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In case you missed it, PDN ran an article in September advising photographers how to present their images in a portfolio. Here are a few tips that I thought would be really helpful, as some of you get ready to present your work to future employers.
Laura M. Wzorek, the Program Director of Center, Santa Fe, N.M., gives some advice when it comes to presenting and organizing your photographs, “What works best for many reviewers is 20 images from a body of work, no slip sheets, no glare from portfolio book pages; matted, mounted or even straight prints in a nice portfolio box that are easy to move around.”
When asked if reviewers look at the quality of individual images or a whole body of work, Wzorek advises: “Different reviewers look at different things. Art directors, Mary Maurer of Sony and Richard Aquan from Harper Collins [for example] will likely be looking for the one image that would be great for their CD or book cover. I think almost everyone else, curators, book publishers, gallerists, are concerned with the whole body of work.”
After your images have been viewed, don’t forget to follow up with the reviewer! According to Wzorek, “Send a thank you card with an image that the reviewer saw during the review. If the reviewer asked for something specific, such as an email with a link to the photographers web site, definitely send that at the requested time.”
To find out more advice and to read the article in its entirety visit: www.pdnonline.com.
Photograph courtesy of lightimpressionsdirect.com
In an interview with Fabienne Faur, photographer Don McCullin says: I wanted to be the greatest correspondent in the world, but now I
regret it and I would like to lose my title as a war photographer ... I know from experience how ugly war is, you see the worst side of human beings.
McCullin was a photographer for 18 years with The Sunday Times. His photographs are on exhibit in Arles until September 17th in a joint exhibit with late photographer Gilles Caron. After 30 years of wars, revolutions, misery and famine, this is something that will never go away ... Go and photograph the peace. That's much more difficult.
Photo © Don McCullin
Digital backup applies to all genres of digital photography -- portraits, fine-art, weddings, PJ, commercial, etc.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are safe unless you have an exhaustive and sometimes time-consuming system of redundancy. It only takes one technical failure of equipment to make you realize how vulnerable you can potentially be.
For me it was an external hard drive failing. And then finding out that the cheap DVDs that I had been burning to didn't have much of a lifespan. But that is part of the learning curve ... and I tend to learn best from my mistakes and not successes (unfortunately).
This article, Ten Steps to Avoid a Digital Disaster, posted in the July issue of the WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International) photography monthly, offers a great starting point.
It will hopefully save you a lot of heartache.
There is a good article just published in the San Francisco Chronicle about pet photographer extraordinaire Amanda Jones.
Adrianne Marcus writes: What Annie Leibovitz is to rock stars and celebrities and Richard Avedon was to the rich and famous, Amanda Jones is to pets: the best portrait photographer.
Unintentional marketing: After sending out a series of 13 dog portraits as a mailing piece, people called -- not to see the rest of her work but to make appointments to have their dogs photographed.
Tips for photographing your pet: Get down to eye level. Shots taken looking down will never contain the candid nature you want to capture. At eye level, your dog will come up to you and you can indulge in some fine portraiture, such as a quizzical look, a tilted head, or even a smiling canine. They love when their masters (or mistresses) are on the floor with them.
It's a fun read. And a lucrative way to make some extra money this summer. Jones charges $850 for a portrait session and is booked up months in advance by both American and international clientele. Sweet!
Sports Illustrated Photographer Peter Read Miller offers advice on capturing the personality of an athlete as one of Kingston's Icons of Photography. Nobody I know these days can get by as an action photographer only. The field is just too competitive. Along with being a steady source of work, shooting sports portraits gives me another outlet to explore my creativity.
Here are some tips about shooting athletes that Miller provides:
- Get them comfortable
- Pick a good background
- Frame your subject within the viewfinder (not in Photoshop)
- Be ready and familiar with your equipment
- Be spontaneous
Miller has covered 7 Olympic Games, 30 Super Bowls, the Stanley Cup Finals, the World Series, the Kentucky Derby, the NCAA Final Four, World Cup Soccer Finals, and so on and so on and so on. It is definitely worth reading what he has to say on the Kingston website.
Or you might want to attend his photographic workshop next April in Colorado -- and get in some spring skiing!
Here is a helpful article written by Jim McNay of the Brooks Institute of Photography called "Paying Dues: Showing You Want It." It was published in SportsShooter.com.
Here are the cliff notes:
- Shoot for a campus publication and get published regularly.
- Do an internship every year.
- Get a paying job shooting even if it isn't prestigious or lucrative.
- Start building your career.
