Studio Visit with Kyle Manning
Today I visited local photographer Kyle Manning at his home studio. It's a particularly unpleasant winter day in Orange, the sort of day Kyle loves to photograph. His up-coming solo exhibition In From the Cold is a celebration of the town we all know and love in all its winter glory. You must admit, it is a beautiful place and although its wet and dreary, it photographs beautifully in this weather.
Most of you probably know Kyle as an amazing singer and musician, but you'll soon re-discover him as a talented photographer. Kyle and his wife Holly have their own PR business Manning PR and Events, through which they promote all types of fantastic businesses from Orange and further afield. They share a home studio in a beautiful little cottage style building in the back yard. The northern sun shines right in through the large glass doors at the front of the building providing a lovely work space.
It's an intimidating thing photographing a professional photographer surrounded by all his amazing gear with your crappy, sort-of-broken, old SLR..... Kyle's in the middle of a shoot when I arrive, the green screen is set up and I'm taking photos of him taking photos. I feel for the poor guy having his portrait taken, it's not easy having your photograph taken, and now there's two cameras in the room.
When the shoot is finished Kyle shows me some of the images making their way to the gallery for his exhibition. I'm struck by the colours of the Orange countryside that I've never noticed before. Deep purples stand out from the skeletal apple orchards blanketed in snow from last years amazing snow fall. The structure and pattern of the railway yard also creates beautiful compositions in black and white. Kyle has captured the somewhat mundane day-to-day scenes we Orangites drive by everyday and has transformed them into art. The photographs give you a renewed appreciation for this city of ours and the winter elements we complain about.
In From the Cold is Kyle's first solo exhibition and it open this Thursday August 11th with an opening night celebration on Friday August 12th from 6-8pm sponsored by Orange Wines Online, we'd love to see you there!
