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Thread: Too many pictures syndrome

  1. #21

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    Re: Too many pictures syndrome

    Quote Originally Posted by mrladewig View Post
    My local club does a winter white elephant with prints and everyone always has a great time.
    How does that work - do people just bring prints and put a price on them? Do you exchange prints? Or what? I'm curious because I'm involved with a photo group and we might like to do something with prints if it's anything more than just people bringing prints to a meeting and putting a price on them.
    Brian Ellis
    Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
    a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

  2. #22

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    Re: Too many pictures syndrome

    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 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.

    Well said, Rick (whose poignant summary I might well use as my epitaph) Denney.

    -- Jay

  3. #23
    LF/ULF Carbon Printer Jim Fitzgerald's Avatar
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    Re: Too many pictures syndrome

    Quote Originally Posted by Andrew O'Neill View Post
    I've been feeling this way for several years now. I have piles of negatives that need to be printed and find it impossible to get to if I keep adding to the pile. I only take a photo if I am truly moved by what I see now. Also, I have been teaching myself carbon transfer printing for a year now and love it. I've been using old negs and new. My silver printing has come to a stand still. Carbon printing is slow and a labour of love.
    I keep telling myself that one day I'm going to do something with the carbon prints I'm producing. Yes it is slow but the payoff is huge. Occasionally I sell some but this is mainly to private collectors. Need to broaden my horizons. One day maybe I will. I just love making new negatives and printing the "right" ones in carbon.

    Jim

  4. #24
    Camera Antipodea Richard Mahoney's Avatar
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    Re: Too many pictures syndrome

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Fitzgerald View Post
    I keep telling myself that one day I'm going to do something with the carbon prints I'm producing. Yes it is slow but the payoff is huge. Occasionally I sell some but this is mainly to private collectors. Need to broaden my horizons. One day maybe I will. I just love making new negatives and printing the "right" ones in carbon.

    Jim
    Thanks for this Jim ... For me, the greatest thing is that I just love searching for possibilities, sometimes notebook in hand, sometimes for weeks or months, considering different subjects and approaches ... waiting. Once ready I'll then quietly go through the motions of capturing the expected image(s) and then ... waiting ... a few days more for the transparency to arrive back from processing and then ... searching again ... loupe in hand, to see if I was able to do what I'd wanted ... and that's certainly not a given It's the whole long drawn out process that appeals to me, so different from the usual rush ... This isn't to say that one can't be very `productive' it's just that it's more planned and deliberate than it would be with a 35mm, though the wee camera *is* sometimes useful at the prep stage.

    As to the commercial/personal conflict/frustrations that have been mentioned, I can only say that I've personally found Doug Menuez's article helpful:

    ON CHAOS, FEAR, SURVIVAL & LUCK: LONGEVITY IS THE ANSWER
    Editorial Photographers
    Doug Menuez
    New York City
    October 10, 2008

    http://www.editorialphoto.com/articles/doug_menuez/


    Kind regards,

    Richard
    Richard Mahoney
    M: +64-21-064-0216 T: +64-3-312-1699 E: contact@indica-et-buddhica.com

  5. #25

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    Re: Too many pictures syndrome

    Hi Al,
    There seem to be several issues in your OP--
    -lack of sales at your recent show,
    -too much inventory/lack of storage space,
    -feeling discouraged.

    W/re to the first, did anyone else's work sell at the Life Stills show? I wonder if showing your b/w images alongside very vibrant color prints was a problem....

    W/re to the second, I have a similar problem, having done a dozen or more shows over a two year period and then taking a break while the economy recovers, I've got more matted and framed prints on hand than I can deal with. I'm using the down-time in shows to continue to add new images, however, just not printing right now.

    Perhaps a new idea or two for new series would help put the fun back into photography for you.

    Also, have you consider bound collections of prints instead of matting each print to frame as a way of taking up less space?

    Or, how about keeping a certain number of framed prints up on the walls, but with a goal of changing them out at a certain rate--say 1 or more each month, a complete change each year?

