Jen Bekman Talks Galleries and Self-Marketing

Despite a few techincal difficulties at the start of her seminar this evening Jen Bekman (a.k.a. Personism, a.k.a. Hey, Hot Shot!) put together a rather educational slide presentation about “Breaking into the Gallery World and Marketing Yourself” – gearing this, for the most part, towards emerging photographers. Jen’s seminar was put together thanks to the help of the Photographic Resource Center here in Boston. She spoke to a “sold out” crowd, a small room packed so tight that people were forced to stand along the outer edges. Speaking mostly from her own experiences in conducting relationships with artists, she layed some ground rules for approaching gallerists, stressed the importance of a strong portfolio, and set the stage for some questions from the audience for a large portion at the end. I recieved a few e-mails asking me to share some notes from the seminar here on the blog, so for those of you who asked (and those of you who are just reading along) here is a quick list of some of the topics covered:

Set Goals and Get Feedback: Competitions, portfolio reviews, critiques, grants, etc. Apply yourself and stay involved by visiting exhibitions, reading the news, magazines, blogs, and interacting with online communities. Jen provided a hand-out at the seminar with a nice list of blogs to visit (one of which was Marketing Photos with Mary Virgina Swanson, which some of these self-marketing tips were taken from). Jen, thanks again for linking me on that list, too! Tightly Edit: You should be able to stand behind your portfolio of work. Each image should hold up well on its own as well as work with the other photographs in the series. Have a Web Presence: Now, more than ever, this is super important. GET A WEBSITE! With the web portfolio, less is more; make it easy for visitors to view your photographs online. If you can’t design a website yourself, there are alternatives such as a free homepages, blogs, or joining photo-sharing sites such as Flickr. Online Isn’t Everything: Have a business card, a physical portfolio, and be social. Introduce yourself! Be genuinely interested in people, don’t fake schmooze – it’s not nice. Your Portfolio: This should be what your most excited about, not necessarily what will please the gallerist or reviewer based on their taste. Edited, cohestive, strong – all words that keep coming up. The physical portfolio should be printed at a size that is easy to handle, for example 8" x 10" or 11" x 14" – not too large, not too small. Portfolio Reviews: Know what you want out of the review, have a cohesive body of work, practice your presentation, take notes. Also, keep in touch with the reviewers – consider your experience the chance to begin relationships with professionals who respond positively to your work. Everyone is Different: All galleries, competitions, portfolio reviews, museums, etc. all have different requirements and expectations. Some places ask for slides, some for CDs, and some for online-only submissions. Respect these requests as they are usually implimented for a reason – don’t start a letter out with “I know you don’t normally accept submissions like this…” or try to share your portfolio with a gallerists during an opening, without appointment, or any other inappropriate time. Research these policies prior to submitting or approaching someone in person and things will go much better for everyone involved. Be Realistic: Photography is expensive as an emerging artist. Don’t take on a marketing campaign that you can’t sustain. Figure Out Where Your Work Fits In: Get exposure in that arena. There’s often no sense in approaching a gallerist who shows only large-scale plexi-mounted color landscapes with your traditional darkroom-printed black and white macro photographs of flowers. Know Your Strengths: Too many photographers try to be all things to all people. Find what you are good at and passionate about and go with it.