And don't be a slacker who just reads the cliff notes, read the whole article!
Here is a full-day seminar produced by the Santa Fe Center for Photography to help you create a successful career as an artist!
Location: Armory for the Arts Theater, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Date: Sunday May 14th (mother's day)
Time: 9:30am - 5:00pm
Cost: $55 for students and $115 for professionals
Volunteer Opportunities: 505.984.8353
Some of the topics include: the roles of the gallery, curator, book in your career; marketing essentials; striking a balance between business and art AND there will also be a panel of emerging and mid-career artists discussing choices that led to success.
Presenters include:
Lorraine Davis, Lorraine Davis Appraisals
Terry Etherton, Etherton Gallery
Darius Himes, Editor, Photo-Eye Booklist
Mark McKenna, President, Herb Ritts Foundation
Sheila Pree Bright, 2006 winner of the Santa Fe Prize
Ken Rosenthal, Photographic Artist
Mary Virginia Swanson, MV Swanson and Associates
Barbara Tannenbaum, Chief Curator, Akron Museum of Art
Hank Willis Thomas, Photographic Artist
Jo Whaley, Photographic Artist
Clint Willour, Ex. Director/Curator, Galveston Art Center
Julie Blackmon, 2006 winner of the SFCP Project Competition
You can never learn enough about Photoshop. There are always new tricks and shortcuts to add to your toolkit. That is why I am so excited when I find information for FREE.
Planet Photoshop is a website devoted to Photoshop and its effects, enhancing text, tools and their applications, integration with the web, and my favorite -- correction. They even have a section on using the digital camera to get the most out of Photoshop.
Since we are all visual people, you'll truly appreciate the video tutorials. And for those who are visual and social, there are discussion boards about Photoshop.
Now you can start saving your money for the next Photoshop upgrade :)
Lexar, a company well-known for their professional compact flash cards, is including a lot of digitally worthy material on their website.
Recent tutorials include Understanding your Digital Camera's Histogram and the Benefits of Shooting in RAW Format.
Other features include Tips for Photographing Pets, Using White Balance Settings, and Wireless Flash Setup.
And for those of you who prefer philosophy to technique, read Irakly Shanidze's Photography as a Way of Life.
I was checking out Pop Photography & Imaging magazine’s recent October issue, and they featured a large story on “How to Break into Galleries,” which from my quick read featured some valuable tips and ideas for doing just that. One person they quoted was fine-art consultant Mary Virginia Swanson, who’s recently published a handy guide, including ways to fund your personal photographic projects, steps to building your fine-art photography business and advice on how to get gallery representation, exhibitions and more.
 Renowned photo-experts Sally Wiener Grotta and Daniel Grotta have recently published a wonderful book to assist you in shooting just about anything you’d want to put up on eBay. Titled, Shooting for Dollars: Simple Photo Techniques for Greater eBay Profits, the book provides you with lots of tips and vivid illustrations on shooting just about any type of product shot you can think of. Published by Peachpit Press.
 Eager to brush up on some Photoshop or Illustrator skills? Don’t have the time to take a whole semester to learn Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro? Well, at Lynda.com, you can learn at your own pace. Choose from many different programs, streamed in through QuickTime movies, including many software packages from Adobe, Macromedia, Microsoft and others. Recently released movies include seven tutorials for Macromedia Studio 8.
 I’ve been checking out some of the reviews of Michael Kimmelman’s new book, The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa. Kimmelman, who is an art critic for The New York Times, seems keen on focusing on how works of art are made, or on the motivation behind particular works, instead of just on the end product. Adrian Searle notes in a review of the book for the New York Times Book Review, “What fascinates Kimmelman is not just art, but why people are driven to do the things they do.”
In Time magazine, Richard Lacayo points out that Kimmelman is the type of critic who doesn’t limit himself to just visiting museums. “He’s the kind who finds himself trudging up the side of Mont Ste.-Victoire, the peak in Provence that was Paul Cezanne’s perennial motif…. Kimmelman sets out on most of these cultural pilgrimages in search of a transcendent experience.” Further on, Lacayo points out that the critic is the type of intellectual who sheds “light on such questions as the uses of suffering in the creative process or the sources of the urge to collect.” Again, it’s not the shiny surface that matters, but what’s under the hood.
That’s fine with me. It’s my contention that the more you understand about various processes and the motivations for making images or art, the more you, as an image maker, can bring to your own creative endeavors.
