Stockland Martel

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PhotoPlus Expo wrapped up on Saturday evening after three busy days of seminars, trade-show-floor activity, and meeting and greeting. The seminars ran the gamut from the technical to the inspirational, but I mostly focused on the business ones, attending a number of panel discussions that—each in its own way—aimed to explain how to succeed. I took lots of notes.

Today I’m posting some highlights from Juliette Wolf-Robin’s seminar, “Simultaneously Mastering Commercial & Fine-Art Photography.” The panelists: Brian Paul Clamp of ClampArt gallery, Michael Mazzeo of Michael Mazzeo Gallery, photographer Stephen Wilkes, and photographer Elinor Carucci (who came in last minute to replace Brian Finke, who was originally scheduled to appear).

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In addition to interviewing the panelists, Juliette—who founded the consulting firm Printbrat—briefly profiled a handful of photographers who have a presence in both the fine-art and commercial worlds. She explained, for example, that when fine-art photographer Sarah Small wanted to pursue commercial work, she spent thousands (I believe Juliette said it was $16,000) having custom portfolios made targeting commercial clients. Sarah’s work is fairly offbeat, though, and in retrospect, she says that showing her fine art to prospective commercial clients might not have been the right way to go. Sarah says it’s “a conversation piece” but that the advertising people are not sure what to do with it—a quandary that many fine-art photographers face.

Emily Shur, who is well known for her celebrity portraitures, devoted 40% of her promo budget to marketing her fine-art photography, but she has not yet been able to land a gallery and doesn’t make money from her fine art. Establishing herself in the fine-art world has been a little frustrating for Emily, I gathered, despite her commercial success. “Fine-art photographers are celebrated in the commercial world,” she told Juliette, “but not the other way around.” She also said that going from commercial to fine art is like “starting over” as a photographer.

Interesting church-and-state approach here: One photographer maintains two separate websites, one for his fine art  and one for his commercial work. (Sorry, Juliette. I didn’t catch his name.) The commercial site links to his art site, but his art site does not link back to his commercial one. He also has two sets of business cards and two different email accounts.

There was a lot of discussion about what makes a photograph appealing to a gallerist. I think a lot of photographers make the mistake of thinking of a gallerist as a client. They feel like all they need to do is make an attractive photo, and the gallerist will like it and take care of the rest. It doesn’t work that way.

A photographer has to have an idea, be it conceptual, aesthetic, intellectual, or all three. The photographs are their exploration of that idea, and what the gallerist responds to is the soundness and appeal of that idea and the photographer’s commitment to it, not just the look of the images. A client, on the other hand, supplies you with the idea, and you add to and execute it. Very different dynamic there.

Stephen Wilkes talked at length about his Ellis Island photographs, which were collected in the 2006 book Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom. He spent five years photographing Ellis Island, and he did it because he was personally interested in it and curious about it. “The soul must be in the work,” was Stephen’s advice to those interested in pursuing fine-art photography. He explained that he did not calculate ahead of time that he would make a book or sell the photos and so on. He simply started photographing at Ellis Island and “just couldn’t stop” taking pictures, he said.

Everyone on the panel was in favor of portfolio reviews. “Get serious criticism of your work from people outside your peer group,” advised Michael Mazzeo. Brian Clamp agreed, adding that portfolio reviews are a much better investment than, say, spending thousands on showing a single image in an art-magazine ad. (I swear I could feel magazine ad-sales staff the country over cringing when he said that.)

Want to improve your relationship with a gallerist? Take the time to get to know them. Artists and photographers tend to think in terms of what a gallerist can do for them, but you’ll actually get farther if you show an interest in what the gallerist is trying to accomplish, Brian noted. Go to the openings. Familiarize yourself with the other people on the roster. It’s a relationship, and having a good one takes work from both sides.

If you’re going to sell your work yourself and later hope to get gallery representation, do not post your prices on your website, Michael said. And, said Brian, do your research before pricing your work at all. If you price it too low or too high, you’re making your future gallerist’s job harder, if not impossible.

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Were you at this seminar and feel like I missed something important? Feel free to add it as a comment.

Coming tomorrow: highlights from “Stepping Up to Larger Production Commercial Shoots.”

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