My blogging “schedule” hasn’t been much of a schedule lately...nor blogging for that matter, but I figure that it’s probably better not to write anything until you feel you have something to share than to ramble on about stuff.

So I actually do have something to share today. This was brought on by a conversation I had yesterday during the one day event called “Linan” (The Line) in Malmö, Sweden. It’s a one day outdoor photo exhibition in a park that I’ve taken part in several times. This year I showed 13 12 x 16 inch images from last weekend’s Pride Parade here in town.

On to the conversation I hinted at...a spectator I’ve run into at several other one day events commented that I always share such good event photos; that I manage to capture the mood of an event well. That is of course high praise and I told him so, but it also got me thinking about editing, judging and selecting photos.

August turned out to be quite the busy month for me and my interest in photography. Previous years I've only done one photography event in August (Planket...or The Plank); this year however I've done three!

Pixel & Korn (Pixels & Grain)

The audience during the inauguration speech by the club chairman

This is the big one, my photo club exhibited the works of 37 different photographers in an old storage barn right on the southern coast of Sweden. We've gotten almost exclusively positive comments for our show, and the number of spectators are the highest we've ever had for a group show. Several of the participants have also sold a few of their works, which is great!

My six black and white prints shown at the Pixel & Korn exhibition in Smygehuk, Sweden

Linan (The Line)

My twenty black and white prints at the Linan 2014 event

This is an event where where photographers put up washing lines between steel poles along paths in a park and hang their photos from those lines with clothes pegs. Over 50 photographers had signed up via the Facebook page, so it was pretty crowded, but we somehow managed to squeeze everyone in so they could show their pictures.

I showed 20 black and white prints that I had selected for this purpose, a mixture of street photos, details and landscapes, and for the most part everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Planket (The Plank)

Two generations of Nilsson photographers, my dad's photos on the left, mine on the right

This was event number three and one I've done several years before. This is another one day open air event where photographers hang their photos along a 2 meter high fence of one of the parks in Malmö, Sweden. This year we had twice the area we have had the previous years, so it took a bit of thinking to pick out what to show, but in the end I went with 4 color and 4 black and white shots I've shown previously at the 2013 Culture Night in Staffanstorp, Sweden and at a local business during the spring of 2014.

So why do I participate in these events?

One simple reason: It's fun!

Okay, in more words than that: I get to show my works in public, so that visitors can get a look at what I'm capable of doing and give me feedback. It's fascinating to see which of your pictures get the most response from people; it's not always the ones that you as a photographer are the most attached to! Also I get to see what other photographers do, and get inspired by what they do. The social aspect is important too; getting to meet other people interested in the same thing as I am, very often brand new to me people.