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News: A Show to Submit Your Work That You Should look at!

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I'd like to bring to your attention, what I consider is a wonderful and honest service for those photographers who's like to get access to a top curator and see how their work fares. Each year, the Art of Photography Show in San Diego has the expertise sand individual and nuanced judgement and preference of a new, but well respected curator from a national museum. So there's a repeat opportunity to have one's best work looked at by different eyes and a nominal fee.

"The Art of Photography Show is an established and critical force in the world of contemporary photography. Now in its 8th year, this well thought out international exhibition provides value to artists at every turn, from first-rate viewing in the judging process to publication opportunities, well-attended exhibitions and lectures, photo industry connections and substantial monetary awards. Julian Cox is the esteemed judge for the Art of Photography Show 2012. Mr. Cox is the Founding Curator of Photography and Chief Curator at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Most photographers feel that having their work exhibited in a museum is the ultimate goal. Yet, getting exposure to museum curators is normally very difficult. Our project provides that opportunity. Check out a special PDF with information about the Art of Photography Show by clicking here

Exhibition at the elegant San Diego Art Institute in beautiful Balboa Park, San Diego, California. Choose your best images to present to Julian Cox. The Final Entry Deadline is July 16th!"




MarieCecileThijs_infographic_2.jpg





For more Details go to Art of Photography website!


I'm so thrilled by the organization of this show that I called them and arranged for a special $15 discount for first submissions. normally it's $25, but for OPFrs, it's just $10. Just let me know you are submitting and I'll write to the organizers to confirm your membership here.


Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Each year, they normally allow for just 100 prices to be exhibited. However this year, 200 photographs selected by the Curator of the De Young Museum will all be shown in the catalog and from that, 100 will be hung in the gallery.

The festive and catered opening reception will be September 29th in the Gallery in San Diego and usually brings in 1500 celebrants including representatives from major galleries and museums as well as collectors. 50% of any sales goes to the photographer. 40% is donated to the non-profit organization that houses the exhibit.

So please go through your very best portraits, street photography, landscapes and art to find that few which demand attention, move us, draw us in and have us linger.

Let me know that you will submit entries so I can inform them and you get the $15 discount. OPF has no financial nor other connection with this show. I just thought it would be a great opportunity to have one's work get to a famous and well regarded museum curator.

Well, isn't this a great idea!! :)

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
The Art of Photography Show is offering Open Photography Forums members their "Member Discount". Normally the entry fee is $25 for the first entry and $10 for each additional. For Open Photography Forums members, the cost is just $10 per entry.

The Art of Photography Show is an established and critical force in the world of contemporary photography. Now in its 8th year, the judge is Julian Cox, Curator of Photography and Chief Curator at the de Young Museum. This well thought out international exhibition provides value to artists at every turn, from first-rate viewing in the judging process to publication opportunities, well-attended exhibitions and lectures, photo industry connections and substantial monetary awards. FINAL ENTRY DEADLINE: JULY 16th at 11:59 pm PDT. For more information: http://www.artofphotographyshow.com


And...recently our Associate Producer, Lisa Smith, wrote an open letter titled, "So what's it really like? If my work is accepted, what happens next?". Perhaps it would be helpful to share this link with your members: www.artofphotographyshow.com/what_happens.html
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
George,

You have a good series so you should submit. At least one or more of your pictures could be chosen for the printed book. I'd even go down to San Diego to tell folk about you if you get selected!!

Fro sure, the person doing the selecting is genuinely involved in doing that for their life's work and for a museum of international standing. That's what caught my attention. So many self-appointed gurus have contests and then extend the deadlines several times to gather more entry fees. This, however, is straightforward and honest.

Hmm. I might submit pictures myself!

Asher
 

Charlotte Thompson

Well-known member
Asher
Thanks for such a quick response. I may do it. There are so many to make choices though I wouldn't even know where the best is to send-

Charlotte
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Asher
Thanks for such a quick response. I may do it. There are so many to make choices though I wouldn't even know where the best is to send-

Charlotte


"Where the best to send" or "Which is the best to send?

