ryan_bolger Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 <p>and I would love to start submitting my work to galleries. Although I have been a photographer for over 10 years I have never showcased my work until now.I've have been published I feel I am ready now to taake on galleries and take my art to the next level. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get started or any tips of how to begin.I have been doing nothing but shoot shoot shooting over the last few years and now I have a library if images to go through. I would love to know what you think of just a small portfolio of my total work. http://rjbimageryblog.tumblr.com/ and http://www.rjbimagery.com any advice would be extremely helpful. I've been waiting for the right moment and I believe the moment is now.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stemked Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 <p>You need what anyone needs: Quality images, gumption, and a whole lot of luck. Let me suggest one place not a whole lot of photographers take advatage of; try your State's State Fair (if you are in the US). There will be an audience who come to see all and its open to the public (normally). Just a thought.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stemked Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 <p>You need what anyone needs: Quality images, gumption, and a whole lot of luck. Let me suggest one place not a whole lot of photographers take advatage of; try your State's State Fair (if you are in the US). There will be an audience who come to see all and its open to the public (normally). Just a thought.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonybynum Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 and you need a reason, or a purpose, and some goals. . . you need to have in mind what youre trying to accomplish by "getting into a gallery." what and why you would want to do that is important. you also need a good solid portfolio, and there's lots written about that on the web . . . You might start by getting into some juried competitions, check out the santa fe, or google juried competitions. I checked out your images, i think you have some interesting images. There always seem to be a market for images, so finding that market is your job. I dont see that you have images that move me on their own. That does not mean you dont have some nice stuff, it means it does not move me. . . and who am I right? That's my point, its about your goals and your desires, not mine. In my gallery i hang images that I know, from experience will move people, either because it's a well composed image of a place they have been, or it's an image of a special place or time that they want to own to remind them of the time and place. . . Your stuff mostly is static and does not connect me to anything i'm particularly moved by, and i live in winter wonderland for 8 months out of the year. And cost, you need to think about how much money youre willing to spend, this is why your goals are important. If youre rich and can buy your way around the world, you have a lot more options, if your a starving artist, you need, as Doug put it, images, and gumption, and some luck. . . get a plan with some goals, get a portfolio, get into a camera club and some juried competitions . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two23 Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 <p>Putting photos in galleries has as much or more to do with marketing than photography skills.<br> Kent in SD</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonybynum Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 "Putting photos in galleries has as much or more to do with marketing than photography skills." that's the way the entire photography business works. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan_bolger Posted January 8, 2010 Author Share Posted January 8, 2010 <p>Thank you for the advice. I would agree it's all about marketing too. I have goals and visions I just want to get my work out there other then the web platform. What's the point in working so hard on getting images if nobody can enjoy them. I do it because photography is my life it's my passion. I live photography. But I have a libary of thousands of images.I'm in process of adding new work and taking work off of my website.To give it the feel that I want. To me it's all about inspiring others. And I know with a solid portfolio I can start to spread my vision to the world. I thank you all so very much for your advice and I will look into galleries and competitions around the midwest. I am based out of Chicago and spend a lot of time around the beach communities of Indiana and Michigan where there are a lot of galleries and a lot of artistic communities and I know I have something original I just have to market it like you guys said. any other advice would be great. But truly thanks for your kind words all of you. ~ Ryan</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonybynum Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 the main thing you need to do, once you know what you want to display, is to find the right gallery that will represent you the way you want to be represented. it can be a long process or it can be short. keep in mind that you need a gallery that will push your work not just hang it in the "closet" and let it try to sell itself. . . interview the gallery just like you would inter view an employer, you must know what their mission and goals are too. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg s Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 <p>"What's the point in working so hard on getting images if nobody can enjoy them."<br> The web has a wider audience than any gallery ever will. Of course the difference is in the size of the image and whether it is printed or not. But for sheer enjoyment, photonet & pbase & 1000 forums, etc will get your photography in front of more people than a physical frame will.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan_bolger Posted January 8, 2010 Author Share Posted January 8, 2010 <p>~Tony thanks for you advice. <br> ~Greg - I agree I've been looking into the idea of being able to sell my work online through my website. everything totally professionally done. Frames.Matted, signed Prints I've been doing a lot of research. I guess I just want to take my "Brand" if you will to the masses for their enjoyment but I also want to be able to make money as well. I'm not in it for the money trust me but I do want to make a living doing what I love to do.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justinblack Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 <p>Marketing is immensely important, but substance and quality are the baseline for success. Think of it this way: a great photographer who does no marketing will never be recognized, and a poor photographer who markets himself as well as anyone will do better, but will have serious challenges achieving success. A competent but mediocre photographer can achieve considerable success through serious investment in a strong marketing and sales strategy (I can think of one with a bunch of galleries in Las Vegas).</p> <p>The best case scenario, in my opinion, is to be a great photographer, a strong marketer, and an honest communicator with a noble cause, a vision, and a voice.