The Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How of Portfolio Reviews
At this year’s FotoFest I silently sat next to two reviewers while they reviewed photographers. As part of this program I agreed to write a review detailing what I learned. This is that review verbatim. You can also replace “photographer” with the more general “artist.”
Review of the Student Program at the FotoFest 2010 Meeting Place
The Student Program instituted by FotoFest as part of their Meeting Place portfolio reviews is an invaluable experience to learn from and speak with gallery owners, museum curators, magazine publishers, and other photographers. By sitting with reviewers I learned what to expect when showing my work and best practices for the review.
Many photographers were ill-prepared to answer a few key questions asked by the reviewers:
1. “Why should I care about your body of work?”
2. “What do you want to do with or where do you want to take this body of work?”
3. “How can I help you do that?”
These are not easy questions, they are very difficult questions. Before a photographer can answer any of these questions they must care strongly about the work they are creating. Many of the photographers who showed their work lacked passion when they spoke of it. If the one creating the work does not appear to care why should I care about it as an audience?
Passion alone is not enough, though, there were many photographers who were very passionate about their work, but could not answer Question #1. Many of the passionate photographers who could not answer Question #1 were sharing personal narratives. When we are personally confronted by such a narrative we can be moved, but when we are looking at photographs and reading wall-text the photographer must provide a hook to engage people based on their own experiences and stories. You must universalize your message to show others how what has touched your life also touches theirs. We only care about another person’s life if they are a celebrity—that is the essence of what a celebrity is.
Question #1 and Question #2 can ONLY be answered by the photographer. You as the photographer have a vision and must provide us a “Why”. You have to give me a reason to look at your photographs for more than aesthetic reasons. Many, many photographers can make beautiful photographs—technology has made this easy. If you cannot tell others why they should look at your work beyond aesthetic taste it does not matter what you want to do or where you want to take the work because no one is looking at it—unless you’re a celebrity. When you can tell others through your work why they should look at it you are ready to decide what you want to do with the work and where you want it to be shown. Once again, the responsibility to answer Question #2 lies with the photographer. Others can be asked for input, but the photographer must make the final decisions.
This brings us to Question #3. If you have answers to Question #1 and Question #2 you can do the research to find the reviewers who agree with your message and will provide you a venue to disseminate it. Portfolio reviews are a great place to test your answers to Questions #1 and #2, but if you cannot answer them before attending a review then the answer to Question #3 is moot. Before attending a Portfolio Review you must be able to answer Question #1 and Question #2 or you are wasting your money. These questions are the reason we have Portfolio Reviews. Once you can answer #1 and #2 and you have done the research to find a reviewer who is interested in work like yours the answer to #3 is self-evident: publish my article, print my book, or hang my show–<edit: just don’t expect it to happen right then. You are building up contacts and setting things in motion. Be prepared to leave the reviews empty-handed with a head full of thoughts on your next direction.>
This leaves the questions “Who?” and “When?” I am writing this for other photographers who, like me, are no one. If we were celebrities people would be interested in what we were doing and we wouldn’t have to go through this rigmarole—people will buy a book of photographs made by Britney Spears, it does not matter their quality, because of who she is it will be successful.
Finally: “When?” For me that answer is: Today.
Category: Uncategorized 7 comments »
March 24th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Nice… I noticed a lot of the same “problems” with people who were in the peer review when I was there two years ago. There were too many people who had the money and opportunity to get into the peer review, but not the drive, motivation, vision, or passion to actually push their work.
A lot of them felt like they were pandering for praise, and that’s not what the peer review is about.
March 24th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
I was a reviewer at Fotofest a week ago. I have also done reviews at PhotoNOLA, Review LA and Review Santa Fe.
I always ask question #2 and #3. More often than not, the response is “I am looking for a show, gallery representation, or a book” and these are not what you should be going to reviews for.
You should attend reviews to get exposure for you and your work but going to a review and thinking you are going to come away with a book deal is not realistic as this rarely happens.
A review is a great time to meet people and get reviewed by industry people who you would not normally have access to.
If you go to a review with a solid body work, a great and pertinent artist statement, and a real ability to talk about what you do, then you will come home with a real sense of accomplishment and probably a long list of new contacts. Reviews are hard, especially when they are not positive and encouraging. Make sure you are ready.
March 24th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
David is spot on, the reason to go to reviews is to get your portfolio reviewed by those in the industry. You will meet many people and make new contacts that may lead to something down the road. Do NOT expect anyone to have a book contract drawn up while you wait, have realistic expectations.
I must also add David is one of the two reviewers I sat with this past week so his insights and methods informed a great deal of this blog post. If you don’t read FractionMagazine.com and you are interested in contemporary photographic art you need to.
March 26th, 2010 at 3:37 am
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April 5th, 2010 at 11:32 pm
The answers to your 3 questions were easy for me, but I suppose that is because I do this everyday. It’s the work of being an artist. This wasn’t always the case and I can’t imagine answering these questions easily or clearly even 2 years ago.
Sometimes I’d like more access but not for shows or books but exactly for what you’ve talked about here; Relationships. The relationships with people that are thinking and doing the work in contemporary photography, for access to new ideas and enough exposure to get clear of the day to day.
April 6th, 2010 at 12:46 am
Excellent post.
I am a photographer and I attended session2/day 4 and all of session 3.
I had contact with 78 people from the other side of the table, including formal reviews, extra reviews and informal conversations (bar, bus tours, dinner, etc.). 40 of them I knew already, 38 reviewers were new to me.
It’s important to do homework first. This applies to all three questions. One and two are easy because these questions will be answered during the development of a body of work. Question three is difficult for many because they don’t study the reviewer’s bios enough or at all. If there are 52 reviewers on the list, for each of them you have to look up who they are, what they do and what they are looking for. This involves a lot of time. For an event like FotoFest you’ll have to spend a couple of days doing that. Only then can you fill out the preference list in a meaningful way.
Also keep expectations low. I tend to say “Be hopeful but don’t expect anything”. Book publications, solo shows, gallery representations and print sales do happen occasionally but this should be never the expectation.
I think a lot depends on the personality of the photographer. I have colleagues who have very strong work to present but they just don’t enjoy the review situation. If one is relaxed and still focused and enjoys talking about one’s project, the reviewer will have a much better time too.
And don’t miss out on getting to know the other artists and share work with them. The critique from peers is always brutally honest and very valuable. The time spent with the other photographers is half of what makes FotoFest a great event. The network among photographers is an important one.
April 9th, 2010 at 10:20 am
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