Brighton Biennial Photography Festival

There are only 3 days to go, here is the website

I went down to Brighton last weekend to see family and have a look around the festival of photography taking place there. Brighton is a very cool, cultural , funky place and the photography festival reflects that. There was a much wider range of photography on show than there was at our own festival of photography here in Oxford last month. That is not a criticism of Photography Oxford but it was a marked difference. In Oxford the exhibitions were all that, solid and somewhat a little boring exhibitions with a capital E whereas in Brighton there was much more fluidity to what was on show and how it was shown. I didn’t see anything there that rivalled the excellent Pentti Sammallahti but I did see much more that was challenging and inspiring.

One gallery I didn’t get in to because it was closed was One Eyed Jacks, I mention this because they have an open submission for entry in an exhibition in January

Brighton-based gallery One Eyed Jacks is offering photographers the chance to compete to have their work shown in a month-long group show in January 2015.

The Open Call, with a top prize of £500, is open to both professional and amateur photographers working across all genres of photography. There is no theme, and all portfolios will be considered.

“Discovering new work and reaching out to new talent is the greatest buzz for a gallerist,” says gallery director Matt Henry. “We’ve decided to launch our first Open Call to unearth new gems and to create a fantastic and eclectic group show.”

Instead of inviting a jury to oversee the submission process, Henry has decided upon a single individual to curate the exhibition. “This Open Call will mark the first of many submission-based shows that allow one person to execute his or her unique vision,” says Henry. “British Journal of Photography’s Gemma Padley will curate our first show.”

The deadline for entries is 01 November 2014. For more information, and to enter, click here.

If you get the chance to visit Brighton over the next three days and have restricted time I would head to the Circus Street Market for Return To Elsewhere,

and The Fourth Floor Collective and in the same building  BPF14 VANTAGE POINT: COLLECTIVES’ HUB