How I spent my evening (long post -- mostly words)

[F.Gordon]

Awhile back I got an invite in the mail to participate in a Fine Arts Gallery Exhibition/Contest. I'll spare ya' the details of how I got the invite. Long Story. Anyhoo... I submitted 3 snaps. Two were rejected and one was excepted.

After I got the phone call saying my one snap had been accepted I had only a week to get a 20 x 30 print and have it matted/framed. I scrambled like a rabid dog to get this done. But I did. Mega kudos goes to Ms F for helping me pull together this little miracle.

Tonight was the Gallery Reception. I'd never done this before. It was an interesting evening.

(I got permission to use my camera in the gallery. "not for commercial use, blah, blah, blah")

This is the "juror" for the contest portion. He is a Landscape Pro and Photography teacher so I knew I was screwed out of any chance of "winning". Here is is doing what is called a Gallery Walk where he goes around and talks about various photographs.



While I listened to the Gallery walk thing Ms F wandered about and lurked near my snap. She'd report back from time to time on what people were saying about it to me. Unless Ms F was yanking my chain, and she usually doesn't, it was all very positive. I didn't "win" but my snap will be on display (and for sale) in the Gallery through the end of February.

After the walk thing I waited to grab Mr. Landscape Pro to take him over to my snap so he could tell me what was wrong with it. His "critique" was incredibly bizarre. I actually began arguing with the guy. "no point to draw your eye".... me: "ummmm, yes there is... and I pointed to it". He suggested that I crop the snap and remove about 80% of it because it "was too big". He didn't like the "dark chaos" that drew the eye to one side. (that was my favorite part)
:shrug:

Anyhoooo.. it was fun. It was a bit hoity toity artsy fartsy but they had free wine. :9

I was concerned about my price but after looking at the others I felt I was "in line". I also learned that I need to SIGN my snaps. And I learned that having one person judge the contest was extremely subjective. Too much personal baggage.

I think back to the first DU photography group contest I entered. Actually, I withdrew after I entered it. I thought my snap sucked compared to the others. Here it is... a year or so later and I have a snap on display in a Fine Arts Gallery. I have to thank ConsAreLiars for giving me the motivation to this and thank everyone who hangs here for teaching me so damn much. I have miles to go but I'll keep pluggin' along and doing my thing. Point being... if a hack like me can get into a Gallery anyone else here can.

Not sure if I'll ever do one of these things again. Probably will. At least now I know a little of what to expect. Met some other kewl photogs. Talked trash. It was fun.

That was how I spent my evening.

Vanity Post is over... we now return you to your normal cynical old bastard F.Gordon....

[GOPFighter]

1. Standing O!

Over the past year I've watched your photos get better and better. Your winning photo last month was superb. Glad you had a chance to move up and have a photo shown in a gallery (and watch out for that "dark chaos"!). Have we seen the photo that you entered?

And did you say Free wine? :bounce: :bounce:

[Boo_Radley]

2. Sounds like a great evening

If you have oportunites to do the same in the future, you should, even if you have to accept a signle person as the judge (which is bad). You get more involved with photography, photographers, and photographs. :) You'd probably do as well to just talk to the other photographers as to the judge guy, though.

I should look into doing something like this. It sounds like it was a good time, and probably a learning experience. Definately moving up a level.

Do we get to see the picture?

[priller]

3. Yeah, post the picture here

Let US be the judge. Ha!

[Samurai_Writer]

4. Congratulations, F!

Was it the B&W roller coaster photo? If so, that guy is full of it. That's an awesome photo! And I'm glad you told us how your first gallery showing went, for those of us who aspire to the same thing someday. :)

[RagingInMiami]

5. You left out two important details

The photo you entered and what you're charging for it.

[CC]

6. It is so neat you were in

a gallery show. I wouldn't pay much attention to a single judge beyond hearing what he has to say. In the end it is a matter of taste. Now other photogs I would grill to get every once of info I could. :rofl:

Do you have a local Arts Council or group around? Might be worth checking out and entering contest there. Ours holds a couple of shows a year just for photography. Cost about $25.00 a year to join. Hmmm maybe I ought to get around to that myself.

[F.Gordon]

9. The other photogs were fairly generous

.. in positive feedback. I need to check out some local groups. I found one, but I really didn't fit in all that well. Was strictly a Landscape Group and I like snappin' everything.

