Professional Photography : exhibitions

The Value of Photography Events: Finding the Unexpected

Eileen Fritsch — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:22:00 GMT

As I write this, I am in the middle of the month-long Ballarat International Foto Biennale (BFB). It got me thinking about all the various ways in which we can benefit from participating in events such as this.

There is one annual photo event I regularly attend, the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) trade show here in Australia, as well as the Ballarat International Foto Biennale (BFB) every second year.

The PMA Conference and Exposition: PMA in Australia (as I believe it is in the US and with similar shows in other countries) is actually a composite event. While the core activity is to enable photo-industry suppliers to meet with photo retailers and end customers, many other events run concurrently. While PMA runs workshops relevant to its members, two professional photography associations run meetings and print awards, and the Photo Imaging Educators Association runs their own sessions. Plus, various organizations take the opportunity to exhibit photography.

No matter which group is conducting the sessions, the training events at PMA not only provide great information but are also timed to enable you to network with other participants. Each of PMA’s affiliate organizations holds cocktail parties and get-togethers.

The best part of these networking opportunities is that you never know what will come out of meeting another photographer. I’ve discovered great ideas about new directions for my work, great workflow suggestions, selling tips, and much more.

Examining exhibitions of photography can provide similar benefits. You can learn something from looking at any photography, even if you simply learn what you don’t want to try.

The Ballarat International Foto Biennale: BIFB is a month-long festival of photography, with a core exhibition program, a fringe festival of associated photography exhibitions, and a workshop program. Workshops run at two locations and exhibitions are spread over the city of Ballarat (a regional city of about 80,000 people) and nearby towns, including major concentrations in Daylesford and Trentham. Various talks are also given.

Like the PMA event, the BIFB provides lots of stimulation for the creative juices. The workshops not only provide training but also networking and the opportunity to learn from other photographers. The exhibition program at BFB is extensive and if you can’t learn something from any group of exhibitions you are not trying.

Similar events to BFB are conducted all over the world. I attended Arles in France once and found it to be a similar, but more intense, experience. There are so many others events, including the New York Photo Festival.

At any such photo festival there will be many exhibitions from which to choose. Some will appeal to you, some will not, and others you will find by happy accident.

Plan Some, But Not All, Your Time: One good way to maximize the return on the time and money invested in attending a conference is to look through the program in advance and choose which workshops you must attend and the exhibits you must see.

At some festivals, you can buy a package that allows you attend a certain number of workshops. In this case, choose the ones you must but if you are allowed some extras, then I’d suggest almost choosing at random. Since you want to experience the happy accident (and you can’t predict in advance just what you will get out of it), almost any workshop will do if you don’t have to pay extra for it.

In the case of PMA, allocate enough time to see the trade show. Then in the time you have left, try wandering into exhibits or seminars that weren’t included on your “must-do” list.

Often, you will discover that exhibitions or seminars that don’t sound particularly worthwhile from the conference program will actually offer you something of value if you go.

At most festivals, it’s impossible to see every event, but if you leave some free time in your schedule, you’ll at least have the opportunity to discover something you weren’t expecting. And it could be something the changes your creative life. Believe me, it happens.

If you derive some or all of your income from photography, then attending some of these events can be tax deductible. Since they are usually held in interesting locations, your spouse may enjoy going along, too.

It is hard to overstate just how valuable these events can be to your career and development as a photographer. So make the time and travel if you have to.

Sometimes the greatest value of attending a festival comes from something small. It could be one part of an image in one exhibition that haunts you and pushes you in a new direction once you return home. Or, a discussion with a photographer might open up a whole new possibility. You never know quite just what will happen. But I do know that I am always stimulated and something unexpected always happens whenever I attend one of these photography events. Give it a go.

My Top Eight Criteria for Evaluating Image Quality

Eileen Fritsch — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:33:00 GMT

By David Saffir

Photographers who want to display and/or sell more of their images need to think carefully about how their images will be viewed. As much as you might personally love a particular shot, the photograph might not immediately have the same type of appeal to others.

The most important questions to ask are: Does this image help open the viewer’s eyes to new thoughts and emotions? Does this photograph help viewers see the world in a way they may not have seen it before? If you believe the answers to those questions are “yes!,” then you’re ready for the next step.