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonybynum Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 "I'm not in it for the money trust me but I do want to make a living doing what I love to do." A huge bit of advise: change your attitude, your outlook, and your plans now or you will never be taken seriously and more importantly, you NEVER will make a living doing what you love . . . Remember, youre talking about starting a business when the market is not buying prints in great quantities. Also remember there are people working 100 times harder then you with better images and a lot more experience that are not making a living at this, in fact there are few really making a living at purely photography - almost everyone does more then just sell images. Some who just make images might be paying their way but they are not making money and certainly not making a living -- the difference between making money, paying your way, and making a living is magnitudes . . . I get the question often, and in fact just was asked two days ago by a fellow "photographer" who asked, "Tony, how much do you think i need to make to go full time [he was inferring that he wanted to make a living with his camera]?" My first reaction was to ask him what he considers "making a living" - mind you this guy is a mid westerner from the get go who moved out west two years ago and got himself a 400 2.8 and a body, shot a bunch of images on the weekend that impressed him mainly because he was so attached to them and what it took to get them (mostly all amatureish images, well done but amaturish) that he felt he was "ready" and had the dedication and commitment to become a nature photographer. In any event, his answer was, "enough to keep doing what I love doing. . ." I told him, based on my experience, he MUST gross $55,000 - $70,000 in sales just to keep doing what he loves doing (mind you, this is not "making a living, this was my estimate of what it would take to "keep doing what he loves to do". I did the math for where he lives, and I know what he wants to shoot and what it takes to get the images from where he lives. The cost of production, from shooting to printing to framing might be lower for you or anyone else, it depends on what it costs to make the images from start to finish. . . that said, just do the math; start by writing down all the things you MUST spend money on to live (dont forget insurance, retirement, taxes, and all that, then add in your photography costs, gear, travel, auto, camera's lenses (and a buffer so that when you break one youre not out of a job) and so on. . . To make a living doing what you love is a great idea. To do it you need to put together a realistic plan and that starts with doing the math to find out how much you must earn and therefore sell, to "make a living." Tony Bottom line, paying your way is not the same as making a living. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_e Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 <p>Ryan: I disagree that it is about marketing. It is foremost about a quality product and consistent quality. I see many images in your portfolio that, in my personal view, have technical issues: focus, composition, exposure, and lack of content. All this could be intentional as part of the creative process but I get the impression that it is not intentional. What counts at the end is that your intentions get communicated to the buyer. There is obviously a chance that I "read" your images wrong, but making a buck is obviously even harder if your work appeals to a small fringe of potential buyers.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonybynum Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 here's some more for you to think about. . . post in the business section after you read the 100's posts about the business of photography. Your post was about getting into a gallery, that's why the first thing i asked was what's your goal. . . for an answer, you should have said, my goal is to "make a living off my photography, and selling my images in a gallery is one way i have identified that might help me to this. . ." google: how do nature photographers retire with a million dollars by joe van os Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan_bolger Posted January 11, 2010 Author Share Posted January 11, 2010 <p>It all sounds good to me al of the advice puts thing into perspective for me thank you very much.I will keep researching and I will always shoot. You get what you put into right? I know if I focus I and work work work and keep pushing myself creatively something good will happen.Thank you Tony for your in depth advice and helpful suggestions</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan_bolger Posted January 11, 2010 Author Share Posted January 11, 2010 <p>sorry for my grammar above I rushed it and did not look it over</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benbangerter Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 <p>You might want to read Alain Briot's thoughts on the subject of marketing photography. This should get you started:</p><p><a href="http://beautiful-landscape.com/Thoughts61.html">http://beautiful-landscape.com/Thoughts61.html</a></p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan_bolger Posted January 12, 2010 Author Share Posted January 12, 2010 <p>Thank you Ben for the great very informative link</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowboy Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 <p>Hi Ryan. When I first made the big jump to get my photo's world wide. I started doing trade shows. I spent a lot of money trying to find the right show that fit my work.Because there are so many great photographers out there you have to find some way to be different, so your work stands out from the guy beside you. That includes your show display, I keep changing mine constantly to keep things fresh. It can be costly, even if you have a bad show you have to do the same show every year so the people get to know you and then they start to look for you. It's along prosess. It's like golf, you'll be having the worst game of your life,then you'll have a great shot and that will bring you back again. It's hard but it's worth it. I born in the mountains of British Columbia, so I took my surounding and made it part of display just to stand out. Here's a sample of the frames I make. Good luck in the future.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowboy Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 <p>Sorry Didn't have it sized right the first time.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowboy Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 <p>This should work</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowboy Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 <p>One more thing about doing shows make sure you do shows where people are coming to see art. Don't be a side show off of a main show. There's alot of tire kickers out just killing time, waiting for the main event to start.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonybynum Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 "One more thing about doing shows make sure you do shows where people are coming to see art. Don't be a side show off of a main show. There's alot of tire kickers out just killing time, waiting for the main event to start." Lets tighten that up and say this, make sure you do shows where people come to BUY! I know shows that bring in buyers and i know shows that bring in lookyloos. . . get into the shows where there are commonly buyers. This might be harder then it sounds, most good shows are juryed and selective about what material they let in. . . in some cases they only let in people with a track record that way they keep their high standards and big spenders coming back year after year. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan_bolger Posted January 14, 2010 Author Share Posted January 14, 2010 <p> That is a very cool frame. Thanks for the words Jeff and Tony</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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