Crusade for Your Art

Best Practices for Fine Art Photographers

Jennifer Schwartz

• Publisher: Crusade Press
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9780991277919
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Kunst
• Subtopic: Fotografie

Crusade For Your Art: Best Practices for Fine Art Photographers gives you the tools to take your fine art photography career by the reins and thoughtfully and purposefully develop a plan to get you where you want to go. Learn how to tighten your work, develop your brand, identify goals and a plan for your photography, and strategically launch your project. With insight and instruction on every aspect of the fine art photography world, as well as contributions by more than twenty-five top industry curators, gallerists, editors, and photographers, this guide gives you all the tools you need to make your mark on the art world.

Set the Stage

PART II

Set the Stage

Tighten your work and build your brand.

You have made the work – what an amazing accomplishment! Truly. There’s plenty more to do, but pause and think about how far you have come. To have a concept and turn it into a photographic project is a remarkable achievement.

After you have reflected on your efforts, it is time to make the most of this body of work. You want it to be as strong as possible and give the viewer everything you put into it. So let’s tighten it up.

Edit and Sequence

One of the most difficult challenges for a photographer is to edit his or her own work. It is nearly impossible for artists to be completely objective about their own images. An experienced outsider can look at a body of work and comment on which images feel like outliers, whether or not the work feels cohesive, what images propel your story and which do not, which images feel technically or aesthetically weak, and how to make adjustments to improve the project. An artist sees more than just the image – the artist looks at a photograph he or she made and remembers that it was the most beautiful day out, the windows were down, and a favorite song was playing on the radio. The artist cannot divorce the image from the context, and that is ok. But that is why soliciting experienced, objective feedback is critically important.

First, seek out experienced people whose opinions you trust to give you constructive criticism on your edit. Asking a supportive spouse or neighbor without any industry knowledge will make you feel great about your work, but will not help it improve. And it can always be better.

Utilize the resources around you. Most local gallerists and curators will carve out 15-20 minutes to sit with you and review your work, so long as you respect their time by making an appointment and clearly outline your objectives from the meeting. Explain that you are looking for constructive feedback on your project in order to improve it and get it ready to launch. Be clear that you are asking for their time and feedback, not an opportunity for exhibition or representation. If the work is fantastic, that will come naturally.

Second, be as critical and objective as you can when looking at your images. If you think an image is strong but does not completely fit the project, take it out and save it for a future body of work. If you are thinking, “I know this photograph is too soft/isn’t really working/has a different feeling/etc. but _____ (insert any excuse here)”, then take it out. Again, just because it does not fit this project does not mean it will not fit in another project in the future.

Finally, do not dilute the impact of your project or series by including weaker photographs to meet a self-imposed image count. If you only have 13 strong images so far, then only include 13 in the portfolio. Adding two weak images to bump up the total to 15 will leave the viewer remembering two out-of-place photographs and thinking you may not know the difference between a weak and strong image.

Once your edit feels tight, the sequence is your next challenge. Sequence can strengthen or ruin a project. If the images feel like they are jumping around and the viewer is jarred moving from one to the next, the story you are trying to tell gets lost and the photographs will not hit their mark.

Quite simply, the flow needs to work. Let the story unfold in a clear, logical way that makes sense as the viewer moves from one image to another. Make sure you are telling the complete story without hiccups (images that take the viewer off-track) or narrative gaps. Allow the viewer to move seamlessly through the work. Keep a consistent vibe and feeling, building a narrative or emotional arc without disrupting the viewer’s eyes or emotions.

In addition to considering a logical ordering strategy (chronological, narrative, etc.), pay attention to aesthetic qualities in the photographs. Colors and shapes can bridge transitions between images and create a smooth flow. Less obvious connections also create an interesting sequence. Consider what associations a straight read of an image bring to mind and what other image in the series creates a logical link to it.

In talking with photographers about their editing and sequencing practices, one thing that comes up again and again is the value of living with the work. Many artists find it useful to take their work prints and hang them, or spread them out on a worktable or the floor of a studio. And then they “live” with the work—they look at the edit or sequence repeatedly over a period of time. Connections reveal themselves; pacing, and narrative and emotional arcs change or fluctuate; and individual images gain or lose importance.

– Conor Risch, Senior Editor at Photo District News

Artist and Project Statements

The term “artist statement” is often used to refer to a general statement about the type of work an artist makes and also to a description of a particular project. In photography, where artists create different bodies of work with distinctive narratives, each project needs its own statement.

Artist Statement

Typically a photographer will have a general artist statement that summarizes the way the work is made, the major themes that tie the different bodies of work together, and the way that photographer looks at the world. The general artist statement can be combined with a short bio on an artist’s website to create a few paragraphs that give a high-level overview about the photographer and his or her work.

Below are two examples of artist statements incorporated into the photographer bio. They are short and effective. They give the reader a sense of an overall concept or focus area for the photographer.

Heather Evans Smith is an award-winning fine art and conceptual portrait photographer based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Her work captures both the everyday and the whimsical, telling stories of women and struggle, reality and the surreal.

