subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 6 July 2019 25
THE 120-YEAR-old arches that
grace Brighton’s promenade are
as much a part of the city as the
Pavilion and the pier. In recent
years, many of these arches have
undergone renovation, with the
council leasing them to small
local businesses. When, in 2014,
photographer Finn Hopson received
an email inviting proposals for
a recently completed section, it
proved life changing. Staying up
all night to put together a business
plan, and successfully navigating
an intense interview process that
ensured his ideas were robust, six
weeks after receiving the email, he
opened the doors to the gallery he
calls Brighton Photography.
Until this point, he’d mainly sold
images at arts fairs and during the
Open House programme that runs
throughout the Brighton Fringe
Festival. Now, suddenly, he had to
fill an entire gallery with his work.
And he recognises the privilege.
‘I’d be out there taking these
pictures anyway,’ he says. ‘But
having somewhere to work on
them, print them and sell them...
that’s an amazing bonus.’
Things didn’t get off to a flying
start, however. Almost as soon
as the gallery was launched, the
section of seafront immediately
outside was almost completely
closed off for three years, while the
somewhat controversial British
Airways i360 was built. It meant
that passing trade was more scarce
than it might have been, but he
got through that period unscathed,
and since the seafront was fully
reopened, his business has thrived.
His work, not surprisingly, focuses
on Brighton and Hove, and the
South Downs National Park
that surrounds the city. Butoften want an impression – an
emotional statement about where
they’ve been. The look of the panels
- big, glossy, very contemporary and
frameless – seems to work really
well with the abstract images. And
while they’re expensive to produce,
there’s a big margin on them.’
As an example, she sold one such
panel recently for £3,500. ‘A lot of
people admire them and won’t buy,
but we only need a few sales to
make our margins.’
At the other end of the scale are
the small prints that start at £4.50
each, rising to £12, and that she
sells at three for the price of two.
‘I sell a lot of these,’ she explains,
‘because people love choosing three
PHOTO GALLERIES
images that will go together.’ And
while the ethereal abstracts are
understandably admired, she
also has a print of a Highland
calf that has sold in its hundreds.
Strategically, too, she hangs these
smaller prints at waist level, so that
customers can admire them while
drinking their coffee.Making a mock-up
One particularly clever sales
technique she uses is to create
room mock-ups from downloaded
software, on to which she
superimposes her images. This
helps customers visualise what the
work will look like on the wall. She
even superimposes her images on to
photographs that customers send her
of their own rooms. ‘Understandably,
they want to make sure they’ve got
it right, as it’s a big investment,’ she
says. ‘People have to be able to
imagine the print in their space.’
Since opening the gallery less
than a year ago, how much time has
Lynne had for her own photography?
‘I have to admit, I haven’t had a
chance,’ she says. ‘It has been a
really intense time, and we’re open
seven days a week, so I’ve only taken
a few days off since last August. But
I’m happy to do this in order to
learn how everything works.’Lynne Douglas
started taking
pictures about eight
years ago. She and
her husband opened
the Skye Blue Gallery
in August 2018 and
are working on plans
to expand the space
already. Visit http://www.
skyebluegallery.
com to see more.Underneath
the arches
Brighton Photography is found inside the
Victorian arches on the city’s promenade© FINN HOPSON