Photo LA - one photographer's weeklong experience.

I've been going to Photo LA for decades - my first one was at an auction house on Sunset. It was so fun to scout around in the cramped low rooms. I was working as a commercial photographer at the time and really felt like I'd discovered this gold mine. Lisa Sette Gallery was probably my favorite of those early years because they had such a non-traditional approach to photography. But this is the first year I participated as an artist. I did the whole gig: Gala on Thursday and then Friday through Sunday until closing. So, here's what I experienced.

Wednesday morning: You get an assigned time to deliver work so it's up early.  Loading up the car, then coordinating with the other artists, hitting the loading dock (amazing helpers!) only to be faced with loading my black portfolio cases onto carts covered in plaster...note to self: always have paper and bubble wrap. Then you're faced with figuring out how much work will really fit on the walls, which turn out to be full of supporting pillars. Then it's hanging out, trying not to bug the gallerist as she selects and arranges. Did a few walk throughs exploring the other exhibitors. There's a terrific guy from Chicago - Paul Berlanga or Berlanga Fine Art who spoke so passionately about his artists. Hanging out with the folks from Verge - a terrific group of local artists.  One of the strongest exhibitors is always The Queensland Center for Photography - and they're terrific people as well. Then it's getting all the last minute emergency stuff - picking up lettering, getting a better card made...and realizing what you still needed to do. We had a great location - apparently, you want to be to the right side - some kind of crowd tendency thing.

Thursday evening - the Gala bash: Well, this was a fairly crazy, but finally, fun event. The place was jammed and this year (unlike last) they didn't seem to have any planned activities. Mostly, it was a good chance to see everyone's booth and to speak with the folks who were walking by. This is the night that most of the curators who will be doing "curatorial tours" come by and preview the work to see which booths they want to feature. It's not really a great night for showing portfolios, more about talking with people, grabbing cards and generally socializing. Saw a few celebs...all in all, a nice evening, even for a committed crowd-o-phobe!

Friday: Ok, this is the first day of the event in terms of the general public coming and seeing the work. It was a bit slow, but there was a good steady stream of people until the late afternoon. Then, let's face it, it became drinks and M&M's time. I saw a lot of familiar faces, got a chance to talk about my work to a lot of people and connect with a few more on a deeper level. By 6:30...we were dragging. Came home, passed out on the couch.

Pano courtesy of Martin Cox

Saturday: I must say, this was a good day although I think that the "crowds" are much less than last year. Evesdropping on several gallery directors talking - the thought is that people just aren't collecting at this time. The sales I did see were rare...and I'm sorry to say we didn't have any either (except for a book). But, on the plus side, I spent the day talking about my work to a very wide range of people - and I met a few that I'd really like to keep in touch with (mostly photogs).  I was able to introduce my new direction (of constructed imagery) to people who were unaware of what I'd been doing - and got a lot of positive feedback...so maybe, who knows? I also got to have the gallery experience from the other side - so now I was the individual keeping an eye on people - trying to find a balance between ignoring and stalking them. Note to photographers looking for a gallery representation: just a quick "hi, I'm a photographer, what's the best way to contact "X" about reviewing my work? is a good approach.  What I really loved was spending the entire day talking about photography - well, maybe we lapsed into a few "lowbrow" areas, but mostly I really enjoy the company of other artists. Felt energized by the end of the day.

Sunday: Ok, we're now into the part of the journey that isn't for the fainthearted. On the plus side, it was as busy as Saturday, or maybe a bit busier. On the negative side, the marathon aspects are starting to really hit. By 3:30...I gotta admit, I was toast. Walking around,  I found it hard to really take in the images - thought I'd spend more time looking at work, and I just couldn't take it in.  The last rush of people seemed to happen around 4:30-5:00 and then we settled into pure exhaustion. At 6:00 it was time to break down the booth, making several trips to the car for the wrapping materials stored since Wednesday. Having a system for packing your artwork really helps (I have a bubble wrap pouch for each) so that part went relatively fast. Even so, it was 7:30 before we hit the road.

Monday: technically not a Photo LA day...I'm considering it a "snow day" as in, no work gets done.

Tuesday: feeling parched for input after all that outflow, so I'm heading out to shoot.

So, what do I think of the experience as a whole? I've heard it proclaimed that Photo LA was crap and all the good galleries were elsewhere...while others acknowledge it's not Art Basil, but still plays an important role.  Art, like every other field, is in freefall distruption - and the current system is falling apart. In the early years I found PhotoLA much more stimulating. It felt like galleries were taking chances - now, I just don't have that feeling anymore, but that's probably a factor of the $$ involved. My overall viewpoint is that I think that it's all an aggregate - an art business is one that is built in layers over a long period of time. People want to watch the artist develop and see what they have to say - to build a relationship - and so, I see this as another layer. Spending a concentrated time in our photo community was a very good experience for me - many thanks to all who came by.