It can be useful to output prints of your favorite images, hang them on the wall for a few days or weeks, and try to evaluate your images as objectively as possible. I’ve found that an image that appeals after repeated viewing will likely stand the test of time in the outside world. You also might want to consider using some of the same critieria that are typically used to judge print competitions.

You can find dozens of articles and books on image quality. And at some trade shows, you can have a portfolio of your work professionally critiqued. In my opinion, here are the top eight criteria for evaluating the quality of photographic images:

Visual Impact: Does the image have the “Wow!” factor? How effectively does the image capture and hold the viewer’s attention? Is there a readily identifiable center of interest? Is the subject immediately apparent?

Emotional Impact: What message does the photo convey? Does it evoke a sense of wonder? Awe? Joy? Sadness? Anger? Confusion? Intrigue? How powerful is the emotional impact? And is the impact present for a majority of viewers?

Composition: Does the photograph follow conventional standards of strong design, such as the rule of thirds, simplicity, clean backgrounds, and the use of leading lines to guide the viewer’s eye? Does the image include distracting elements?

Color: The effective use of color helps determine the overall mood of an image. A photograph with rich, saturated colors will convey a different feeling than one with delicately shaded tones – and, of course, black and white has its own palette of tones and textures.

Contrast: Certain areas of the image may appear too bright or too dark. Similarly, loss of highlight or shadow detail will drag a good image down. In black-and-white images, high contrast with rich detail can be visually powerful.

Technical Execution: Are there any serious, unintended flaws? Is the main subject in focus? Is the image over- or underexposed? Have important elements been unintentionally cut off at the borders? Will the viewer perceive color and tones as being natural (i.e., what one’s eye might actually see)?

Use of Light: How creatively is lighting exploited or used to enhance the overall mood and visual impact of the image? Are there any distracting “hot spots” caused by excessive illumination?

Originality: Is the image similar to others, or does it have its own personality and vision? Another good photograph of Mount Rushmore will likely bore the judges of a print competition.

Once you have satisfied yourself that you are headed in the right direction, put together a condensed set of prints and show them to a few individuals who you feel will give you a no-nonsense critique. My sister, for example, is a take-no-prisoners critic. She has helped me focus on the keepers, fix up the images with hidden potential, and weed out the images that just don’t make the grade.

Testing your selections in print competition is a great way to get feedback on your images. Try a local competition first, and then if you wish move up to regional or national-level organizations. Professional Photographers of America, and WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) are good places to start.

And remember – pick a good title for each image that helps tell the story!

Entering Print Competitions: Choosing the Right Images

Eileen Fritsch — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:43:00 GMT

By David Saffir

Entering a print competition can be one of the best ways to become a better photographer. Although winning awards and getting publicity can be gratifying, you don’t have to win the competition in order to benefit from it.

For example, here are just three of the valuable opportunities that entering a print competition can provide

·         In a formal setting, you can see what many other photographers consider to be their best work.
·         You can have your work evaluated and scored by a panel of judges. In some competitions, the judges will have microphones so you can hear their comments.
·         The process of choosing which images to enter forces you to look more critically at your work. As you attempt to evaluate your work from the eyes of the judges, you will start to see each image in a whole new light.

Competitions are usually divided into categories. This gives you multiple opportunities to enter and win an award, but can make your image-selection process much tougher. A print competition might include the following categories:
·         Portrait
·         Animals
·         Photojournalism, Event and Editorial (includes weddings)
·         Landscape Photography
·         Nature Photography
·         Close-Up & Macro Photography
·         Architectural & Design Photography
·         Digital Manipulation/Freestyle

Each competition may have slightly different criteria for judging and it’s important to know in advance what those criteria will be. For example, here are some of the criteria used by the group in which I am active: the Santa Clarita Photographers Association in Southern California.

Impact: Does this image grab my attention? Is its message understood immediately? Does this photograph hold my attention? Is it effective?

Style: This is an extension of impact but incorporates less tangible qualities. Does it seem to be an extension of the sensibilities of the photographer? Will this image hold up over time?

Composition: Look at the structure of the image. Is there movement or is it static? Is it balanced by way of effective use of negative space? Is the cropping correct? Does it have depth? Is there a primary focal point?

Creativity: Does this photograph indicate a deliberate effort? Did the photographer interact with or manipulate the elements of the photo with a specific outcome in mind? Is it innovative and unusual in some way?