    Seems like you need a new direction to get the creative juices flowing again, as well as a strategy to reduce the current overstock situation. The overstock problem is tough. Is it possible to try to cull some images--use this as an opportunity to pare back your portfolio to distinguish the truly outstanding images/prints from the not-so-great (assuming you have any that fall into the latter category)? Is it possible to recycle any of your mats so you can replace older prints with newer ones instead of continuing to add more bulky items to store? Nothing profound here; you've probably considered all this....

  6. #26
    westernlens al olson's Avatar
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    Re: Too many pictures syndrome

    Thank you, All, for your thoughtful comments. I see in many of the responses a confirmation of what seems to have occurred over time. I think that for those who have been in photography for a long time there is an evolution, changes that take place in goals and in what is considered quality work. This becomes exacerbated with the suffocation from the collection of prints from the past.

    This creates a dilemma: (1) How do you dispose if this suffocating inventory and (2) How can you make your work more extraordinary? For the first part I have culled prints that I no longer want to keep and either destroyed them or given them to friends. I still have way too many in boxes and bins and on my walls.

    The second part of having these prints around is that I tend to compare photo opportunities with prints I have already made. If the opportunity is not more exemplary than work I have already done, I will leave my cameras in the car.

    For example, a thread that I started in Location & Travel called Scouting Report was about a recent 3000-mile 9-day road trip where I put camera to tripod on only two occasions. It was not that the scenery was not beautiful, it simply was not as photogenic as I desired. True, there were places where I could have camped and waited to see if conditions would change and I have marked these out on a map.

    How to make my work more extraordinary has been a question that has been nagging me for several years. I have no desire to exhibit prints that are average and ordinary. This in itself rules out a lot of scenic and landscape situations because no matter where you find scenery that is striking, people have already photographed it. And some of those photographers made their exposures under better conditions such as better lighting, better clouds, fewer people, etc.

    To return to the quote from Frank Petronio, I agree with Frank that based on my experiences, i.e. exhibiting at galleries and art shows that it is not effort that is well spent. At best I will sell one or two prints, but more likely no prints will sell. This is not only with regard to my work, it is my observation across the art spectrum. In fact I think it can be said that photography is still the poor stepsister to the other visual arts. I never expect to sell prints at these shows.

    I have friends and contemporaries who are either in the gallery business or have been so in the past. They have all told me how difficult it is to meet expenses just from art sales. Margy Dudley (who is a wonderful supporter of photographic art), the owner of Open Shutter Gallery in Durango, has told me that if it weren’t for her sales of greeting cards and photo books (mostly the coffee table kind) she would have to close her doors. Most galleries succeed with similar business models such as wine tasting, lunches, art books, cards, posters, etc., even clothing items. In my opinion, the art on the walls is the loss leader to get customers into the gallery to buy the less expensive sundry items.

    So how does a photographer become successful? How do you generate a following of people who will collect your work? Exposure in galleries and shows may help a little, but I believe that most of the successful photographers have been very aggressive at marketing their work. Or better, they have an aggressive agent who does their marketing for them. Fortunately, I am retired and do not have to make a living selling my photos. I don’t need a high pressure marketing plan.

    So is it really purposeful to put prints into shows and galleries? Until I received the invitation to participate in the last show at Open Shutter, I had determined that I was not going to prepare any more prints for exhibit. The fact that Open Shutter is perhaps the best photo venue (past exhibits include: Jay Dusard, Tony Stromberg, Paul Caponigro, Edward Curtis, Elliott Erwitt, Steve McCurry, Kim Weston to name a few) I have seen and because the owner is so supportive of photographers caused me to yield.

    As I expressed earlier, I had no expectation for sales and none occurred for me. One print from one of the other exhibitors sold. Where my costs were around $500 to prepare for the show, his costs must have been phenomenal. I do not believe that any of his frames, very heavy and ornate, were less than 5 feet in the long dimension. Much of his work was on canvas. Simply the cost of shipping from California must have exceeded what he gained from the sale even though his prices were in the $2000 range.