Tatiana Wills is intrigued by the essential spirit of the creative vanguard. Her portraits celebrate the excellence, dedication, and integrity of those who make, do, and inspire. Tatiana has won honors from Communication Arts, PDN, and the International Photography Awards. Her work has been seen on the pages of Time, GQ, HiFructose, and IdN and on the silver screen in Banksy’s street art film, Exit Through the Gift Shop. Her book Heroes & Villains was released in 2011, marking the result of a six-year collaborative project with co-photographer Roman Cho. Tatiana currently lives in Portland and Los Angeles.

Project Statement

The project statement (which is often called an artist statement and for the rest of this section will be referred to as such) is a much more specific description of one body of work. A photographer should have a project statement for every body of work.

Photographers will most likely need several versions of their project statements. A short, concise statement is appropriate for an artist’s website and in most cases is also sufficient for submitting work to juried shows and competitions and for gallery exhibitions. A photographer may need a longer, more in-depth statement for academic uses, exhibition catalogs, museum exhibitions, or other printed or high profile uses. This guide offers advice and examples for how to write a succinct statement for your website and other general uses.

Yes, Artist Statements Are Important

The thought of writing an artist statement can sicken even the most accomplished photographer. We are visual artists after all. We express ourselves in images, not words.

There is often a lot of griping that occurs when the topic of artist statements comes up. Many people (mostly the artists tasked with creating the statements) feel the work should speak for itself, and that statements are unnecessary and meaningless. Although not every gallery and collector is concerned about a well-formed artist statement, there are a lot of benefits to having a concise, compelling description of your work.

Nearly as difficult as writing about your work is speaking about your work. The process of writing a statement allows an artist to get the swirl of elusive ideas and concepts that make sense in his or her own head out and organized in a concrete, meaningful way. We all know what we are trying to say with our images, but many of us have a very difficult time communicating those thoughts to others.

As discussed in the upcoming section on portfolio reviews, preparing your pitch is critical to presenting your work to a potential gallerist, curator, or collector. Writing your artist statement can both assist you with this and can act as your agent if you are unable to make a face-to-face connection with the person viewing your work.

Putting Words on Paper

Oh, but where to begin? There are three critical questions an artist needs to ask and answer fully before the writing can begin. Get these hammered out, and you are well on your way.

• What are you trying to say with your work?

Think about not just what you are photographing, but what you are trying to communicate to the viewer. What is the story you are telling?

• Why are you making this work?

How did you come to create this work? What inspired the project? Why did you feel you needed to photograph this particular topic in this particular way?

• Why should the viewer care?

Finding a topic that hasn’t been done before is not a compelling reason to create a photographic project. Why is what you are saying significant and valuable? How are you making me see something in a way I wouldn’t see it otherwise? How are you making me feel something unique or important? What are you making me think about that deserves attention? And above all, why is your voice the best one to transmit this information?

Think about these questions and start a stream of consciousness flow of writing. Or speak out loud and record your dialogue. Have a conversation with another person who is familiar with your work and whose opinion you value, and then use these questions as a springboard.

Once you have let flow, read or play back your musings and pull out themes that are strong and reoccurring. From there, begin to organize the themes and cull down the extraneous information.

I’ve Got A Lot of Words – What Do I Include?

The purpose of the artist statement is to provide insight – a context and framework in which to understand your art. Tell the viewer about your concept and motivation for making the work. Draw people in and make them want to see your images. The statement is an introduction and supplement to the work, not a detailed description or a biography of your life with a camera.

Take a look at all you have written down and organize it in a way that makes sense and tells the most cohesive story. From there, cut out any pieces of information that seem unnecessary and that do not really talk about the work (the age you first picked up a camera, how you have always been drawn to color and light, where and when you got your MFA).

Then GRASP the key elements to avoid:

• Generalizations

Be specific when you write. Avoid sweeping generalizations and vague language. Say exactly what you mean. Analyze every single word and make sure you are not adding “fluff” in an attempt to sound deep, artsy, or smart. You should sound like yourself, just more polished and succinct.

• Reticence

Admittedly, there is a fine line between presenting your work confidently and sounding arrogant (see “Self-importance” below), but sounding like you believe in yourself and your work is essential.

• Artspeak

Throwing in technical terms, art history or flowery language will only put the reader off and detract from your concept.

• Self-importance

Declaring your work to be exceptional or sure to change the way the world looks at art is unnecessary and off-putting. If it is brilliant, it will be obvious to the viewer.

• Past tense

You are writing about work that is being viewed in the present tense, and you should write about it that way, regardless of when it was made. Writing in the present tense is active and lends a feeling of relevance and vitality.

Examples of Strong Artist Statements

Below you will find examples of strong, direct artist statements that do not have a lot of extra information to distract the reader. These statements are concise, but provide important context with which the viewer should look at the images. Statements such as these are especially appropriate to accompany images on photographers’ websites, because if too long, the viewer is not likely to read them.

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