Photography exhibitions at the Banana Factory

Last Friday some friends and I went to the Banana Factory, an arts center in Bethlehem, to see the photography exhibitions they're running now. It was the opening weekend for the new exhibitions, it was Bethlehem's First Friday, and it was also the weekend of the InVision Photo Festival, so there was a lot going on. I was really excited about the photo festival when I first heard about it, but I had plans that I couldn't break that weekend so could only take part by seeing the exhibitions. Hopefully next year I'll be able to hear the talks and maybe even participate in the day-long workshop that travels around Bethlehem and provides the opportunity to shoot in locations that aren't normally open to the public (if they do that again).

One of the exhibitions was of a National Geographic photographer's work. He chronicled the journey of one woman traveling across the Australian Outback by herself. I enjoyed it not only for his photography, but also because of the story the photos told.

Another exhibition was interesting to me because it featured only photographers that lived in Pennsylvania. I missed the deadline for entry by a couple of weeks! Next year I have to remember to try to get a photo or two accepted to this juried exhibition.

The resident artists' studios were open that night, too, so we went upstairs and saw some fantastic portraiture and art in various mediums. One of my friends is a terrific photographer (way better than me), so we talked photography for a bit as we wandered around.

My friend brought up an excellent point as we were looking at the photos from the college student exhibition. We were looking at two photos, one priced $50 and one priced $150. While they were each good, we both thought that the $50 photo was a much better photo- it was more technically difficult (it was a long exposure shot of a Ferris wheel) and the composition was excellent. She raised the question- why is this one $150 and that one is only $50? My response was confidence in themselves. The photographer with the higher priced photo had the confidence to ask for that price. She agreed.

While the photo festival is over, the exhibitions are running through December/January, so I encourage you to check them out if you're in the area. They're free to the public, too.