    So this leads me to the next question. Why do we spend all of this money to exhibit our work? Or why do we spend our money to decorate someone else’s walls? There should be something to gain from this expense. When do we benefit from the exposure and the notoriety?

    When do the second homeowners here in Pagosa Springs buy local photographs to decorate their homes. None of the local photographers have noticed. The local population will come to look at a photo show, but sales are seldom. As I said in the beginning, it would be nice to be able to cover the cost of materials.

    I have not become discouraged about photography. My viewpoint simply has changed. As I said earlier, I enjoy talking photography. I like to coach fellow photographers and I provide free workshops locally on various photo techniques. And, yes, I enjoy searching for the extraordinary photograph.

    Where Johnny says that he takes his camera out to set up, compose the picture, and click the shutter without exposing film, my approach is to travel around looking for opportunities and enjoying the drive or the hike. Seldom does my darkroom work advance beyond the negative and possibly a contact proof. Too many prints!
    Last edited by al olson; 3-Jul-2010 at 12:41. Reason: clarify
    al

  7. #27

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    Re: Too many pictures syndrome

    Glenn Randall, who has made a living for a couple of decades as a stock and fine art photographer in Colorado, has observed that he can make a saleable image each time out, but to make an extraordinary photograph takes him on average ten visits to a location. Sounds like that's part of what you are finding, too.

    I also recall Charis Wilson recounting similar experiences with Edward Weston during the Guggenheim years: Edward would often say, "If I hadn't seen Death Valley, I would probably work here."

    I think your attitude of enjoying the drive or hike and if an opportunity to photograph presents itself, fine; if not, fine, is wise.

  8. #28
    jp's Avatar
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    Re: Too many pictures syndrome

    I don't travel more than an hour to get to most of the good spots for photography for me. I agree to the post above that ten visits to a location is about right. Look at some of the books of Paul Caponigro or Eliot Porter; often more than half the book is done in a small geographic area. Porter did much of a book on great spruce head island, which is about a mile long.

  9. #29

    Re: Too many pictures syndrome

    Al you seem to get around a bit and your stuff on your site is very good. I look forward to reading the "Seizing the Night" Guide soon. Perhaps you need to teach more and produce photo/travel guides for sale? Rick Steve's did it for Europe, perhaps you could do it for the Rockies. And btw, I love Pagosa Springs. Went thru there about 15 years ago when it seemed just a little town ready to take off and thought yea I could live there.
    Good travels, Wayne

  10. #30

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    Re: Too many pictures syndrome

    I have been watching this thread a few days, and finally could not resist a comment.

    I fell into the 'too many prints syndrome' year before last....realizing I had prints from my first experiences with photography through that time. I am sure it wasn't near the accumulation of many, as I didn't actually begin printing until around 1999, but it did become an obsession in the early years...fading gradually over time...

    Tired of cleaning the shop and moving numerous boxes of matted and unmounted prints from one corner to the next...I decided I absolutely needed a fresh start. Although, I'm positive this method will be considered somewhat stupid or in the least 'destructive' by many - I found an old can of paint and decidedly began painting over each print, placing the next print on top of the previous....painting over each, essentially creating many non-salvageable sealed bricks of prints...

    I was intent on destroying every print made prior to that time...

    The process took the majority of one day and a portion of the next...and although somewhat regretful at times...it was a bit refreshing at others...recalling memories tied to many of the prints was actually quite enjoyable...

    Every print I had stored saw this fate (although there was one exception, I did find four prints from a negative I had later ruined…so kept these (making a total of nine of these prints out, five still in possession and four in circ ))

    I can say it did result in a fresh start…I actually shoot less and print even fewer….and those I do print typically have a purpose in mind...a feeling of a new focus…

    This last year I decided to enter three of my ‘fresh start’ prints into the local county fair – three first place ribbons, one also saw best of show honors…

    No longer am I adding one more print to the pile….

    In the end (looking back,) it seemed like there was a sentimental attachment…I would think the majority of new prints were as good or better than prints I had stored, so I could easily justify keeping them and adding them to the pile…

    Thanks,
    Dan King

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