Technique: Was this image created with the use of any treatments such as filtering or multiple exposures or Photoshop tricks? Does the technique support the image or does it seem misused?

Lighting: Akin to technique, lighting is the single most essential element aside from the content itself. Is the lighting appropriate? Does it upstage or complement the subject matter? If the lighting is artificial, is it well-executed?

Print Quality: Are there any obvious flaws in the print? Is it clean? Does it seem too light or dark? Are there printer marks or visible pixels? Is it printed in a way that supports or amplifies the content of the image?

Print Presentation: Does the presentation of the image support the image? Or does it upstage the image and drag it down? Would you be proud to see it displayed publicly?

As you can see, judges score prints on both objective and subjective elements. And yes, it is possible for a technically weak print to win an award if the image makes a strong emotional impact.

So now that we know what the judges are looking for, let’s tackle the really hard part: Picking which images to enter. I’m not joking, this step can make a strong photographer swoon. It is pretty easy to get down to your top ten, but top three? Ouch! And before you can even get down to your top ten, you have to decide: Which category? How many in each category? I’ve adopted a six-step process to narrow down my choices.

STEP 1: I ask myself: What are my business objectives? Would it help me build my business if I gained recognition in a particular category?

STEP 2: Or, I ask myself: What creative or developmental goals would I like to pursue? These can include almost anything, from learning how to create top-notch panoramas and HDR images to shooting celebrity portraits or weddings.

STEP 3: I go through my images in each segment. First, I pick the top two or three. Then, I eliminate as many sinkers as possible. An image that has a technical weakness must have other redeeming features, such as uniqueness or storytelling that keep it in the running

STEP 4: Now that I have whittled my collection down to the crème-de-la-crème, I review the leftovers that survived the cut. Of these, I will pick another two or three images.

STEP 5: I make some working prints (usually 8x10 or 8x12) and put them in a book. For a week or so, I show this book of prints to the most accomplished, opinionated, and contrary photographers I can find. This step helps me to: (1) identify those images that I personally like, but probably won’t cut it in competition; and (2) find images that I don’t like as much as everyone else does.

STEP 6: I make the final cut. I try to select only those images that convey an uncommon subject, feeling, or style or make a special impact. These are the images that I know will be competitive.

Once the final cut is made, I go into production. Print quality, mounting and presentation are also very important.

This image just won first place in the Portrait Category in a regional competition. From a technical standpoint, it is not very strong. In fact, I took it with a very small point-and-shoot camera, through my car window, while I was waiting in traffic. But the judges said that what carried it through was the emotional content—the storytelling

Follow Your Passions

BlogArchive — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:21:00 GMT

By Phil Borges

I got into my present line of work by following two of my passions-- traveling to remote locations and photographing people. This combination of attractions has led me to photograph many indigenous groups around the world.

I love everything about the process—planning the trip, finding the guides, meeting and interacting with the people, and making their portraits. There is a unique beauty that comes from living close to the land. It’s a patina or maybe a wildness that attracts me. But it’s a look that seems to disappear as we begin to rely on others to gather and produce our food.

In the beginning of my career I was just trying to capture the beauty that I saw in the people I visited. However, it didn’t take me long to realize the unique challenges that these people face. To bring awareness to some of these issues, I began to combine personal stories with my portraits. I actually silkscreened biographical information about the subjects on the Plexiglas of my framed pieces in my exhibits. I could then highlight an issue (i.e. the human rights abuses in Tibet) through the eyes and words of individuals directly affected by the issue.

Today I look for partners, mostly not-for-profit organizations such as Amnesty International or CARE, that are addressing the same issues that I want to help bring attention to. These partners usually support the production by helping with access and travel expense. However the greatest benefit from the partnership for me is in getting the work distributed. If I’m doing a book, these partners will often pre-order books, making it easier to get a publisher. If I have an accompanying exhibit, which I usually do, they help find venues for the exhibit. By combining forces with organizations you believe in you can set up a win-win situation in which the organization gets exposure for its work.

When I started out in photography I had no idea I would be doing the humanitarian work I now find myself doing. As I look back I find the things that served me most were the projects I did out of an attraction for the subject or a sincere desire to help address an issue. The efforts that served me least were the times I tried to approach a market for my images or guess which images would sell.

