Monday, May 2, 2016
Book response
Crusade For yourArt
Wow this book is truly amazing. This book pretty much covers everything that I feel alot of struggle and deal with as being photographers. A lot of the information that she provided was really straight to the point, she didnt try and make it to confusing to the point where you didnt understand what you were reading. She made the content understandable to where any artist even if you arent a photographer you would be able to relate to the information.
Like I said I enjoyed everything about the book from beginning to end. The beginning parts stood out to me the most, because I think they are the things that I struggle with the most as a photographer. The point that she made when she said that a strong body of work is usually 20 good images is something that I always have to keep in mind. Also when she was talking about how those 20 images usually aren't shot during one shoot. Which is true because I know for my series i've been shooting since early last year, and I feel like I have everything that I want out the series but there is so much more that I think I can put into it, and so many different ways I can display them, or tell a different story with them. Another thing that I enjoyed her talking about was the fact that sometimes we aren't our best critics. I can go out and take 30 pictures, and think all 30 of them are amazing, and then have fresh eyes look at them, or as she said an art critic, or even sit down with a curator at an art gallery, and he or she only think 3 of them work. When I graduate I think thats going to be the scariest thing for me to continue working on series, is the fact that I wont have anyone but myself telling me which pictures would work, and which ones wont. I like how she said as a photographer you have to find yourself and theres 3 different levels that we go through we we are trying to find out what we want to say through our work.
With that being said I enjoy how she mentioned that as a photographer you have to figure out your audience, and you have to figure out at the end of the day what it truly is that you want from your work. You have to figure out does your work fit into a gallery setting? Can you make work that can fit into a gallery setting? Not everyones work is meant to be put into a gallery, and not everyone wants their work to be in a gallery. This comes with what she was talking about how we all define our success differently, and success is different for all of us. For example, I would love to be in more galleries in the future, but I know with the work that I truly want to do, I rather have my work published in magazines, and online where I know a wider audience will see more of my work rather than people who have to go to the gallery specifically to see my work.
All in all the book was truly amazing and something that I would recommend for any artist, and something that I would hold onto forever. The blogs at the end were really helpful to because we all need inspiration, and I enjoyed the part where she said we can all get inspiration for our work not just from photography but from all aspects of art.
Wow this book is truly amazing. This book pretty much covers everything that I feel alot of struggle and deal with as being photographers. A lot of the information that she provided was really straight to the point, she didnt try and make it to confusing to the point where you didnt understand what you were reading. She made the content understandable to where any artist even if you arent a photographer you would be able to relate to the information.
Like I said I enjoyed everything about the book from beginning to end. The beginning parts stood out to me the most, because I think they are the things that I struggle with the most as a photographer. The point that she made when she said that a strong body of work is usually 20 good images is something that I always have to keep in mind. Also when she was talking about how those 20 images usually aren't shot during one shoot. Which is true because I know for my series i've been shooting since early last year, and I feel like I have everything that I want out the series but there is so much more that I think I can put into it, and so many different ways I can display them, or tell a different story with them. Another thing that I enjoyed her talking about was the fact that sometimes we aren't our best critics. I can go out and take 30 pictures, and think all 30 of them are amazing, and then have fresh eyes look at them, or as she said an art critic, or even sit down with a curator at an art gallery, and he or she only think 3 of them work. When I graduate I think thats going to be the scariest thing for me to continue working on series, is the fact that I wont have anyone but myself telling me which pictures would work, and which ones wont. I like how she said as a photographer you have to find yourself and theres 3 different levels that we go through we we are trying to find out what we want to say through our work.
With that being said I enjoy how she mentioned that as a photographer you have to figure out your audience, and you have to figure out at the end of the day what it truly is that you want from your work. You have to figure out does your work fit into a gallery setting? Can you make work that can fit into a gallery setting? Not everyones work is meant to be put into a gallery, and not everyone wants their work to be in a gallery. This comes with what she was talking about how we all define our success differently, and success is different for all of us. For example, I would love to be in more galleries in the future, but I know with the work that I truly want to do, I rather have my work published in magazines, and online where I know a wider audience will see more of my work rather than people who have to go to the gallery specifically to see my work.
All in all the book was truly amazing and something that I would recommend for any artist, and something that I would hold onto forever. The blogs at the end were really helpful to because we all need inspiration, and I enjoyed the part where she said we can all get inspiration for our work not just from photography but from all aspects of art.
Book Response
Overall I found this book very insightful and informative.
I really enjoy how each chapter appeals to something about the reader, weather that be branding/marketing, setting goals, creating ideas, and writing about your work. Weather you’re a beginner or already knee deep in the photography world, this book has so much information that everyone could use.
The exert on creating an artist statement because thats one of the struggles that I have throughout the who process of my work. I have so many ideas and concepts and thoughts that never shut off, so trying to take a project that took x amounts of months to complete into one paragraph is a bit challenging, but the book breaks it down so its not as intense. One section that really caught my eye was how Jennifer was telling you what to avoid instead of what to seek when writing your statement. The acronym is GRASP. So you want to avoid generalizations, reticence, artspeak, self-importance, and past tense. Its so funny because I do the exact opposite, so this section helped a lot.
