Back from the Sunshine

So I'm back from sunny, warm Florida, and I have to say it's a little jolting. I was getting into the t-shirt weather and the great folks I went down with. I want to thank Julie Grahame of aCurator, photographer extraordinaire Jason Florio, Daylight Magazines's Michael Itkoff, Alison Zavos, Feature Shoot's publisher and the exceptional photo producer and blogger Helen Jones-Florio for being on my panel and delivering such terrific information. I hope we can take this on the road sometime soon. You were all really wonderful.

There are a lot of things brewing for me now that I'm back, and I'm getting excited about breaking new ground for myself in this photo world we live in. Next Thursday, January 27th from 4pm - 5pm I will be conducting a webinar, "Build A Better Online Portfolio" at the invitation of Photoshelter. There will be some Q&A, and I'll be offering suggestions to photographers who have submitted their portfolios for review. Don't miss this! You can sign up here

And on February 1, the online gallery I curated for the Griffin Museum of Photography, featuring the work of Sophia Wallace will go live. Her "Modern Dandies" project is really worth a look, so stay tuned for that. You'll be able to see it here.

I'm hoping to create more panels this year, and curate more shows both in New York and around the country. If you have any ideas, please send them to me. I will also expand my consulting, so those of you who have been procrastinating about refreshing and refocusing your business drop me a line. I can offer you straight-forward suggestions and ideas to make your portfolio, website and marketing clearer and more targeted towards success.

We're just starting 2011, and there are some wonderful new things to come. I'll keep you all posted.

If it's Florida it's FOTOFusion

I came down to West Palm Beach just ahead of the newest New York snowstorm to attend FOTOFusion, a photo festival targeted mostly to amateur and semi-professional photographers in the area.

Yesterday I sat on the Alison Zavos panel: "Cut Through the Noise: Smart Marketing Strategies for Photographers," with Julie Grahame, and while the audience was kind of small, it was enthusiastic. I had a really good time talking about what I see as included in the idea of social media: portfolio reviews and promo cards. After all, one-on-one contact with art buyers, photo editors, gallerists and the like is social, no?

It's important that photographers think clearly about what they're looking to achieve when they consider attending a review. Who do they want to meet? Is their work ready to be presented? Does it have a cohesive focus or subject? Is it a real body of work? Can the photographer talk about their work in a clear and concise way?

I know there are those who see portfolio reviews as a rip-off industry. I don't see it that way. So many photographers work in a vacuum, and having trained, outside eyes view their work is vitally important. Additionally, if you chose the right review, you can get person-to-person contact with people who you would not normally have a chance to talk with. It can be the thing that really moves you forward and allows you to pitch yourself to potential clients.

Promo cards were another thing I talked about. Having spent many years as a photo editor sitting in ugly offices or at cubbyholes I loved getting great promo cards to pin up on my walls. These were the photographers I hoped to work with, and their cards were always staring me in the eyes while I worked. I often cannot understand the choices people make when printing promo cards. And I never understand why more thought isn't given to what they expect to come from the card, rather than the graphic design of the card. By that I mean do the image or images you've chosen really represent who you are as a photographer? And if I'm looking right at your card, doesn't it make sense to have all your important info (URL, cell number, email address) right in front of my eyes also?

I came down here with Alison, Julie, Jason Florio and Helen Jones-Florio to do my own panel (with Michael Itkoff as well), and that one is tomorrow. But today we had the most exciting event of the festival so far.

In the middle of Jason and Helen's talk:"A 930km African Photography Odyssey" their presentation of their incredible walk across the country of Gambia, an alarm went off and a disembodied voice announced we had to leave the building immediately due to an unspecified emergency.

We spent about fifteen minutes milling outside with more people than I've seen at this festival, until we were let back in to hear Jason and Helen finish their talk. It was like a grade school fire drill.

Tomorrow is my panel, and I plan on blogging more about what I've seen and done. I like seeing people I know, hanging out and eating meals with my friends, and everyone is really friendly. Add to the fact that Florida is the only state with NO SNOW, and I'm happy as a kitten with catnip.

More to come from here, so stay tuned....

Where Will Your Photos Appear Now?

I’ve been reading a lot and thinking a lot about the new media platforms that are being touted: from Kindle to the Nook to the Manhattan Project of Time Inc. to iPhones to the Skiff and the like, and wondering what that means for photographers. And that’s not even mentioning Apple’s upcoming entry into this sweepstakes. So, are photographers thinking in terms of new technology and how it will affect their work? Will people be composing their images differently if the medium changes?

When you look at an image on an iPhone or iPod or other small device can you see the image and get what the photographer wants you to understand? As with thumbnails on a website, do all images translate to that small screen? And if not, what does the photographer do? How do you edit for this new world of content?

It seems to me that photographers needs to think in these terms, just as they hopefully thought about how their photos would appear on a computer screen, as the transition from solely print portfolios shifted to include images on the screen.

To this end I will be moderating a panel produced by APA on January 27 to be held at Calumet Photographic. For more info and to register go here.

There will be these great panelists:
Roberto De Luna, photo editor at TimeOut
Joe Pritchard, photographer’s rep at Vaughn-Hannigan
Alison Zavos, independent curator of featureshoot.com
Alex Wright, co-creator of Dripbook
Erin Rabasca, head of art buying R/GA
Chris Owyoung, music photographer

A raffle for valuable gifts and a chance to talk and think about what’s coming down the pike for you. Be there.