Five Ways to Make Your Own Photo Group

This week my focus was on community - as in, no one makes it on their own. I got to spend time with several of the terrific people I went to my undergrad (Art Center) with. It was like a reunion of old army buddies remembering basic training. In the days after, I thought a lot about the gathering and the truth is, I wouldn't have made it through school without them. 

As a teacher, I try hard to create situations where my students will bond and work together, because I know that their chances for success increase dramatically if they build a community around what they're trying to accomplish. 

So here's a few steps to consider building your own community: 

1. Email (text/whatever) four friends to meet for coffee and bring one new photo each. 

2. If you're in a photo class, approach the instructor and ask if you could take the last X amount of time during one lab section and have an informal "photo club" meeting. If Photo club is too corny a word...create your own. 

3. If you've got a car, invite several photo friends or classmates to go up to a local park. If you're located in Southern California - consider Antelope Valley, where the poppies are in bloom now. 

4. If you don't have a car, look up what photo shows are happening locally and have a group of friends take public transit there - spend the day shooting. 

5. Don't want to reinvent the wheel...go to your local photo supplier and scan the notices for groups you'd be interested in. In SoCal there are: SoCal Photog Association, South Bay Camera Club,  Clickers and Flickers just to name a few. Start attending and see if there are other's you'd like to create a splinter group with. 

Why is public funding for the Arts important?

A few years ago, education in California suffered another in a long line of cuts and we're only now starting to recover from it. Of course one of the first things to go is the Arts...because hey, how can they be essential? Well, according to the Otis Report on the Creative Economy, in 2012 there were 404,000 individuals directly employed in the creative industries of LA and OC. These workers supported an additional 322,3000 indirect jobs for a total of 726,300 jobs generating $50.6 billion in labor income. So, at least for SoCal, the Arts drive a lot of traffic!

Now think about the impact this industry has on our daily life and culture.  The shows we watch, the clothes we wear, the cars we drive...all of these are designed and created by a creative class of individuals. With the recent cuts in arts education, middle and upper income students compensated by shifting to private schools and tutoring to continue their arts education. But what happened to low income students?

I teach at a community college in California. These colleges are one of the only options for low-cost quality education in the Arts and I think we do a terrific job - but what happens when these students want to compete for 4 year degrees? Admission to almost all BFA programs is through a portfolio or audition process. It seems like a fair process unless you really stop to think about it.

Higher Ed throughout California now has a non-repeatability rule, which stops students from taking an art class a second or third time. Why is that important? Because one Life Drawing class doesn't make you great...or even really good...and that's what you have to be to get into a BFA program. Those students with higher incomes compensate by taking private lessons, so they now have an even greater edge than before.  The same thing plays out in Music, Theater and Dance where they have auditions for entrance to 4 year degree programs.

If we don't find ways for low income students to engage with the arts, to develop their voice, then we don't have diverse viewpoints in film, tv, magazines. Diversity isn't just a politically correct buzzword, it's really the life blood of an exciting an innovative culture. If you'd like to let the Board of Governors know that they should return repeatability to the Arts in California Colleges because the new system is reduces access for low income students - send an email to: Karen Gilmer the BOG and Consultation Council Liason at kgilmer@cccco.edu

Keeping a low cost arts education in mind - here's a link to Free or Paid MFA programs located throughout the US.

I Don't Make Stuff...

My MFA is from Claremont Graduate School...although now, they've fancied up the name a bit and it's Claremont Graduate University. I chose the school because it was not a "photography" oriented program. Instead it was oriented to all the visual disciplines and was heavily into making art. The first year, I completely stopped taking images and explored everything from curation to installation. It was exactly what I needed. 

The off-shoot of this experience is that none of my classmates are photographers. Sometimes that's a drag, but overall I think I made the right choice. A few years ago, I joined a group of 15+ women artists, many of whom I know from grad school, who meet every couple of months and collaborate on a set of artworks. It's got a bit of the exquisite corpse approach to it - a few rules that often get broken and the work passes from individual to individual. 

Our current project started with Mandalas and this Sunday we will be meeting to review the final steps in preparation for an exhibition in June. When I was first invited to join - my response was "I don't make stuff..." which got a laugh and then was promptly ignored. But it is true - I struggle with objects, but have soldiered on, contributing a video, slivers of a photograph, an audio track...and this week, I added rice to a couple of kitschy glasses.  I still don't think I make objects, but I have enjoyed the process. 

Consider starting your own collaborative group. The social part is the best and it's interesting responding to the prompts from a different artist. Also - think about making sure you're working outside of just your own practice...that stretch across disciplines will open you up. 

Getting There...

Over the years we are often faced with the FACT that we don't take our own advice. Somehow other people's lives are just so much easier to fix...but fixing ourselves is such a different task. One of the "truths" I learned in therapy was that my strengths and flaws were often two sides of the same coin. 

The good part of that was it made me a bit more forgiving of my flaws...baby and the bathwater type of thing. One of my strengths is curiosity and the inability to say "no" as many times as I should - this has given me some great adventures but it can also lead to a lot of distraction that often masquerades as action. 

