PhotoNOLA 2011 Wrap Up

Now that I’ve settled back in at home I want to write about PhotoNOLA, one of the best photo festivals out there. It’s only a 3 hour flight from New York, so consider attending next year. You won’t be sorry.

I was there for the first time in 2008, and this year was so much better for me. I felt much more engaged, and by now, many of the other reviewers, and some of the photographers are friends, so I had a wonderfully social time.

I arrived Thursday for the fundraising gala, a party with fantastic food, music and great bargains on prints during the auction. It was my chance to hang out and meet new people while wishing I could own a lot of what was being sold.

On Friday I was able to go to the Insectarium, something I wasn’t able to do last time. I love insects, so it was a blast—I even got to eat some, which is something I wanted to do. The rest of the day was spent hanging out and eating, exactly what you expect to do in New Orleans.

Saturday and Sunday were all-day portfolio reviews. I saw some fascinating work and had a chance to meet other professionals I hadn’t met before. I know there is a lot of debate as to the value of portfolio reviews. I think they can be wonderful: a chance for photographers to get fresh eyes on their work, a chance to get face-to-face sit downs with high quality professionals, and a chance to meet and talk with other photographers. Yes, it will cost money. But aren’t you and your career worth it?

There are those who feel that reviews are a “pay for play” type situation, and you shouldn’t have to pay people to show them your work. I think it’s important to understand where that money goes. It goes to the organization that puts on the event (and putting together PhotoNOLA isn’t easy, and it isn’t cheap), and it goes to bringing the professionals to New Orleans. The reviewers are not paid, but their airfare and hotel are comped. I think that’s a pretty good deal all the way around.

Now if a photographer isn’t ready to be reviewed (their work is not far enough along), or they are not prepared with good work that is well presented, and don’t have both the ability to talk about their work and to hear what the reviewer says to then, then yes, maybe the reviews are not a good idea. But since most photographers work alone, in a sort of creative vacuum (especially if they are not in big cities), there is so much to be gained that I can’t support the review process enough.

Some of the work I saw that really stood out:

Patty Carroll’s study on domesticity:"Anonymous Women."

Christopher Chadbourne’s "State Fair"

Stephen Chalmers’s landscapes of serial killer murder sites

Alex Leme’s small town America project
Robert Llewellyn’s gorgeous "Seeing Flowers"
Calli McCaw’s boys jumping off the Coney Island pier

Sunday evening I was honored to be asked to moderate a panel called: “Picturing War,” which focused on the work of Sebastiano Tomada Piccolomini, Ashley Gilbertson and Jungeun Lee—three photographers showing alternate ways of depicting conflict. It was quite an emotional and engaging panel for all of us—panelists and audience. For my part, it was an unexpected and intensely emotional experience.

Ashley showed his work and featured the “Bedrooms of the Fallen,” a deep and moving portrait of the rooms of soldiers in the US and Europe who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. By projecting the work on a large screen you couldn’t help but feel as if you were in the rooms, and that made it all the more poignant. And Ashley’s fierce passion for his work and to the soldiers who struggle with returning to civilian life with PTSD, or who commit suicide brought us all to tears. You had to ask yourself: What am I doing to help these people?

Jungeun Lee’s "Silenced Suffering" about the Korean women who were kidnapped and forced to be sex slaves to the Japanese soldiers during WWII was extraordinary in its detail and execution. Jungeun had grown up in Korea never hearing about this—only when 200 of the estimated 200,000 women who suffered began to testify in public did she learn about it. Her anger was so intense, it took her a year to begin to figure out how to express it visually. Jungeun’s attention to detail, and talk about what she chose to focus on and how she came to it was incredible. I am in awe of her creative process and wish I could have seen the complete installation (I saw a portion of it on display in a gallery in town).

For the closing dinner we were invited to the studio of Josephine Sacabo, a gifted fine art photographer who specializes in the photogravure process. It was such a treat to see an artist studio while in town and it was the perfect end to the festival. I found myself sitting at a table across from Jessica Lange—not what I had expected.