My thanks to Sarah Lee for curating me into this project. To my fellow artists - many thanks for the wild ride: Aline Smithson, Martin Cox and Sara Jane Boyers

Patience and Courage

Today is the first day of Photo LA and I have been fortunate to be curated into Sarah Lee Projects @ Photo LA 2015 with three other amazing photographers (more on them to come). The upside is that I've had the chance to work with terrific people and hopefully find the 4 day event rewarding, exciting and fun. The potential downside is it exposes me to everything I normally try to avoid in my everyday life: gobs of people and selling myself. It got me thinking about how often I find myself on scary paths.  

Truth is, all goals have difficult steps. Actors want to have an audience, so they have to hit the talk-show circuit ("what if I sound stupid"), writers want someone to buy their book so they do book-signings ("what if no one shows up")...we all have the same issue of doing the crap we're not wild about to continue doing the stuff we can't exist without.  

I've had students tell me that "I just want to make the work, that's what important, not if anyone sees it." My response is usually: "well, let's think about the difference between therapy and art. If the work is therapy...then I agree, that an audience is not important. But, if you're striving to make art, then art is a process of communication and part of your responsibility to the work is to find it a place in the world." Yes, it's excruciating to bare one's soul (or even to bear one's soul) to the world...but if you can somehow pretend that's not happening, or focus on your end goals, it can help you find the courage to move forward. 

I believe that once you've created a work, it has its own rights and it needs to find its place in the world. Sitting in your studio/closet/drawer isn't enough. What if no one wants it? Well...every creative has worried about that from year 1000BC...maybe not those early cave painting guys, let's face it, they had a captive market. Ok, let's say no one wants the work. It could mean multiple things.  Maybe they're idiots. Maybe it's crap. Maybe it's too personal. Maybe it's the wrong market. Maybe it's ahead of its time...who knows? Maybe it's really just a step in your process of becoming a better artist...and you'll realize that in a few years and that takes patience.  It's important to remember that making 2015 the year you get better will mean doing some of the crap that makes you crazy. 

Patience and Courage. 

xxx from the front!

p.s. if you go to Photo LA, come by and say hi...

Photo LA and Making Books in Lightroom

Next week I will be participating in Photo LA and I've been working (like a dog!) getting ready. Funny thing is...I already thought I was fairly organized as an artist - I guess it's good to have a reality check.  As part of my presentation, I decided to make a few photo books, one for each body of work. 

There are an enormous range of possibilities in terms of self-publishing and I chose to use Blurb (as an experiment) because they're part of the Lightroom Book Module and MagCloud because it's super affordable. You can design a basic book in Word or Pages - or get more advanced with In Design or Photoshop. 

Lightroom is a terrific way to design a book quickly, and once you become familiar with its quirks, there is still a bit of customizing you can do. My big complaint is that the available sizes in Lightroom do not match up with the sizes in MagCloud (which is the best low-cost method for quick catalogs I've found). So, I came up with a work around method. 

I only like the "perfect binding" available in MagCloud - the three sizes that are available with perfect binding are Standard Portrait, Small Square and Digest. Here's the easiest way to use and adapt Lightroom for MagCloud's Standard Portrait - which is the format I used for Multiple Viewings.

This is how I created a standard 8.5x11 magazine style book with no full bleeds (where the image goes from edge to edge) in Lightroom 4 - it should work for the newer versions of LR as well.

Creating a MagCloud publication using Lightroom and Acrobat Pro

1. In the LR Library module, create a Collection of the images you want to make a book from. 

2. Move to the LR Book module and use these settings for "Book Settings." 

a. Book: PDF

b. Size: Standard Portrait

c. Cover: No Cover

d. JPEG Quality: 100%

e. Color Profile: use whatever profile you normally use - I use Adobe RGB or ProPhoto (yes I know which is bigger...that's a different discussion). 

f. File Resolution: 300

g. Sharpening: Standard

h. Media Type: Glossy

3. You are now in a format that is 8"x10" - and when we print in MagCloud it's going to be .5" larger side-to-side and 1" larger top-to-bottom. This means you can place type very close to the top or bottom of the page - but I'd watch the sides since that extra space can get lost in the fold and trim. 

4. Layout your publication - but our first "work around" involves knowing that your Page #1 will be removed from your final pdf, which means Page #2 is your real cover and you must end on an even number - that last page is your back cover.  

5. When you're happy with the design - "Export Book to PDF" is at the bottom of the right column. Then open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro. Click to show the thumbnails (icon on left) and to show the "Tools" column on the right. The image below illustrates that the first step will be to select and delete page one using the "Pages" tools. 

6. Next, select the "crop" tool from that same right side column tools and double-click in the page, which will bring up the window you see below. Towards the bottom where it says "Fixed Sizes" select "Letter" and also check "Center" and over on the right under Page Ranges, check "All." This will add the additional space to your pages. I've found that you can still do double-page spreads with this method. 