But another reason I read his work is that he generally points out things about photographs, or paintings, or sculptures that I haven't thought about. For example, ''What makes art good,'' Kimmelman writes, ''is partly its power to proliferate
as a variable memory, an intangible concept, filtered through individual
consciousness.'' It's an art aphorism that inspires new thoughts on the ways of looking at art in general. But it makes me think about my creative endeavors as well.
 Pro photographer and author of many photography books, Jack Neubart, who for years has written the "Technically Speaking" column in Photo District News, as well as many other articles and columns for PDN and other publications, is out with a new book. The book is titled, Studio Lighting Solutions: Expert Professional Techniques For Artistic And Commercial Success, and was created in conjunction with PDN. In fact, many of the more than 25 photographers included in the book first appeared in the "Technically Speaking" column. In this book, they describe for Jack the challenges and solutions to more than 60 projects, from still lifes to concept shots to working with models. The book has lots of lighting diagrams and illustrations and professional tips on equipment and techniques. For more, check out the Amphoto website. Or look for it on amazon.com.
Veteran photographer and author Michael Freeman’s most recent book, Pro Digital Photographer’s Handbook, published by Lark Books, contains comprehensive information on a variety of topics that will help any photographer, no matter what his or her skill level, although as the title suggests, it’s focused on pro shooters. I particularly liked his descriptions of noise and color management and his description of how to test for a camera’s dynamic range. The book also does a great job of breaking up complicated topics into sidebars, charts and illustrations.
Peter Weinberger, the director of photography at the Charlotte Observer, offers some advice on shooting landscape. Seems kind of funny to hear this from a newspaper photographer but most of the images on his website fall into this genre.
Peruse his article "It's the season for outdoor landscape photography" or find more of his tips online.
Photo © Peter Weinberger
 How do I love thee. Let me count thy ways.
Your free and downloadable QuickTime tutorials of Photoshop.
Your free 30 day demo of Photoshop CS2.
Your free Image Processor that quickly converts my RAW files to any format I choose.
Your ever-expanding Tips & Techniques.
You are soooo entertaining and funny.
And, last but not least, your compassion for those of us creative types who need everything explained visually over and over and over again.
The Russell Brown Show - Don't Miss It !!!
Attorney Bert Krages published a free one-page downloadable flyer, The Photographer's Right, that summarizes the legal rights that photographers have while they are taking photographs in public places.
Krages is also the author of the Legal Handbook for Photographers and the recently published Photography-The Art of Composition, which emphasizes developing the ability to perceive and record instead of applying traditional design principles.
I am tempted to incorporate some kind of tasteless lawyer joke here, but I am more excited to see the ways that photography enraptures and transcends.
And how lucky we are to have a lawyer on our side.
After hearing that one of the legends of fine-art photography, Duane Michals, had been recently inducted into the Hall of Fame of the New York Art Director’s Club, I stopped by the club’s site. Aside from honoring great creatives in its Hall of Fame section, the site features links to competitions, employment opportunities and inspiring works from great photographers, illustrators and designers. It's truly a worthwhile visit.
Kodak has had some enticing rebates to keep you shooting film. You can find them online in Kodak's ProPass Magazine.
This month's issue also spotlights Joe McNally, a well-respected photographer and educator.
McNally has been actively teaching in the photo community for quite some time. I met him at the Eddie Adams Workshop (where he kicked butt as my team leader in 1993), and you can meet him this summer at the Maine Photographic Workshops and at the Santa Fe Workshops.
Photo by Joe McNally
Here is a website devoted to sports photography for both the student photographer and the professional.
With sponsored membership, Sports Shooter offers a place to post your photographs, a monthly student portfolio review contest called "One Week's Work" and a rated internship guide. Without membership, you can peruse your competition, find a mentor and read the message board for technical advice, opportunities and job related discussions.
In a recent posting, USA Today photographer and Sports Shooter founder Robert Hanashiro asks, "Why do students insist on putting skateboarding photos in the portfolios they show me?"
A Photo a Day has an insider's look at the selection process for the Eddie Adams Workshop. There's lots of really helpful advice from past participant Melissa Lyttle as well as Workshop producer Jessica Stuart.
Even if you're not planning on applying to Eddie Adams, it's worth checking out just to get a sense of how you can make any portfolio or application (for grants, workshops, or MFA programs) better.
To introduce myself my name is Mark Rubenstein and I am a photography major at the Savannah College of Art and Design. As young artist's, we are filled with the dreams of one day being able to exhibit our work in a gallery, regardless of the endless amounts of buisness and politics we have to deal with living the life of working artists. The purpose of this article is to inform young artists on what steps they can take to acheive the goal of receiving representation.
