Too many pictures syndrome

[xavier deltell]

Hello Al,

For your comfort, I'm exhibiting in galleries since 1993. Until 2007 I did not manage to cover costs. Luckily I do not live of photography. For me photography is a passion. I need to take pictures every day , and I'm pleased that alone. If photos are sold well, if not sold i continue shooting and making prints of my work. This is my life and my way of living.

Best regards from Spain (Sorry for my english)

[CCB]

Sounds like a min-max problem to me.

[rdenney]

I just wrote a long homily about my own feelings on the topic, and realized that expressing those feelings is about like showing my photographs: merely self-indulgent. If I needed to make money doing it, I would do commercial work, where mere competency is enough.

In the end, I'm just another middle-aged fat guy with lots of cameras and little artistic vision. I can live with that. I had long since come to terms with that truth as a musician. It will all end up in the landfill someday, but it keeps me entertained.

I still see the world differently because I am a photographer, and I think I appreciate the beauty around me all the more for it. Is that enough? Yup.

Rick "whose display prints end up in closets, facing the wall" Denney

[Brian Ellis]

I certainly understand the problem you're discussing. It's one reason - far from the most important but a reason nonetheless - why I like printing digitally so much. I print less and less these days because I have all the photographs I want to keep stored on my external hard drive and on DVDs. I don't have to print them to see them like I used to. I only print those relatively few photographs that I feel are exceptional.

And when I do print them what happens? I display them on small easels around the house for a month or two, then they go in a box with the hundreds of other photographs that also used to be displayed around the house. I don't mat or frame them any more because I have more matted/framed photographs from old exhibits on the wall and stored around the house than I care to count. If I'm in an exhibit I usually show things that are already framed and matted because I don't want to incur the expense of more matting and framing and because I'm about out of storage space for matted and framed prints.

It's one of the huge problems IMHO with photography as a serious hobby - to what end do we photograph if the result just ends up in a box or a DVD to be thrown out by our heirs? For how long is the process alone enough? For many years it was enough for me, I didn't care what happened to the photographs as long as I exhibited enough to feel that I wasn't the only one seeing my work. But after doing that for about 15 years lately I've had the uneasy feeling that it's no longer enough to photograph for the sake of photographing.

One solution of course is to try to sell more than I do (which lately has been none at all and has never been very much). But I don't want to photograph for that purpose. Nor, frankly, do I want to work hard enough to do it successfully. The relatively unknown landscape photographers I know who sell with some regularity devote an incredible amount of time and sheer physical effort to it. I retired at a relatively young age because I didn't want to work any more. I certainly didn't plan to just substitute a new form of work for the old. I want to photograph what I want when I want. And what I want appeals to other photographers more than it does to potential buyers. So there are all those boxes holding all those photographs.

[mrladewig]

I like Rick's point and feel the same way about my work. If I wanted to pay the bills with photography, I'd focus on commercial and bridezilla photography. With my current arrangement, I have financial freedom to pursue whatever I'd like in photography. I sell some work and I've been able to show my work in some nice settings but it isn't important for me to pay the bills with it. I find it to be creative therapy and outlet in contrast to my work and while I wish I had more time for the photographic pursuits, I enjoy the time I do have. Perhaps someday I'll be able to turn this into something greater, but for now I'm content to pursue my own vision and to enjoy my time with the camera. Luckily my office provides a couple hundred square feet of wall space where I can thumbtack my photos to the wall and a south window with good light.

Mel-

[mrladewig]

As for what to do with all those boxed photographs, there is a tradition of exchanging or gifting art to your piers. It broadens the range of heirs who have to throw out your junk when you die.

[David Aimone]

As for what to do with all those boxed photographs, there is a tradition of exchanging or gifting art to your piers. It broadens the range of heirs who have to throw out your junk when you die.

I like that perspective as well. I've been doing this for only a few years, and I am selling a few photos here and there, but I find them to be a VERY appreciated gift. And I enjoy doing it for that reason.

Hopefully just adding some interest and beauty to the world and not just clutter...

[mrladewig]

My local club does a winter white elephant with prints and everyone always has a great time.

[tgtaylor]

Hi Al,

Before you become too discouraged with your work consider the strong possibility that slow and erratic print sales is a universal truth among artists.

A few weeks back I had the pleasure of meeting John Wimberley at a reception in San Francisco. John said that he makes his living exclusively thru print sales. When I asked how does that go, he responded "Sometimes I'm ready to throw myself under the bus (for the insurance) and then I get a call that someone somewhere bought a print.

Thomas

[Jeffrey Sipress]

Too many pictures?

YES, the world is flooded with them. Too bad, but it's true.

Originally Posted by Frank Petronio

My opinion is that you have to realize that soliciting galleries and shows is next to worthless -- it is a far better return on investment (of time, money, energy) to produce more and more great work until it is impossible to be ignored. And then the audience will come to you. Most people start submitting to galleries or try to sell higher-end prints too early in their careers and wind up getting discouraged.

You have to figure out how to be a productive artist/photographer for years and years without a return. If that means being a plumber or shooting ordinary things to pay the bills then so be it.

Never heard anything so untrue. The part about galleries is true, but the rest... the audience does not come to you. That's ancient history. I'm not talking about stock or assignment jobs. Just fine art prints and sales for publication. You know, large format work. It requires endless begging and pleading, years of continual rejection and financial losses after all the promotional efforts. Like hundreds of photographers like myself, we already have lots of good work. Decades ago, these images would have been rare and outstanding. Today, they are abundant and cliche. And I'm not even talking about the digital stuff yet, which I do a lot of as well. Sure, my friends have bought my prints, but I feel sorry for anyone attempting to make a living at it, especially with the high costs of doing business.

I hope some folks here find me completely wrong.