7. Important step that is often ignored - make a quick printout of this new PDF, image quality is not important. Then put it together like a book and "proof" it for flow, readability and layout. I cannot stress enough how important this step can be. If you need to make changes - you'll need to repeat from step #5. 

8. When you upload the pdf to Lightroom, you'll get a warning, just ignore it and "continue with this file." Then you just need to double-check that nothing falls in the trim area - also, don't forget to specify that you want "perfect binding" when you get to the pricing part and consider what color you want that side bind to be. 

Good luck!

p.s. if you'd like to have full bleeds (on the cover, for example), you'll need to make those full size in Photoshop, save them as Photoshop PDFs and then use Acrobat to insert them. 

New Year's Resolution...

I love January 1st! I love a new year in the same way that I love a new sketch/notebook - all the potential of those wide open spaces with none of the reality bumps.

To be honest - 2014 was not a year I'll be reviewing fondly. It was one of those years that hit you with crap every few months. We lost two very amazing friends - both creative, vital, inquiring, active women that one would never have guessed would die this early.  It seemed like the year was continually tossing something up that we'd never have expected.  So I struggled to figure out what the hell I was supposed to make of all this crap?

What it has come down to is fairly small and simple: pay attention. Pay attention.
PAY ATTENTION because life is SHORT and UNPREDICTABLE.

Pay attention when you have a "feeling" that something's not right.

Pay attention when there's something you need to do...but you just want to finish one more obligation before you get to it.

Pay attention when life tells you to slow down, or speed up.

This year, my resolution is to pay attention and to move towards the people and experiences that feed me. I'm starting this blog back up on a weekly basis - so please check back for more next week!

Why We Teach

This was a tough year for education and in general I get a bit disheartened when I see an influx of the types of people who shouldn't be in education ...or I see more government regulation whose end result is taking time away from the classroom. This year I met the good, the bad and the ugly of college administrators. I saw shockingly bad behavior and got asked some very interesting questions. It was obvious that some of them get what we (teachers) do and others just don't. There were dull blades and some very sharp cookies. The truth is, most people haven't a clue why teachers do what we do...

We teach because: 

- nothing beats that moment in the classroom where you realized they actually "got" it...where the light bulbs go on and you've helped them expand their concepts of life. 

- every day is different, might be the same hill we're climbing each semester, but each group of students is different and needs different approaches. 

- it uses every single fiber of your intellect, energy, patience and spirit.

- it gives back what you took.

- we're a bit bossy.

- we get paid to learn. 

- once you understand the path, you have to show it to others. 

- it's the right thing to do. 

- what else could be as challenging trying to figure out what it will take to help each student see which step they need next? 

I'm sure I've missed some of the reasons you teach...please feel free to share if I missed what inspired you.

This will be my last post for this blog as I'm spending the summer getting ready for school in the fall. Thank you so much for giving me your time.   Best wishes, Ann

Anatomy Of An Image

Where do we find inspiration? Sometimes it's by getting an "inside" view on how an image was created. With that goal in mind, I've created a You Tube Video showing how this image went from the  original on the left to the finished version on the right. The video is on my YouTube channel, which has additional tutorials on Lightroom and Photoshop. I was inspired both by the travel posters (see below) of the 30's and 40's as well as my love for vintage Los Angeles architecture.  Here's a link to the video. 

New Ways to Photograph

Back when I was a little more limber and was teaching a beginning photography class, one of the opening group exercises I would do  is to have them stand on top of their desk (luckily we had strong tables) to see how the world looked different. Then we would reverse the experience and everyone had to be on the floor - placing their eyes two inches from the ground. Strangely enough, it was this second viewpoint that was the most unusual.

The whole idea was to take people in their everyday setting and look at how differently you could change things simply by using a different viewpoint. We forget (or never knew) what the world looks like from someone else's vantage point until we're literally placed into it. So today I though I would look at how many of those different viewpoints you can use to change the look of your image-making. 

From February's Month of Creativity:

Altitude is the first one and includes everything from a "god's eye" view to an "ant's viewpoint." Think about shooting from ground level up to knee level...to beyond - 10ft above, even thirty feet above. In each of these situations you've got a whole different set of compositional and design options. Don't forget that you can even go below ground level to really change it up.

Scale - shooting details - getting as close as you can. Consider shooting a series of shots that in each step you move 50% closer with each step. See what happens to our sense of the subject as we start to lose our reference points.

Additional methods of changing what happens within the frame: 

Time - how an object changes over time. This could be anything from a decaying object to an organic element that grows and morphs. Think of Nick Nixon's great series on his wife and her sisters - photographing them annually over several decades.

Compositional shape - think of the different energies found in a panoramic shape vs. a square frame. By its nature the square, with it's equal sides, is balanced and calm while a pano has a very dynamic energy as it makes the eye move over its landscape.

Tone or light is a way to direct the eye - try creating a shot where the majority of the image is in darkness and the subject becomes an island of light. Do the opposite, fill the frame with light and sketch the subject with only the slightest change in tonality.