So I have to thank everyone who put this wonderful festival together: especially the great Jennifer Shaw, whose book, "Hurricane Story" is one of my favorites. I had such a great time meeting and talking with, among others, David Bram, Brian Clamp, Jennifer Schwartz, Andy Adams, Bill Schwab, Holly Hughes, Bevin Bering Dubrowski, Kyohei Abe, Roy Flukinger, Charles Guice, Neil Harris, Maggie Kennedy, Alexandra Le Faou, Claire O’Neill, Gordon Watkinson, Ann Pallesen, Mary Virginia Swanson, Sasha Wolf and Gordon Stettinius. I wish I could have spent time with everyone.

So mark this on your calendar for next year, and I hope to see you there!

all photographs copyrighted by the individual photographers

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....

The Reviewers Review the Free ASMP Portfolio Review

Monday night was the free, ASMP commercial portfolio review and there was quite a turnout of both reviewers and photographers. I enjoy doing reviews as it gives me a chance to see new work, and also, hopefully, offer some perspective. I usually see people I know and the entire evening is very enjoyable. That said, it was stranger for me this year than last. I saw fewer photographers (but then I’m not as valuable a commodity as an art buyer or magazine editor), and the noise level really affected me this year. As freelance photo editor Lindsay Blatt said, “It was really loud in that studio space, and I had a hard time hearing.”

I asked reviewers for their opinions in order to gauge their feelings, and thought I’d also bring you some of their suggestions on how to make it even better next year.

Joe Pritchard, a freelance photo rep said he like the structure and the fact that it was free for members. “What I would like to see is a larger space, as it tends to get very loud and difficult at times to hear people and to focus on what they are talking about and showing you.”

Julie Grahame, editor-in-chief, aCurator magazine wondered if “we could include a couple of successful photographers as reviewers next year.”

For Patrick Cunningham of Photolibrary, “It was fun, enjoyable, and social. Thanks for the candy. I really liked helping both the newbie’s and seasoned professionals. Everybody needs a fresh perspective sometime.”

Photography consultant Louisa Curtis said, “I think it was perhaps too close to PPE as there were more portfolio review events at PPE this year. The signs above each chair only said the person's name and not their company – that made it hard to identify people. There were too many reviewers and not enough photographers”

“I know that my colleagues in the corner tables did not get to see as much work as I did,” said Jessica Moon, senior visual content editor, online specialist, Scholastic, Inc.

And Anna G. Dickson, photo editor, Clear Channel Radio - Digital said, “I thought the event went well, although I did not feel there were enough timers for the reviewers. It was hard to hear the timer and after the very first review, I was on my own with time and I'm SURE that I went over 15 minutes several times.”

Monica Suder, creative coach, consultant and curator, “found the noise level very hard and was hoarse by 9PM.”

Wini Alcorn, business affairs manager, Coca-Cola-MCCANN ERICKSON,| thought “it would have been helpful to have someone using a BELL for the whole space to time the meetings, instead of individual timers per table. Those were annoying as they went off throughout the event. I think it would also streamline the event to have people all move at the same time to a new table, instead of waiting in lines.”

When asked about the quality of the work they had seen, and if anything was really special, Anna G. Dickson said, “The overall quality of the work was very good, and most, although not all people seemed open to constructive criticism

Patrick Cunningham: “I was most impressed by Ian Spanier’s portraits and lifestyle, as well as Bruce Katz’ food images.
Whitney Tressel of Hearst “loved Carl Wooley, Chad Hunt, and Peter Riesett's work the best.”

Jessica Moon had this to say about what she had seen: “Ashok Sinha – STUNNING! James Leynse – Curious, intriguing, wonderful! Stephen Mallon – lovely.”

Wini Alcorn: “Of the people I met, most of them were very talented. That is a huge step up from other events like these where usually the overall work is mediocre. Loved Mimi Ko, Erin Patrice O’Brien and Chad Springer.

Joe Pritchard felt that “many of the photographers need the support of creative consultants and branding help. I am finding that the photographers are so worried about making money and trying to jump into this so fast that they are not presenting themselves and their work properly. Also as we know photographers are some of the worst when editing there own work.” I would have to agree with that general assertion.

