Host a photo gallery in your home to show off some of your best work.
If you enjoy taking photos -- or have friends who take photos -- consider hosting a photo gallery exhibit to showcase the best work of recent times. You can rent out a space at a local gallery or transform your home or apartment into a photo gallery. Getting an authentic photo gallery feel in your exhibit space has a lot to do with having the right materials.
Home Photo Gallery
Transform your living room or a large, open space in your home or apartment into a cozy photo gallery. Give the photo gallery exhibit a special name and make invitations asking friends and family members to visit the gallery. Set up framed and matted photos in rows along open walls. You also can prop up framed photos on plate stands on tables, a piano, a bookshelf and other nooks and crannies in your home. Provide typed descriptions in small frames and set them beside each photo.
Rented Space
Rent out a local art or photo gallery for your exhibit. The advantage of doing this is it allows you to use the lighting and room design of an authentic gallery to showcase your work. All you have to do is provide the framed, matted photos. Set up a donation jar at the front of the gallery to help offset the costs of renting the gallery.
Fundraiser Gallery
If you own a photo gallery, consider hosting an exhibit that directly benefits a cause you are interested in supporting or helps to fund a community project. Invite guests ahead of time with formal invitations that indicate that the exhibit is a fundraiser. Provide light refreshments for exhibit-goers and give a brief talk about the photos on display followed by a time for questions. Send off your guests with magnets or notecards displaying some of your favorite photos.
Themed Photo Gallery
Select a specific theme for a photo gallery and invite photographers, friends and community members to submit a photo that interprets that theme. The theme can be simple and straightforward -- such as "Peace," "Love" or "Pain," -- or more abstract. A call for submissions will allow you to select the best and most diverse photos that fit your theme. You might consider setting up your gallery as a progression through a theme. For example, when showing a photo exhibit about war, you might display photos taken before, during and after war.
