So here we are in lockdown and my thoughts are turning to an idea for a future post-retirement scenario - opening a small photographic gallery with attached darkroom and studio.
The location for this is a modest sized town in the north of Mallorca, with plenty of middle-class tourists in season, a local year-round population and quite a few nearby affluent foreign villa owners. I have a holiday home a few miles away and know the place quite well.
The idea is as follows:
- Rent a shop/commercial property in a good location and open a photographic gallery with attached darkroom and photographic studio space
- Provide a venue for exhibitions - predominantly photography and Mallorca centred - photographs of the old towns, the Tramuntuna mountains, coast and beaches, monasteries, cycling etc
- In the basement would be a small darkroom - maybe a couple of enlargers
- Also a small studio space - some lights and backdrops
- Income would be generated from commission sale on prints, darkroom and studio hire
- I could also provide courses on basic photography and darkroom techniques and offer photo walks and other excursions
- Focus would be on analogue photography - eg providing camera and a film for a walk, back to the darkroom to dev and print
- Guest tutors to run other courses, eg cyanotypes, non-film photography, landscape photography etc etc
It's a dream of course and I doubt it'll ever happen, but it's nice to imagine this becoming a community asset, promoting the work of local artists and photographers, providing some good experiences and knowledge sharing. It would cost a bit to set up, though I already have some of the kit that students could use, but the monthly costs could be manageable - I should be able to get something suitable for €500/mth.
It's not something I'm would do tomorrow, more likely in about 5 years time, if the virus doesn't get me. I'm going to wait until then as I want to have sufficient pension income to mean that I can afford to do this and not be dependent on any revenue from it, though I'm not rich enough not to need it to wash its face at least and ideally generate profit for reinvestment.
Could it work or is it just a fanciful vanity project and best left as a dream?
