As someone who has been around thousands of people while selling photography at outdoor summer art shows for years, I’ve sure had a lot of questions come at me. Most of the commonly asked questions are below along with a few others.
Well, yes, I sure have.
Believe it or not, I hear that frequently in the show booth and it might be someone is only looking for something to say. However, it may really be an honest question because there is so variety to see displayed on the walls of the booth. There are horses, landscapes, railroads, junk cars, junk trucks, lakes, old doors and windows, abandoned buildings, funny skeletons, streams, urbex, gas pumps, abstracts, waterfalls, cemeteries, snow images, and more. There’s quite a varied pile of images, so maybe it’s no wonder they ask if I created all of it. One guy doesn’t usually cover so many bases; shooters often specialize.
The world is wide and full of things with many interesting things to photograph!
Yes, there’s an accumulated pile of backlogged stuff that’s into six figures. And for a good definition of photographic neurosis, I still go out and shoot more stuff regularly. It’s really only the result of simple arithmetic: it’s that rambling jones, the need to create, and a fascination with photography that does it.
The very first time selling at an art show, it was immediately apparent I needed to have something to say to people when they came into my booth. I hadn’t thought of that! The best on-the-spot solution was to tell them about the images.
Over time I got better at storytelling with more to say about the pictures and surprisingly, sales increased too. From that, I learned people simply like to have more illumination and more connection with a picture. It’s just natural human curiosity.
There’s always a back story and more to tell besides the image alone. Often, better artwork has a strong visual storyline to it…why not add a written one? Eventually, I wrote some of the stories down and attached them to the back of the prints. Sales increased once more which proved the theory again.
I naturally enjoy writing and communicating and I’ve worked at becoming a better writer and storyteller. It’s fun to write. And wonderfully so, writing is another creative outlet running parallel to the photography. Today, both image and story come twinned together and I’m trying to tell the story of every image that goes onto this website.
What this entire effort comes down to is an adult version of show and tell.
The images have come through any way you can think of, from simply driving around looking for stuff to referrals from friends or people I’ve met at shows. I’ve even found great places to shoot looking through the brochure rack at motels.
There are times I’ll pay a special fee for access. I never mind doing this because access is key to making good images. You have to get right in there, get your antenna up, and have the time to work the subject without interference. By the way, I never trespass out of respect and always ask permission. Asking has opened up more doors afterward than you’d ever expect too, it’s surprising.
One of the most fun methods to find things to photograph has been to simply ramble the way-back roads with the antenna up and the eyes open. That really suits me, I like to go. There’s no real target in mind…it’s just rural exploration to go and see.
It is also the most inefficient way of all to gather up a portfolio, but certainly the most fun, especially with a friend. It’s on those back roads where some of the most interesting nuggets lie.
Yes, nearly twenty years across the eastern US for a full time living. It’s been thousands of miles a year and up to sixty motel nights during the season. It’s been a lot of hard work, but I’m thankful to have traveled extensively and seen many things. I often shoot during a show run and that’s how the portfolio grew to contain images from 22 states. For instance, I’ve often purposely scheduled shows in Michigan or Minnesota to be able to photograph around the Great Lakes. It’s a favorite place.
No, I’m primarily a fine art photographer creating images for wall art to hang in homes and offices. In another capacity, I create images for magazines and texts as stock photography. Stock images are out of the scope of this fine art website, but over time those pictures have been published in half the countries of the world.
I do enjoy photographing people but dislike the portrait business. I can create a decent portrait, but it’s only been for relatives like my nieces for senior portraits. Interestingly, one of the best times I’ve ever had with a camera was chasing a four-year-old around with a 50mm lens. Just try to keep the nearest eye in focus!
And no, I wouldn’t touch a wedding gig with a ten-foot pole!
I’ve used Nikon all the way as a pro, but it could have just as easily been Canon if the local camera store didn’t have such a good Nikon sale going that day years ago. Nikon, Canon, and Sony are all caliber systems and very equivalent. Once beginning with a manufacturer’s system, people generally stay with it because they have all their lenses.
Today, I’m thankful for a small arsenal of good lenses and I regularly use a series of Nikons including one converted for infrared. I also keep a small and easy to carry Sony point and shoot because you never know when you might see something interesting.
No, I’m entirely self-taught mostly through trial and error. But the truth is most shooters actually are self-taught and learned on the go.
My seat-of-the-pants education was furthered by two bookshelves packed with photography books and propelled by a high fascination with anything photographic and expressive. There was a lot of picture taking early on because I was fascinated by it; I still am too. A noteworthy and laughable point: the first 100,000 pictures don’t really count.
