Chris Campbell on sun 4 oct 98
At the recent Craft Business Institute week-end we had the opportunity to take
two sessions on slide photography. They had five projectors so we saw our
slides the way the jurors see them for most shows - all five slides at once
for 30 seconds or so.
What an eye opener!! A unified presentation ...that is to say - same
background, same color, with the same film, on the same day - really stands
out from the rest. It gives an aura of assurance and professionalism - this
person knows what they are doing and can be counted on to do a good job at our
show.
You may also need two sets of slides. The ones that will get you into juried
shows are not the same ones that magazines might want to use. Magazines want
room all around the artwork so they can crop and edit - jurors like nice tight
shots of the work.
You may need professional "product" photography if you want to get into the
better shows. But you can't just let them do it - you must be on hand because
only you know what you want your work to look like. This can take a long time
but once you get the look have the photographer take multiples of the same
shot because this will save you having to print copies (copies are never as
good as the original). Also make sure he or she gives you a reduced cost for
shooting multiples of the same pose. You don't want to pay for each one as
though it was original.
NOW - Picking up the wet sponge on research and questions - I had a question
that I researched through all of my pottery library and could not find the
answer. I sent it to the question column of Ceramics Monthly and they found it
sufficiently interesting to answer with a two column reply. Well, I read that
five times ( really ) and it was as though it was written in Greek. I had no
idea what on earth they were saying. Then I asked a clayarter and she gave me
the answer in one short sentence. Months of wandering answered by experience.
I will still hit the books and archives but thank goodness for all of you
generous and kind clayarters !!!
Chris - in Carolina - who has never received a nasty post from the list ( and
please don't take this statement as a challenge )
| |
|