There are many aspects that go into receiving major representation by galleries. In the next few paragraphs, I will break down everything to be done to ensure representation or at least exposistion at a gallery. It is quite a grueling process, but the pay off is beyond words. Many factors come into play when trying to get gallery representation.
The first step that should be taken even before garnering galleries is to start developing relationships with the local arts community. The worst mistake to make after graduation is to go to the top gallery in New York and say, "Here, look at my portfolio. I know you'll love it!" Your community is where you first build a dialog with the people in the same situation as yourself. This dialog is at the core of everything.
Discussing each other's experiences, you begin to learn how to present yourself as an artist and a businessman. Wherever you are situated in the country is where you need to develop your home base.
This is where you can come to rely upon all the resources you have available. These might include businesses,darkrooms, family, and those friends that you met in your artists community. You should not be hesitant or scared about introducing yourself to a new group of people. You are all very much in the same boat. Everyone is there to help each other out. You will soon learn that everyone has a centralized goal: to be able to present a body of their own work.
A great way to find some of these people is stop by your local galleries or coffee shops. Look to see if there are any community events involving the arts. If you find one, show up and strike up a converstation with someone at the event. If they are not artists themselves, they most likely know one. As an artist, one of your jobs is to start networking, opening this dialogue that I have mentioned. By practicing in the beginnning, you will start to be able to clearly express your views and intent. This will play a key part when you begin talking to galleries and presenting your work and the thought process behind it.
After getting established in this new community of people, the next step is to exhibit your work in a group exhibition. Group shows are a wonderfull thing to participate in when starting out. They often garner tons of publicity and usually the gallery space will only take a small amount from a sale. This is where many famous artists get their start. It is one of the first stepping-stones you may utilize in the process of building your name. Photographers i have talked to said they never really approached a major gallery with their work. The gallery would always come to them. Usually a gallery will closely watch communities and follow selected artists that seem to be creating a buzz. This buzz is what will get you a gallery. Going to twenty different galleries and dropping off your work is not nearly as successful. Constantly exhibit your work and keep a close association with your peers and sooner or later the outside world will take notice. Remember, this takes time. Nothing comes fast. Have patience and confidence in yourself.
I think it is fantastic to let a broad range of people see your work and to be able to communicate with a smaller audience in order to see what they really have to say about it. This can allow for you to tighten up anything that needs to be fixed, whether it be your artists statement or your work itself.
A big part of getting gallery representation by a gallery and making a name for yourself is self-promotion. This is one of the most time consuming efforts put forth by photographers. However, it is what gets them recognition.
One of the biggest tools of self-promotion these days is having a website. A successful website can illustrate to a viewer the entire methodology of your artwork. They can view any work you would like them to see, your entire biography featuring your exhibition history, any awards you've recieved and your intentions. Whether you are seeking gallery representation, commercial work or whatever else, the Internet is wonderful because your audience is worldwide. A person in China can't go to New York to view your exhibition in a Chelsea gallery, but they can view it online. This opens up many doors. Private collectors can view your work and may want to add you to their collections. Galleries in different regions may take notice because they like the style of your work. There are endless possibilities.
Networking as i have mentioned is another great way to promote yourself. Attend industry events such as gallery and museum openings. Introduce yourself to people. Simply say that you are a fan of that particular artist's work and let the conversation go from there. Don't say immediately that you would love to work with them. Promotion is about letting relationships build and then, after time, take this select group of individuals and market your material towards them.
The key from early on is to develop a well-rounded business strategy. You need to be specifically clear in the message you are sending when promoting yourself. Whether or not you are seeking representation or looking for a job, it must be very specific in intent. You, as the artist, need to take charge of your career and not wait for someone to do it for you. Also, you need to weigh two options. Do you want long or short-term success? If you are going to do this for the long haul, you need to be aggressive and have a developed plan of the steps you need to take that will lead you to your goal. It will keep you there for years to come, much like the steps I have given you.
The point of all this that art is a life. The whole process is quite alot to absorb. Making a living as an artist takes everything you have. People who choose to dedicate their life being an artist have such a passion and drive to be able to produce their work and show it. Nothing can deter them from it. This business takes an extreme amount of work ethic and self-discipline. You might be wondering if this is the right thing for your being a young artist like myself. I, for one, think it is.
This article is just the beginning of advice i will share with you all. Relying on the experiences i have encountered in being a young photographer.
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