover the detail; the choice to keep areas pixelated, the artists hand painting over an image, the composition of each photograph. The project is based on the idea of shaping memory and how Favrod, as a child, has appropriated memories that are not his own and yet been influenced by them all. The construction of the piece does translate this, a sort of collage of slightly uneasy and not quite right scenes which seem fragmented but are brought stunningly together via colour and composition. I really enjoyed it - a very worthy winner and an artist I have firmly pegged as one I will keep my eye on. 

The rest of the exhibition thankfully does not try to compete with this work but carries on with the ebb and flow you were presented with initially. Interesting works - beautifully composited, and from the weird to the wonderful - Yijun Liao's series 'Experimental Relationships' presented me with an almost comical series of odd private moments;

Homemade Sushi - Yijun Liao - from the series 'Experimental Relationships' 

The way the couple look defiantly at the camera really begs you to question whether it is rather you that is looking that is not the norm instead of what they are doing in each image.

Overall I felt this was a really strong show, the selection of the winner and runners up was fantastic (selected by a judging panel brought together by Jim Casper the founder of Lensculture) and the artworks had been produced and curated perfectly by Genesis Imaging.

This really cemented Lensculture in as a platform to watch for me and I urge all photography fans to sign onto their newletter and Facebook page feeds.