I had meant to get this post out earlier, apologies about that! However, the exhibition at Ponto de Vistas was great, I had originally from the outset not expected many people to show up, my social network since arriving in Portugal as a global pandemic started really crippled my social mingling capacity. However word through the grapevine of my exhibition spread, I was delighted to see as many people show up as they did!
It was truly a very positive experience to see so many new and curious faces turn up, and while I wish I had spoken to more of them, of the conversations I did have, I was truly blessed to have had that experience. We had a very rich multi-cultural turn up of approximately 14 different nationalities turn up which was fantastic!
Storytelling
Part of my personal goals for 2022 has been to learn how to tell a story, the thought behind this is that a spoken word story is far different to the written story, the pacing, the engagement and the delivery all matter as does the length. With a written story, you allow the reader to re-read, put down the book and return again in a different frame of mind, however, storytelling is momentary and singular, and with that in mind, I had decided to introduce my exhibition with a story. The point is, that every photograph exhibited at the venue was a momentary story of a day in the life of travelling by motorcycle.
I was nervous, I have only proof-spoken my story once before the exhibition, and while in my head I had repeated many elements of the story, the presenting element was not refined, and without any coaching, there were a few things missing, however, I believe it was a success and many people wanted to speak to me about it after I presented it.
Overall, the exhibition was received really well and I would say the whole thing went without any hiccups, I was delighted to see so many new faces and interest in the stories.
About the Bad Printers 🙁
Stepping back a little, in the weeks preceding the exhibition, I’ve had some terrible luck with a particular printing firm, and while I’m not necessarily vindictive about people who do me wrong, I am, however, keen to share my negative experience of those who have no means to rectify a blundering mistake and take no responsibility for it. How else will they improve their service if they do not suffer the consequence of their oversights?
It is with that said I’ll mention that Dreambooks is a printing company in Portugal who sent me a set of prints all washed out in pink and when I flagged this issue to them they double down on their excuse-making about colour profiles being buried somewhere in their documentation (which was not available at any point in the ordering process). Instead of rectifying my bad prints, they repeated that they pride themselves on quality control, which they didn’t do. I tried to elevate the complaint to someone more senior they refused to do this. Not once did they apologize or acknowledge my remarks of not making it clear at ordering that they require a colour profile or that they do not practice quality control and of my obvious customer dissatisfaction. They responded with a copy and pasted a manifesto that their company aim is to provide good service to their customers… and simultaneously refused to give me it.
Finally, when I left them a negative review I was sent a pittance in form of a voucher, to make matters worse when I tried to claim it I still had to forfeit postage and handling fees despite having more than the postage left in value of the unspent voucher.
Conclusion
Well despite the little abstract there about the bad printers, I think the overall exhibition was a total success, the turnout was fabulous and the reception was positive. I would, for next time, work on my storytelling more (preferably with coaching) the storytelling was good, and I enjoyed doing it. I look forward to being sharing more about exhibitions I go to and host in the future.