Mike Hartley of Big Flannel was pretty candid in his assessment, saying, “The quality of the work was on average higher than I expected. I am rarely wowed and was not on this evening. I am falsely of the belief my work sells itself, and so were many of the photographers. We should both being trying harder I think.”

Most of the responding reviewers said socializing with other reviewers was an important aspect of participating. Wini Alcorn thought, “perhaps a cocktail hour/mixer BEFORE the event starts (in a separate room) for people to say hi and chat before getting down to business would b better. “I also think name tags would be helpful for both photogs and reviewers.”

Jessica Moon found this year’s music “very cerebral and the party following the review missed an opportunity for revelry. Everybody was starving by then end,” she added.

And Wini Alcorn suggested having, “a 10 minute break to get up and stretch for the reviewers—a bathroom break.”

I would say that I saw most of the work on iPads that evening, and while it’s a fun toy at this point, I found the reflective screen very distracting. I know there are specific iPad apps for showing your work as a porfolio, and I think if that’s what you want to do, you should invest in the best technology. Always consider the chance for a portfolio review (or even casually showing your work) to be a professional situation, and to that end, be professional in how you present your work.

RepAudrie Lawrenceof Levine and Leavitt though that “50% of what I looked at was on iPad. I like seeing work on an iPad in equal measure to a well printed book. Since there is a serious drive toward photographers also doing double duty as directors I feel like having an iPad is an asset. I also think that photography can look really great on an iPad. That said, I do still really love the overall experience of looking at a well-printed book and would prefer that photographers have a regular printed portfolio along with an iPad to show additional work and video.”

Monica Suder added that, “iPads are good for some things. I came across a wonderful book and exhibition project on the Spirit of Tea in China and the images worked great on the iPad (by photographer Matthew London).

Jessica Moon is “happy to see work by any means necessary. iPad, whatever, it doesn’t matter. Next year I hope to see more iPads....”

Lindsay Blatt said, “I still like books, it shows some commitment to what you are doing. People using digital devices seemed flippant in their image selections.”

And Witney Tressel prefers “portfolio books or loose prints. I work for a print magazine so I want to see prints. I had a couple iPads but I don't prefer it, it's deceiving how good the quality is.”

Mike Hartley: “I looked at two portfolios on iPads. I generally prefer any process that engages me with technology. It feels contemporary and of the future. I do this realizing there may be a compromise involved (lack of size and resolution when looking at a screen relative to a print for example). I felt with the iPad, the compromise is still too large for it to be used as a primary portfolio. It worked for me when it was used in support of a primary portfolio, to show a 'hot off the press' project, or an archived project. However, it's an expensive object to achieve this and I think at best it is a useful (and unnecessary) toy in its current state.

“Don't get me wrong,” he continued. “Tthe possibility of touching and sharing a screen is a wonderful one, but the practical experience is so far lacking and the debate about its use seems to focus more on Apple's divisive marketing practice, and whether we can afford to not look like we embrace everything they sell us, rather than any fitness for purpose.”

“I was asked what I prefer and said print but ended up looking at both,” said Julie Grahame. “For me, the iPad is OK, for example, to show a single body of work that you haven't printed or edited yet. Like a kind of oh, by the way, I'm working on this--Robert Hooman's Eddie Adams project was the perfect example.”

“It has a tendency to make one feel stupid,” she continued. “I don't know how to navigate whatever it is you're showing me your images on, it's awkward, and as Ilene (Bellovin) said to me today, we've been trained to not touch the screen!”


Photos:
top: Joe Mondello
bottom: Frank Rocco

Presenting Work To Fine Art Community – Mary Virginia Swanson

MVS knows her stuff! We listened to her talk yesterday about how to get your work out there, particularly to the fine art community. She talks with such eloquence, ease and a whole heap of knowledge along with years of experience.

Because we are running (writing) on the hoof at PDN’s Photo Expo, I’m going to list a bunch of mainly bullet points from the seminar:

Get your work out there – as often and as much as possible – whether it’s a finished body of work or not. Create a dialogue about your work. This will help to grow your work.