I'd go for any picture you like. If you have too many, put at the top those made from just your own starting images or which includes your own starting images, if they are your favorites.

Asher
 

George Holroyd

New member
Asher

Yes "what is the best to send- I have many actually so many to look through- but in the end it would be up to me

Charlotte-

Having entered a number of these contests or calls for artists, I've found that the single hardest aspect is choosing what to submit. I'm always left wondering if I've chosen the right images. At the end of the day, the decision to include this work or that (in the exhibit) is at the whim of the curator. it's a terrible system and we, as artists have bought into it by submitting our work, paying our money, and continuing to take our chances.
 

George Holroyd

New member
The more of these I read about and the more people I see pimping one contest or another, the more convinced I become that anyone who is remotely serious about their work should be insulted by the thought of someone trying to make (and profit from making) a contest out of it.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
The more of these I read about and the more people I see pimping one contest or another, the more convinced I become that anyone who is remotely serious about their work should be insulted by the thought of someone trying to make (and profit from making) a contest out of it.

George,

Maybe you're right and I'm wrong then all agents are in the same boat and artists would have to make it on their own. I, however, think you can navigate and pay the tolls.

Asher
 

George Holroyd

New member
George,

Maybe you're right and I'm wrong then all agents are in the same boat and artists would have to make it on their own. I, however, think you can navigate and pay the tolls.

Asher

I wonder then, how any photographers managed to get along before the days of the instant web-based, 72 dpi jpeg submission form? Typically, an entrant doesn't even have to show a quality print to enter one of these "contests"...as long as the entry fee is paid in full, of course. The agent, toll keeper, or whatever title you wish to bestow on them will happily accept whatever people throw at them, choose among them the most agreeable entries and laugh all the way to the bank without much care about selling anything that they hang. Although, if a print does sell, they'll just as greedily take 40% or more out of the photographer's pocket while sticking them for all of the costs associated with presentation.

Contest?!! Who am I competing with? How do I choose only a few images from a coherent body of work and expect a juror to recognize that my entries are in fact elements in a set? Am I supposed to just pick my favorites and submit those? Sorry, my photography doesn't work like that. I believe the format of the vast majority of these contests excludes any serious consideration because they aren't geared toward judging photographs within the context of a body of work. Might as well charge 10.00 USD a pop to have people submit their favorite cat photos, call it a themed event and get it over with.

Having read over what I've just typed, I'm reminded of the following quote by Milan Kundera: "Kitsch is the inability to admit that **** exists". Making a contest of art is kitsch.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
It's very simple. First buyer beware. After that, if you respect the curator. Go ahead, if not don't. for me that's a simple formula. Then do you have work they might like and the money to go with the submission to cover printing and mailings. One always has responsibility to make sensible goal-oriented decisions.

If any are worthy, my bet is that this one is. You'd decide on the number of prints and the size. This is a decision only each photographer can make for his/her own work.

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Here is an interesting question asked about "The Art of Photography" competition. The income of say 10,000 entries is $100,000 and that is going to be given in a considerable part to a local art body. With prizes, the opening reception and staff there's not much room for profit. Say $20-50,000. That's not a lot for organizing going through 10,000 pictures to select 150 high quality pics to be hung and another 100 to be in the finely printed book.

So far, I've found no expressions of anything but the positive. However theres' not a lot reported. One especially nice article in the Los Angleles Times of August 2010, here. For that there were 13,000 entries from 3,232 photographers. So there's very roughly a 1 in 20 chance of a photographer getting work selected.

Asher
 

Bobby Deal

New member
Last one of these I entered I believe it was the first year of this contest I received notice shortly after submission I had a winning entry and it would be included in the book if I bought a book for I believe $50. Owning one of these books with my image in it was said to be a pinnacle of success and honor that I could tout in my resume and be able to legitiimatwly lay claim to being an award winning photographer.