Edit: Ms F has had experience with this so was very helpful in getting me through the "understanding" part. She didn't care much for the judge and made a joke about his "best of show" pick in B&W that I know he heard. Maybe that's why he ripped on me so much.
:rofl:

[ConsAreLiars]

7. Excellent!

Taking your work and vision to the gallery is a great achievement. Of course, the hassles and vanities that come with that terrain are a part of the whole scene, so learning to navigate through it is part of the skill set. But even the kind of interaction you had with the Artiste can be helpful if you can get him to describe how he would have approached the subject, and thus teach you a bit about his perspective instead of just crapping on yours. Presumably he has had some success. Some people are happy to give advice that reflects their approach, when asked, but of course some people are just posers.

[F.Gordon]

10. I don't know if I have the ability to learn that skill

But I've at least learned what to expect so if this opportunity presents itself again I might be better prepared.

It was your comment on my "zen moment" snap that gave me the push to try this. I honestly didn't think any of my entries would be accepted. So this was, what Ms F called "a wild eyed moment", for me. I definitely felt like a stranger in a strange land.

The judge definitely was an equal opportunity crapper. Like I say below... he crapped on all the "non winners". His work was on display as well. He is definitely a good photographer, but I completely disagreed with all but one of his picks. And his reasons made absolutely made no sense to me. Maybe I just don't understand all this "artist" stuff.

[ConsAreLiars]

11. You can watch some Warhol documentaries or

"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" if you need any further warning about the kind of incestuous insiderism that forms one aspect of the gallery elite scene, and the main skill you need, assuming (safely) that you "don't play dat," is to keep out of the hoi polloi party games. Find what value you can in discussions you have the people you meet, and don't sweat the antics of the ego-trippers.

As for the terminology of the "critiques" - the "rules" and such. It might - or might not - be useful to learn it. The main value would be is that when composing an image it gives you some ideas about how you might change things if the more wholistic approach doesn't "quite" seem right. It has more to do with talking after the fact than creating, however.

[F.Gordon]

8. Reply to posts above...........

GOPFighter .... thanks for the kind words. I'm not sure if I've improved or if I've just raced so fast to force feed myself the bug that I get "lucky" once in awhile. Have definitely slowed down lately. I'm doin' the "3 steps back" thing right now.

And yes.... FREE WINE
:woohoo:

Boo_Radley ... you're absolutely right about talkin' with other photogs. I learned quite a bit but I felt a little "out of place". Besides being probably the only person who didn't sign my snap, I was also probably the only person who didn't have a business card. There were also a couple of people that actually brought small portfolios with them. I was also confused, but figured out, the thing with "bin work". You were allowed to bring matted/wrapped (up to 3) photos for sale that they put out in the hall outside the gallery.

Most of the people I talked with were filmsies. Think I met one digie. I did learn more from them than the "judge", but I learned the most just by looking at the various photographs. I was blown away by the talent on display there.

The "judge" explaining to this one photog why his photo sucked. I felt bad for the photographer and followed up after the "judge" got done and gave him some positive feedback.:)



The main problem I had with the "judge" was he said nothing nice or positive about any photograph where he did a one on one with the photographer. Only focused on what was wrong. I think you can be very critical of a photograph but you can do so without being 100% negative. BTW: This Landscape Pro that judged? Of the 6 photos that "won", 4 were landscape shots. Go figure.

I recommend that you, and everyone else here, go for the gallery thing if you get a chance. There are probably a few here that are reading this that have done tons of gallery shows and are yawning. The thing I liked the most about this was it brought everything "down to earth"... out of cyberspace. It seemed more real to me. Does that make sense? :crazy:

priller... see below. Judge away!!!

RadFemFL.. I snapped Roller Coaster just a week or so ago. No, not that one. A good place to start would be doing local Artist shows. There are 2 or 3 big ones in the Boulder area. You'll get feedback from a wide variety of people. I really didn't seek to do this... it just happened. If you plan on being in the Denver area during the next few weeks PM me and I'll give you the address where my snap is and you can check it out... let me know what ya' think.

