Show the pictures
This month I went to Houston to show my portfolio at Fotofest. This is essential: show your pictures.
There are many different photo review events; I wrote about the fun at Photolucida last year (here). Previous to Photolucida I'd been to the review in Atlanta, and to several other reviews here in the New York area. Wherever you live, whatever photographic stage you're on, attending a photo review is a valuable goal.
The structure of each review is fairly similar: photographers register and pay a review fee; the organizers distribute a list of the curators, critics, and gallerists who will be attending; you research their biographies and decide whom you'd most like to see; a few days before the event your appointment schedule arrives. (Some of the smaller, one-day events don't distribute a list ahead of the event itself; rather, you sign up for appointments when you arrive at the venue.)
The day of the event (or days — Fotofest and Photolucida are multi-day events), you're in the queue with a hundred other photographers. In a large hotel ballroom there are rows of long tables set end to end. When the announcer calls the time you file in with your group, locate the appropriate table, and introduce yourself to the gallerist sitting there. You have 20-minutes to show your work. When time is called again, you stand up, gather your pictures, say thank-you, and then get out of the way — because the next photographer has arrived for the next appointment. This routine plays out perhaps four or five times each day — a speed date with pictures at the center of attention.
In the lobby, in between appointments, you chat and share pictures with a couple hundred photographers from all over the world. Some are mid-career with several books and major awards to their names; some are tenured professors; some are working steady on long-term projects; some are just starting new projects; some have worked the review circuit for years; and some are just out of school, having saved every penny in order to attend.
From each conversation you learn something new about what it means to dedicate yourself to making pictures. Often you'll hear something new about your own work, something that makes you realize, suddenly, why you've put so much time and sweat into it.
Most importantly, no matter where anyone is individually in terms of their photography career, you'll understand that everyone is in it together. The camaraderie is key. And, at the hotel bar later that evening, you'll laugh and make jokes with people from all segments of the photo world.
You're ready to show pictures when you have a cohesive body of work that wakes you up in the morning, that keeps you up at night. You're ready to go when you feel an obsession that interrupts your thoughts as you're trying to do something else.
If you're at that point, then a photo review event is a worthwhile goal. I'd suggest starting small and local; the large, multi-day events are more expensive and logistically challenging — that is, you'll get more from a Fotofest after you've done a couple rounds of the shorter reviews.
For more about photography festivals that happen around the world, see the Festival of Light website. Festivals in the United States that are worth setting your sights on include, but are not limited to: Fotofest, Photolucida, Atlanta Celebrates Photography, Photo LA, Photo New Orleans, New York Photo Festival. Many of these festivals have review events associated with them.
Both the Society for Photographic Education and the American Society of Media Photographers sponsor portfolio reviews for members — student memberships are available. A regional SPE or ASMP event might be a great way to get your feet wet.
And, for an ongoing and updated list of all things related to photo reviews and photo opportunities (contests, lectures, book signings, etc.), you have to make Mary Virginia Swanson's website a regular browser destination.
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