Then if I bought the book ( i did not) I would then be included in the gallery show where all sorts of amazing opportunities would open at my feet. I would be invited to fly to Washington DC (at my expense) to attend the gala opening and see for myself the glory of my simple photo of a red antique Coffee grinder in an over grown ivy covered court yard in San Clemente Ca hanging on the wall amid all the other amazing winning entries. The image was truly nothing more then a snap shot from a D70 lit very flat in mid day sunshine and the composition very much centered in the fram with no real regard to the rule of thirds or any other rule for that matter.

Interestingly enough I continued to get emails with this amazing news and offer for the next 3 years? I still get daily emails urging me to Enter Enter Enter. Maybe the show has gained credibility since but my experience with it in the first year put me off photo contests for good and I have never submitted to another one since.
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
I think that the way aspirant artists think is the following:

"The "San Diego Art Institute" is a fancy name and that will look nice on anyone's résumé. So, this is probably worth 10$. What can go wrong if I send them, say, 5 pictures? At worst I won't win and I will lose 50$. At best, I win an entry, and I can pretend to be of international fame when I present my art to be exposed in other galleries."
 

George Holroyd

New member
Today, I met an artist

My wife and I met an artist today while walking through St. Germain de Pres in the 6th Arrondisement in Paris. We were on our way to a pub, when we noticed a man taping prints to a blank wall. Upon closer inspection of his wares, we saw several color, silver gelatin, and "photographic emulsion" prints that he had produced himself, in the darkroom. As a digital shooter, I was intrigued by the fact that amongst his traditional work, he also had several smaller inkjet prints on textured paper he'd sourced in India among his optical prints. I struck up a conversation with him and discovered that this gentleman was a Polish citizen, from Warsaw who regularly travels to Paris to sell prints that he makes during yearly trips to India. I mentioned the name of a local, independent gallery and he scoffed at the notion, preferring instead to set up impromptu exhibits wherever he could find space. I then asked him if he had a web site, knowing the answer before I posed the question and he smiled and asked me "why?" in return.

Pavel Lavrynovicz, from Warsaw has no need of such things as galleries and web sites and anyone else's idea of exposure. Pavel prefers instead to spend his time making and selling photographs.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Are you convinced it isn't what artists should aim for? Look, we could play this game all day, but what's the point?

George,

You seem to have fixated on the negative and there are always negatives. In life, the most important decisions are not likely to be between good and bad, but rather between good and good and bad and bad. Here we have a good situation with some minor negatives. Your pictures have a very substantial chance of being chosen in my opinion. They're original, tired together by a set of common motifs and executed well.

You seem to jump to the downsides of things and get to see the worse. I am a pragmatic optimist. This, I believe will force you to choose which of the pictures best represent the series and you as an artist photographer.

I will go to San Diego to see your work hanging their and collect your book for you and mail everything back to you that's not sold. Why, because I'd like to force you past this negative barrier which is not doing you any good.

The are brilliant teachers and then there are middleweights and self appointed masters and gurus. Each gives benefit. as one goes down the list, one pays more and gets a different experience. Likely as not, all of them are helpful. Galleries that can sell your work are important, but most have closed lists of artists.

Stop being negative. You have mentioned all the downsides. Now the positive. Someone will buy your work and will hang them with pride in their home. That should be good enough! If you sell more, you all have the funds to live where you like, how you like and expand your artistic horizons.

Asher
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Are you convinced it isn't what artists should aim for? Look, we could play this game all day, but what's the point?

You are being disingenuous here. Should Pavel Lawrynovicz be an example to follow? Is being an "artist" about being unknown, trying to sell snapshots hung on a wall to survive?

You are being disingenuous, because, if you were serious about your example, you would do the same. You live in Paris, there are plenty of empty walls where you could hang your 33 squared meters. And you should take your website offline and should have refused the publication in "Le journal de la photographie". But you did not. Because, what you want as an artist is fame and Pavel is not famous. You want to be recognized, you want to be invited to cocktail parties where people with more words than brains will write pages about your 33 squared meters.

We all want that. Of course. That is the great lure of being an "artist".

