At 20:14 12/11/02, Barry B. Bean wrote:
With a mighty effort, I fought off the first thing that came to mind (No,
I mostly shoot crap, why do you ask?), and instead indicated that I did,
and he asked to
see some of my work. I'll be taking him a small portfolio next week.
So - how do you respond when you've been insulted or damned with faint
praise (Wow, your camera sure takes some nice pictures!)?
"Thank You for your time and attention."
If it's insulted or damned, ask if he was expecting something different . .
. as in subject material, etc. If the answer is yes, then do a quick
mental review of your archives and if you have something he might be
interested in, then offer to return with that.
Better yet, ask before you pull together a portfolio if he is interested in
anything in particular:
project - photographs related to each other in some manner
potpouri - variety of different types of subject material
specific - specific subject matter or types, even if they aren't related
If he doesn't like your work for technical or artistic reasons, then
gracefully bow out. You should be able to sniff out what the rejection is
for, if it occurs, with the above question(s). However, think
positively. I've seen some of your works. You *can* do this. Successful
artists do three things very well: marketing themselves (includes mixing
well with other artists, gallery directors and patrons), preparing their
their works for "gallery presentation," and the content of the artwork
itself (what's inside the frame).
I'm presuming you already understand "gallery presentation" requirements
and probably the quantity he would be interested in. I did a rather small
exhibit of about fifteen works; Kodochromes/Ektachromes on Ilfochrome. It
was expensive and time consuming to prepare, but still very
worthwhile. Learned a lot about the marketing and presentation end of
things. Also got my foot in the door for a possible B&W project next year.
-- John
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