We thought it would be lovely to have one last blog post of the preview evening that completes the Shutter story to date ….

The Preview was a wonderful evening where all your photos shone brightly for all to see – The Shutters curation for the exhibition was absolutely spot on – the groups of photos that you selected to hang sing together beautifully – what an achievement!

What a fantastic 10 months it’s been, seeing how all these Briefs and tricky Technical Challenges have been interpreted, along with the stories told. We were so excited to finally be able to show off these amazing photographs in real life not just with the exhibition but with a proper publication too! This is a direct result of the talent, hard work, enthusiasm and commitment to the project by the Shutter Stories photographers.

Members of the group include Alan, Deborah, Elaine, Heather, Ian, Jo B, Jo C, Jo J, Mary, Sian, Tony, Trina and Valerie, supported by artists Nicki and Sally.

“It was fantastic to see our photos at the exhibition, and to see the book! It was all a bit overwhelming – seeing the culmination of all our work. Especially considering the photographs were taken during such a stressful period in our lives.”

“Looking forward to reading the final blog – what an experience ‘shutter stories’ has been! Who would have thought you could establish a photography group in a pandemic lockdown? It’s a fantastic achievement.”

“It was great to see everyone’s photos on the Skippko blog, all the creative approaches to taking photographs”

“I liked that the project was open to both beginners and experienced photographers. As a beginner, I felt comfortable taking part in the project”

“Loved the fact you don’t need an expensive camera to take part, you can use a mobile phone if you want!”

“I loved sharing ideas, and being able to see the fantastic work being produced by other members of the group – thank goodness for ‘zoom’!”

“I’ve benefitted by working with ‘old’ friends again and making new ones on zoom at a time when we couldn’t meet in person.  The support of others, seeing other people’s ideas”

“I enjoyed the challenge of being set a photography brief and the technical challenges”

“I really enjoyed taking part in shutter stories project, it couldn’t have come at a better time for me”

“Sally and Nicki always seemed to be available to discuss the challenges or photographs submitted. I learned such a lot from the members of the group with different styles approaches”

“You’ve all put such hard work in to displaying our work and the wonderful book. Unbelievable”

“It was fun helping to curate the Shutter Stories Exhibition and seeing it come to life as we were hanging the photographs.  I was amazed when I went to the official opening of the exhibition and saw all the photos together. It looked very professional.  There were many different ideas for the same subject.  Taking down the photos afterwards was a bit sad, but hopefully we can put on a second exhibition at another venue in the near future.”