RagingInMiami... "show me the Money!!!" :)

$450.00. The Gallery takes 25%. Ms F negotiated ;) a deal for me ... used a stock frame with custom double white mat and dust shield; cost $83.00. I got the 20 x 30 print done on Fuji film paper and overnighted to me for about $30.00. If it sells I'll net about $224.00. If it doesn't sell it'll end up in my Dead Spider Gallery.

The SNAP. Most here have already seen this. The version below I posted awhile back. My entry was tweaked a bit and I did a different B&W conversion on it, but it's very close.

This wasn't my favorite of the 3 I sent in but it was the favorite of the committee.
:shrug:

The "judge" critique...

** No point that starts the eye. He finally agreed with me that it did, but then told me that a photograph should have a starting point... your eye moves around the photo and returns to that starting point. I'd never read that in any composition "rules" but I'm terrible with "rules".

** He complained that it was bad because it wasn't distinctly obvious as to what it was. He said that people will lose interest in a photograph if they can't follow everything in it. I explained to him what it was and that it was intended to be an abstract piece... but it was also very "organic" in that the river that this reflection was on was moving in different patterns. He didn't buy that.

[Boo_Radley]

12. Nice stuff

In a way, I can see what he meant about it being obvious as to what it was. By that, I mean I looked at the picture before I read the paragraph, and I was thinking about how you got the ripple effect. Was it photoshop? Did you put a special filter on? Did you put water on the filter? Etc. Then the word "reflection" in the paragraph above caught my eye, then I knew what it was, and I *instantly* enjoyed the picture much more. I also stoped thinking about in a technical way. Of course, that could be addressed just in the title of the picture. Not that it wasn't very interesting before I knew what it was, but it was much more interesting once I did.

I totally disagree with him that you needed to crop it down any. When you said that before, I assumed it was the rollercoaster picture, because I thought that should be cropped down some, too (though other people disagreed . . . matter of taste, I think), but I don't see why he would have thought so with this picture. And he was just flat wrong that there wasn't a point that draws the eyes. It's just very subtle.

He may well be a very accomplished and very knowledgable photographer, but I think his picks show that he was letting a personal bias, or personal taste, affect his judgement.

Back in college, the school had an art showing with awards every semester, and I entered a drawing I did. I thought I had one of the best piecees there, but I didn't even get honorable mention. The judge picked awful garbage that had a lot of mass appeal. It was like a critical film festival judge picking a pop-culture Keanneu Reeves action flick with lots of stars in it, and overlooking Casablanca, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and Dr. Strangelove, and explaining that they weren't colorful enough. Anyway, my teacher and the art department director told me they had expected me to win, they were unhappy with the judge, and they weren't using him again. The point of this story being that I can kind of empathize. One person's opinion, judge at an art show or not, shouldn't discourage you. Another judge probably would have picked completely differently.

Now that you mention it, though, there is a local artist's showing every year here, and I think I'm going to try to enter some photography in it. I'd like to do that again. Even if I don't win. Even if I think the judge sucks, the over all experience is good, and there's plenty of room to learn, and to enjoy yourself. And it's better than sitting at home watching the tube ;)

Oh, and I agree that talking to other photographers about their work, your work, or other people's work is the most meaningful way to learn. What they like about it. What they don't like about it. You get to see stuff from another person's perspective that way. I'm looking for some kind of photography club to join around here for just that reason.

Oh, and thanks for sharing the expeirence and the picture. I enjoyed both.

[priller]

13. Thanks. Very interesting.

Despite the disappointing judging, it sounds like overall it was a positive experience. Very interesting to hear how the gallery scene works. It's never occurred to me to do anything like this, but now you got me thinking...

[mogster]

14. Congrats, F. Gordon

Don't take those art critics seriously, they see too much art :toast:

No but this is just great. Remember us when you're world famous! :P

[bvar22]

15. The people who follow the "rules"...

...are seldom the ones who advance the art.
However, they are the ones who make money.

I do generally support the philosophy that an artist should know "the rules" and be competent within the rules before breaking them.
I cannot explain those blessed few who come to us "out of the box" with greatness already overflowing their souls. They get to skip the "rules". I am mystified by them, and when I ask the question "How did you learn to DO that?", they seem not to understand the question!
:shrug:

At ant rate F.Gordon, you have boldly gone where few of us have gone before, and the lessons you learned are tucked away in MY notebook should I ever have the opportunity to visit that strange land!
Thanks.