It is a trap, but it is a necessary trap. "Art" is about creating emotions in the viewer. You can't be an artist if you don't want, if you are not passionate about moving people. Changing the way they think, they see, they feel the world around them. But this makes artist inherently fallible to people flattering them. Because it is the same: you cannot know whether people talk to you because they are moved or because they think about money.

It is not about selling pictures at street corners. It never was. If you ever meet Pavel again, please wish him nice holidays in India from me.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
We all want that. Of course. That is the great lure of being an "artist".

It is a trap, but it is a necessary trap. "Art" is about creating emotions in the viewer. You can't be an artist if you don't want, if you are not passionate about moving people. Changing the way they think, they see, they feel the world around them. But this makes artist inherently fallible to people flattering them. Because it is the same: you cannot know whether people talk to you because they are moved or because they think about money.

It is not about selling pictures at street corners. It never was. If you ever meet Pavel again, please wish him nice holidays in India from me.

Strong and valid remarks, Jerome!

The story of the Polish guy who goes to India, is just that. He could be as simple as George observed or be selling drugs in Paris and restocking in India. Or he could be a brilliant uncontaminated and undiscovered artist. There's uncertainty. Still, he made an impression, take the good and move on!

George and everyone here who is considering this: Put your work in this contest and I'll visit when your pictures are hung and help to get them sold if I can. I'll even help mail the unsold ones back to you if it's within the scale of my strength and the space of my vehicle to take to the shipping place.

Gallery Cut: Is 40% unwarranted? Galleries are very expensive to keep open. So they normally take 60 to 65%, as they have to pay the rent, a resident curator, picture hanging, printing brochures, a website, catering to collectors and so much more. Visit an upper end gallery and they are 3-4 highly educated and cultured fine men and women ready to discuss with you any work. Also they will cover the background and style of that or related works as well as market trends and recent auction prices. That's why we pay so much to them.

So if you sell a picture for 4400 or $4,000 you will get real money back in your pocket and a good line to your resumé. It's more than worth your effort. Also, who knows, a reputable dealer might fall in love with your photography and then you are made.

What's the point? Ask that to a mother who goes to a coffee field in Nicaragua with a baby strapped to her back, hoping that when they weigh the coffee beans at the end of the day, there will be enough to buy food for the family. What's the point? Ask that of a newborn baby in Darfur or in a battered village in Syria with death and destruction, as far as the eye can see.

Our point is to being values back to people, enjoy the fruits of our labor and support ourselves and family according to our needs. Art can hold up a lantern, so we see ourselves and the world over which we've appropriated dominion. Do the best for yourself with the resources made available to you. Then, when you are established help others. That's been my credo all my life.

Asher
 

George Holroyd

New member
Because, what you want as an artist is fame and Pavel is not famous. You want to be recognized, you want to be invited to cocktail parties where people with more words than brains will write pages about your 33 squared meters.

Project much? Please don't presume to know what I want based on a few forum posts, thank you.
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
So, how then should an aspiring ' artist ' proceed to get his/her work to be brought to the attention of a bigger audience; and hopefully get some sales of his/her work going.

This is presuming that someone needs their work to be displayed, recognized and sold.

I am very interested to learn of the options available besides the ones mentioned in this thread.

Regards.
 

Mark Hampton

New member
So, how then should an aspiring ' artist ' proceed to get his/her work to be brought to the attention of a bigger audience; and hopefully get some sales of his/her work going.

This is presuming that someone needs their work to be displayed, recognized and sold.

I am very interested to learn of the options available besides the ones mentioned in this thread.

Regards.

collectives - popup shows - fek getting work oot is easy ... joint shows ... spaces ... print images and place them in spaces for people to find... join a zine group ... post online .... look on the net for art collectives / studio spaces that are cheep - communes or start giving your work away and talking to other artists... most of all just keep making work..

and good luck.
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
There we go...

Besides the galleries, curators and the globe trotting Pavel of La Rive Gauche, we now have some more seemingly excellent suggestions.

Thank you.
 
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