This year, my goal is to imagine that I'm someone else and take the business side of my artwork in a much more serious manner. Barry Schwartz wrote a wonderful post on this called  Frog In Water  where he stopped making excuses for why his business had slowed and started taking his own advice. I loved what he had to say and decided to take it to heart. 

Here are two goal areas I'm going to pursue - and I think you should consider them as well: 

1. Set a goal for how many "hard copy" exhibitions you'd like to have this year. It can include group shows - but depending on where you are in your art career - really think about the quality level. If you're just starting out - look at the local coffee houses/bars/restaurants in your area. If they're hanging work, then (during the slow hours) ask to speak to the owner or manager about how to show your work. As you hit mid-career, then only participate in quality photography organizations with jurors you'd like to get your work in front of. Review their past exhibitions to make sure your work fits with their visual aesthetics. 

2. Set a goal for how many "virtual" exhibitions or posts about you and your work you'd like to have this year. Using the "links" area on most photography blogs can be a great start - target blogs because bloggers need a lot of subject matter. Here's Lenscratch's Resources page with tons of opportunities for getting out there. 

Finally, I read that the best chance for making a big change is to take it in very small pieces. Things that are doable. How about a goal of 1 "reach out" per week. Once a week, you send out one query to an opportunity that you'd like to have. Keep in mind, you can always choose to do more...but doing at least four per month is probably four more than you're currently doing!

Bored and Brilliant.

This past week I participated in a project called Bored and Brilliant: the lost art of spacing out - a project that challenges us to look at how (much) we're using our phones and what the impact might be. Turns out that boredom is an important element of coming up with creative solutions - and I am always on the hunt for new ways to boost creativity. Two years ago I wrote about taking a social media holiday, but this is focused on the use of cell phones.

Here's my experience so far:
I signed up a few weeks ago - big irony, I found out about the project while checking my phone - and immediately found I was more conscious of my usage. As an experiment, the last day of PhotoLA, I resolved to clamp down on my phone-checking. It was a bit odd to just stand there while everyone else was on their phones...but it did give me a chance to be more in the moment. I also worked on awareness. I feel like I've lost some of my ability to concentrate - I used to be a huge reader, and now, not so much.

Monday: Each morning there's a mini-podcast - this one asked you to turn off your notifications and just leave your cell phone in your bag, or someplace that's not touching your body.  The average individual starts at 7:31am by checking their email and Facebook while in bed. Daily use is over three hours...and some of us check our phones almost 1500/week...is this possible? Yikes! The phrase that stuck with me from this morning's pod case was "phantom cell phone" which is when you think you hear your phone ringing. Yes, during the day it was hard to break that automatic habit to reach for the phone, but it's a good way to start.

Tuesday: Photo-Free day - as it says, today was a day without photos...which is not as hard for me as you might think. I'm not really snapping pix of my morning coffee (unless it's fab), so today wasn't so bad. An interesting tidbit - taking photographs of an event can actually dim your memory of it. Hmmm...

Wednesday: Delete that App, is as awful as it sounds. My fav was Flipboard, which takes up a good hour or more of my evening. As I write this now, it's been a week and I still miss it. But, it could be worse...I could be an Angry Birder!

Thursday: well...I liked to say that I stuck with it all week and did all the exercises. However, such is not the case - but Thursday, I just didn't feel like following directions any more and kinda felt the point had been made.

So...what is my take away a week later? I do spend less time on the phone and have really started to just sit and observe. My husband and I went out to dinner this weekend - sat in the bar area of a restaurant and had a great time people-watching. It was kinda sad how many couples we saw where one of them was just on their phone the whole time. But, sitting there, really taking in the energy of the place, watching the fab job the bartenders were doing slinging drinks, watching the "first-daters," the families, the couples...it was fun.

Did it make me more creative? I dunno...I did make two images this week and I actually started a new book... so who knows?! Anyway, you have the links and the podcasts are still active, should you choose to start the process yourself.

Constructing an image - allowing time to figure it out.

One of the difficulties about constructed images is figuring out the composition. I have always been very interested in the space between painting and photography....so, perhaps what I'm doing these days is closer to photo-illustration than it is photography.  When a painter does a "photo-realism" painting, technique seems to overwhelm the viewer. The internal discussion is about the painting technique - how amazing it is that the painter made such a realistic copy. 

When a photographer creates a photo-illustration, the questions are also about technique (and I'm learning to minimize that dialog, since it's not really the point of the image). But, what's kind of cool is that, since it's a photograph,  we still get to include an assumption about "reality" which makes the discussion more complex. We bring to each photograph the assumption that this is real...or might be real. So, that's probably our most effective tool.

With that in mind, my biggest issue is the composition: what am I trying to say, where is the best location for the object, how big should the environment be relative to the object? Back when we shot with film, there was an automatic visual "buffer" built into the system. We evaluated the result usually a day, week or month after taking the image. There was the joy of discovering discovering an image you just didn't remember taking.