Sizing, editioning, and pricing are the next steps, if not already, in our life as Photographers. This is insightful because you want the viewer to see what you’ve produced. She gives you two generic options and then builds you up on different platforms, because different work calls for different sizes, but you never want to undermine the size of your print, because that takes away the quality. She touches on prices for the prints as well, but I feel like she could of given the reader an over view of photoshoot prices to push self-branding even more, but I guess its such a broad topic that it wouldn't work.
She breaks down commercial work vs fine art which is highly important because when you start out as an artist very young you create fine art because you don’t know what is considered commercial work. I really enjoy this section because she gives you insight on both backgrounds and how they can help you if you happen to be skilled in both. I enjoy commercial work but I also enjoy fine art so this section really gave me a better insight in both fields and how I can showcase both and still reeceive an income. She also talks about putting work on social media which is something this generation is doing because we have such an advancement in technology. We're already on there for other things, why not put yourself out there as well.
The last couple things that resignated with me was that she talked about exhibitions / contests, selling work online, and portfolio reviews. These are are things that should be experienced as an artist and things that I want to achieve within my life as I grow into my career. There are so many contest, and for whatever reason I never enter, which bums me out. But even if I don’t get in it still creates character for the next contest and exhibitions to come, and to put myself out there. Im always baffled on what to sell because I feel that someone may not actually want to by this, so I just create a blog so people can admire. And thats why I dabble between commercial work and fine are because both make a profit, somehow, someway, weather they be shown in homes, hospital, offices or whatever.
In conclusion, this book has it all. It touches on every step a photographer should take into account. It’d easy to read, as if she talking to you that whole time and the chapters, or sections aren’t that long so its a breeze to read. I kind of wish I purchased this book earlier in life but I wasn’t doing big projects until this past year so its kind of perfect timing. I will probably read this book again for senior show because I do plan on blowing the viewers socks off, although I want to have an installation piece too. But overall, this book is super helpful and it gets you back on track if you stray away from your work or just need ideas or information. I really appreciate how she gives you a whole section dedicated to online blogs, magazines , and even review programs, very beneficial for up and coming artists. This book gives you all the tools you need to get started, all you have to do is want it just as bad.
Sunday, May 1, 2016
Christian Moll Book Response
Crusade For Your Art
I really enjoyed reading this book, especially since it was blunt and to the point fluently throughout the book. Even though the book is geared more towards fine art photographers, I still found it very helpful in some areas.
For instant the section on sizing, editioning, and pricing work was really helpful for me. Because even though Photography isn't my major I plan to do a lot of side work after gradation to get my feet off the ground running. This part in the book really opened my eyes exactly how to price and put any work I make into editions and only make a certain amount of prints. This way it makes the work more of a rare commodity and will help build your reputation as an artist. The best advice I got out that was to make my edition small, because fewer prints will exist in the marketplace, making the image more valuable. I myself have the problem of wanting to make to many prints of just one photo cause i know it will sell. But this has helped me steer away from that to make limited prints of my photos and to keep pushing the envelope to make newer, even better photos than before.
The Website section of the book really helped me out with my creating my website. Especially since this is where most people will first learn about you and your work is online, so i should focus my efforts to impress viewers with my website. The hardest thing for my website was choosing the right prints to put up without having to few or to many. Schwartz stats that you should showcase the work you want to be known for and that best highlights the purpose and direction of your photography. This really made it easier for me to choose that photo i wanted to put up on my website. You should only put work up that you would want exhibited and that you feel is an accurate representation of me as a photographer.
Overall i really liked this book, it was helpful and am happy i bought it,instead of just renting it, as i will go back to reference it from time to time when in need of an answer or guidence. Especially the list of online photography blogs. I have already used some to find more inspiration for future things i would like to work on. I learned quite a bit from reading this book and will be applying most of what i read into creating a name for myself in the photography world. As long as you make art like you mean it, create something you want to sell and have a business plan you will go far. I plan to be thoughtful and deliberate with my work in hopes of one day making an impact in this world through my photography.
The Website section of the book really helped me out with my creating my website. Especially since this is where most people will first learn about you and your work is online, so i should focus my efforts to impress viewers with my website. The hardest thing for my website was choosing the right prints to put up without having to few or to many. Schwartz stats that you should showcase the work you want to be known for and that best highlights the purpose and direction of your photography. This really made it easier for me to choose that photo i wanted to put up on my website. You should only put work up that you would want exhibited and that you feel is an accurate representation of me as a photographer.
Overall i really liked this book, it was helpful and am happy i bought it,instead of just renting it, as i will go back to reference it from time to time when in need of an answer or guidence. Especially the list of online photography blogs. I have already used some to find more inspiration for future things i would like to work on. I learned quite a bit from reading this book and will be applying most of what i read into creating a name for myself in the photography world. As long as you make art like you mean it, create something you want to sell and have a business plan you will go far. I plan to be thoughtful and deliberate with my work in hopes of one day making an impact in this world through my photography.
Christian Moll Final Selection Teaser
Here are a few photos that I have put in with my final series. Though I'm just posting a few, the rest will be printed and up for everyones viewing tomorrow. ENJOY!
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