Humaria is an 11-year-old street vendor (selling eggs) in Kabul, Afghanistan. She has never gone to school and like all but 12% of the young girls in Kabul is illiterate. I took this photo on top of a hill overlooking Kabul. She is part of the Women Empowered project that was supported by CARE and promoted by HP.

The Origins of the Women Empowered Project

BlogArchive — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 17:05:00 GMT

By Phil Borges

During the past 30 years that I have been observing and photographing indigenous people in the developing world, I have noticed entrenched discrimination against females in many of the communities I have visited. Gender inequality is truly a universal phenomenon. But for a long time, I felt I would be a ‘cultural imperialist’ if I created a book or exhibit that addressed the subject of gender discrimination. Who was I to pass judgment on what roles women should or should not play in foreign cultures?

My attitude started to change in 1998 after I partnered with Amnesty International and created a book and exhibit celebrating the 50^thanniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The rights articulated in the UDHR include the right to education, the right to own property, and the right to have a voice in community affairs. It was hard for me to ignore the fact that these rights are often not available to many women in the developing world.

Soon after I had decided to create a photo project around gender discrimination, the humanitarian organization CARE contacted me and asked if I would consider doing some photography for them. It turned out to be a serendipitous inquiry that ultimately led us to partner in the creation of the book and exhibit Women Empowered.

I had always known CARE as the relief organization that sent ‘CARE packages’ to disaster zones around the world. But I wasn’t aware of how much their mission had evolved. CARE’s photo editor Valenda Campbell explained to me that CARE now concentrates on economic development and that the cornerstone of their work was the empowerment of women. CARE believes the most efficient way to lift a community out of poverty is to allow girls to get an education and empower the women with micro loans.

Whenever I create a photo project that addresses disturbing issues such as poverty and inequality, I look for positive stories that will bring the issues to life in a powerful and uplifting way. In the case of Women Empowered, my inspiration came from a 91-year-old woman named Transito, who was living alone in the Ecuadorian Andes. Because of her lifelong struggle to bring respect and human rights to indigenous people she was known as the Rosa Parks of Ecuador.

I met Transito by chance when I was working on a film project for the Discovery Channel. After meeting her I decided to approach the Women Empowered project by portraying women who have broken through barriers of convention and oppression to improve not only their own lives, but also the well-being of their communities.

Transito, of Cayumbe, Ecaudor, is often referred to as the “Rosa Parks of Ecuador” for speaking out about the plight of indigenous Ecuadorians and gaining greater respect for indigenous peoples in Ecuadorian politics and in society at large.

The photographs and stories of the 16 women featured in the Women Empowered exhibit shed light on specific gender issues worldwide and the struggles of women in developing countries to achieve gender equality. Their triumphs speak to the universal themes of courage, empowerment, and human rights.

We kicked off the Women Empowered project on International Women’s Day March 8with an exhibition of thirty 60 x 33-in. prints in the lobby of the United Nations building in New York.

Although I’ve put together more than 20 exhibits since the 1990s, this was the first exhibit that I had not created in the darkroom. I had struggled for years with digital output but couldn’t get a print that didn’t shift color in the neutrals under different light sources. Since my images have a lot of neutrals, this phenomenon known as metamerism had been a big problem.

But HP has addressed and resolved that problem. When my images for the UN exhibit were output on 310 gsm Hahnemühle Photo Rag fine-art paper on the HP Designjet Z3100 printer, the prints looked fabulous. The blacks were deep and rich and there were no color shifts in the neutrals. That’s because with fine-art papers the Z3100 uses 4 neutral inks--both photo black and matte black inks as well as grey and light grey. Having four blacks eliminated the color shifts in the neutrals that had plagued my former digital prints.

I don’t matt my prints. Instead, I float them in a shadowbox frame. We found we had to use extra large taped hinges to float the large 60 x 33 in. prints. We had trouble with the prints coming loose during shipping. The Hahnemühle Photo Rag has a surface that pulls away from the linen tape more easily than other papers. Unfortunately, we had to reframe the entire show, but we considered it a lesson learned the hard way. The exhibit is now re-taped and ready to begin its national and international tour.

The exhibit schedule and a preview of the book Women Empowered can be found on my website www.philborges.com

As the first female chief of the village of Dekoto Junction in Ghana, Nana Gyeutah (also known as Mama Koko) has vigorously defended the rights of the villagers, whose cocoa trees were being destroyed by the timber industry.