Compositing/Building images is a different story - you're faced with the choices as soon as you make the object - which is why you almost have to create a "waiting" or "maturation" period for the image. With this image, I started with the Melody Apartments - a local personal landmark. My idea was to take this "art work" out of its busy location and place it somewhere on its own...so we could really see it. I knew I wanted an "empty" space - but that opens a new can o'worms, since empty isn't actually empty, if you get my drift. My first choice for a location was fairly sparse (I actually made it more so) and there was a single soft set of mountains in the background, which I felt could work as a balance for the subject. I experimented with placement and objects...but it just didn't quite fit. So I waited a week or so and came back to the image.

Looking at it after that week I changed to a different location with a softer light and more color because it had a strong sense of "magic"...how's that for a technical term? It felt like there was a resonance between the soft colors in the structure and the soft light and textures of the new location. 

The intensity of the sky bothered me a bit, it clashed with the softer tonalities I was trying to work with. So I tried it with a sky tonality that seemed more in keeping with the overall feeling I wanted the image to evoke. 

And finally, without the tree...not sure which I'll go with...so it's back to time and maturation. Allow the image time to find itself.

Getting your act together - aka the backside of being a fine artist.

Beyond making great images/sculpture/paintings...whatever...you're going to need to think about the business end of being an artist.  If you're just starting out here's some suggestions for getting your act together. I'm assuming you already have a computer. If you don't, then take an intro to computers class at a community college.  I'm also assuming that you already have one or more bodies of work that have reached the "showable" stage.

1. Online presence: this is really two parts - your domain name and then the space (website host) where you will show your work. Your domain name is the personalized "www.yourname.com" item that you register and pay for individually.  GoDaddy is usually an inexpensive way to go - you can just register your name, or you can also use them as a website host as well.

For the website part - there are many free versions (look at where you're reading this) and that's a good place to start. You want something that's easy to update. Don't get fancy with the name (this from someone who has over 20 letters in her address!) since folks have to type it in. Start posting now to get the hang of it. You NEED this - everyone wants to check out your work online. Blogger and Word Press are the two biggies. You could also consider another approach - using Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr etc., to set up your online interaction - but it's still good to have a more "stable" version as well where you can include a bio and resume/cv.

From my portfolio box which contains three series - I use a title page for each set. 

2. Some type of physical portfolio to show (this is geared to photographers...other areas may have different norms).  I've got two boxes now - a 17x22 for my new work and a 13x19 that has a sampling of three previous series. A simple black clamshell works fine. I consider these "showing" portfolios and just use the prints without mats or in-between tissue - you want the process of looking at the work to be simple. If I was showing silver-gelatin prints, then I would protect them a bit more. I will say that I've always been impressed with custom-made clamshell boxes, but they usually run between $300-$600. One of the best SoCal custom fabricators is Kater-Crafts Bookbinders.

What to show and how much? Most importantly - only show the work you know is your BEST!!! Don't feel you have to pad - if you've got 8 great pieces, then only show 8. Showing between 10-15 is a good bet in terms of giving the person a sense of your work. You can always have a blank page at the end with additional images underneath...that way, if they really want to see more, you've got them. Make sure the prints are well printed, etc. Too often I've had potential part-time instructors show me work they know has printing errors, which leaves me doubting their eye.

What if you're work is in different sizes/formats? Then standardize as much as you can. If you're showing published work,  bookmark the specific pages so you're not frantically searching under pressure. Group the sizes in a logical order - also consider how it will look when you first open the box - take a moment in the car to make sure it doesn't look like Hurricane Sandy hit it. 

3. Software: Obviously you need some type of word doc - but my favorite organizing tool is FileMaker Pro - I LOVE this program - and use it for everything: labels, catalog sheets, invoicing, shipping info etc. Basically, you create a record for each image with various "fields" of information - and in a second you can create a new layout featuring only the details you need. I also use it at school for grading and scheduling. There's another software that you should look at which was created by artists - GYST and it's a terrific way to go - I would have chosen it if I hadn't already been using FMP for so long.

Here's a sample screenshot from a FileMaker Pro layout I use to catalog the work. 

4. Business Card: there are tons of permutations on this - many of my students have gone with the type of card that has a different image on each card - very fun. I tend to go a bit more minimalist. There are a couple of places that I've used: Moo, Vista Print and if you really want to do it up right - there's Aardvark Letterpress - these guys are amazing and have a great history here in LA. If you're doing this all on your own (designers are a good idea, ya know) then go in person to look at different types of papers and weights. Consider partnering up with a designer or a design student and getting it done right. 

5. Legal smegal... If you're making sales (of goods, not services) then you'll want to get a Resale License and they now have a very easy online process for it - plus there's very nice people on the Help line if you get stuck.  There are a many solution for processing sales: Square, which is this great little "square" that you put into your cell phone to process credit card payments, PayPal has been around forever and is a very handy way to process payments. There are tons of others...but these are the ones I use. Keep all your receipts!

So, that's a start. For PhotoLA, my gallerist made binders of our work, with press clippings and statements for the various series - it's a nice thing to have on hand. Otherwise, don't let it get you too crazy, make sure you do #1, 2 and 4, then slowly work on the other stuff.