Portfolio reviews – these are really important in not only getting exposure for your work but getting it seen by the right people in the industry. Their expertise and critique can be paramount in helping you to move forward – and to evolve as an artist. You get the opportunity to have your work reviewed by top editors, publisher’s, corporate art buyers, gallery curators etc. MVS mentioned a whole list of the best portfolio reviews which you can find on her website
http://www.mvswanson.com/events/index.php Including:

Review Santa Fe, Center, Santa Fe, NM http://www.visitcenter.org/ – a tough one to get invited to and/or accepted (only 1 in 7 photographers who apply are accepted) but its one of the top portfolio reviews around. Once the review is over, the Santa Fe100 is listed on their website until the next review. Your name and website are linked from this list for a year. You also get to meet some amazingly inspiring photographers.

Fotofest, Houston, Texas http://www.fotofest.org/ – the ‘grandaddy of portfolio reviews’ (MSV)

Lens Culture, Photo Nola, Photoweek DC…..and more on MVS’s website.

When attending a portfolio review, make sure that they remember you after you have gone. ‘Leave behind’s’ – make up a postcard with an image of your work or a mini book These don’t have to be expensive to put together and can leave a lasting impression, Be as creative as possible to make sure you are remembered. After the review, send a thank you postcard or email embedded with an image to the reviewers. And don’t forget to add your website and contact details!

Your graphic identity: ensure that all your postcards, emails, booklets, website are consistent. This is your branding.

Competitions and grant applications: don’t wait until the last minute to apply. Get a dialogue going with the organizers as soon as possible. Plan ahead – i.e. keep a diary of comps/grants and the deadline dates.

Don’t just enter comps or apply for grants willy nilly! Do your research before you enter/apply – find out who the juror’s are, what work they like, who won the previous competition/grant etc. Is your work applicable?

Prestigious art fare’s such as AIPAD, http://www.aipad.com/ in NYC, are key for research purposes alone. There is so much to learn from just walking around and listening to business deals being made between curators and agents or artists. You won’t hear this kind of talk in a gallery (at least not out on the floor!). So, take advantage and listen to the language and, above all, learn. Check out what dealers are looking for. Study price points, size, edition numbers, the paper choices photographs are printed on, installation styles etc.

Your website: this is ‘your voice’ so keep it consistent. As mentioned, this is your branding; this is the face of who you are. Make it clear on your home page what it is you specialize in. A succinct, concise sentence or two can say it all. Make it easy for any photo editors, curators, collectors, corporate buyers etc who may visit your site to see immediately who you are and what you are about. These people don’t have time to search your site for the relevant information that should be right up there in the first place.

If you have a book – don’t forget to promote it on your website!

Prepare for viewing your website on ANY device – how does your site look on an iPad, iPhone, other computer screens (the view can often be compromised on smaller screens)?

Sending out your work to curator’s, fine art buyers, agents, etc: don’t just cold-send work. Call them first to find out what their policy is on accepting work. They may only accept work once a month or once a year even. MSV is a great advocate of picking up the phone! Again, research everyone that you want to approach – know their market. Will your work be relevant to them? Also, find out the name of person (i.e. don’t address an email to anonymous info@photographers.com) you wish to make contact with at, i.e., a gallery – personalize any communication as often as you possibly can.

Social networking: is Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc relevant to your market? If so, do it well, update regularly and keep it consistent.

MVS tip: Art buyers and curators are looking at the following sites for new work. Contact them to see if your work can get featured on these two great sites:
Flakphoto http://www.flakphoto.com/
Fraction Magazine http://www.fractionmagazine.com/

MSV Soundbites: Know your market. Who do you want to target? Plan your career well. Don’t sell for less than you are worth. Research is key. Be consistent. Plan. Communicate what you want. Be present wherever you are. Your branding has to be clear at all times. Be patient. Own your decisions!

MVS’s website is a treasure trove of information for any photographer – however established or not your may be . And, if you ever see her listed on a panel for a portfolio review, then get your 15 minute slot booked with her asap!! It will most definitely be worth it!

Helen Jones
http://930kmafricanodyssey.tumblr.com/