Reflections on a Photography Marketing and Branding Course

My thoughts on my first "professional" photography course

* Added new thoughts in the Addendum linked below*

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I’ve shared that I’m in a course focused on how to attempt to stand out in a very noisy art and online world.

Last week I gave my culminating presentation on how I see myself moving forward with becoming an exhibiting / selling photographer and the feedback put me in a reflective state of mind.

But first, a little background to build up to my reflections on the feedback I received.

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Weeks ago, the instructor clarified that although she had us doing a lot of homework around identifying a gallery that we think our photography would be a good match for, this class was about more than simply pursuing the gallery route.

I took this to heart because for me the class had seemed completely gallery focused up to that point, which I didn’t expect it to be. Secondly, I’m personally open to other routes of growth rather than the more traditional paths.

The very week before my presentation, I had a bit of an epiphany after reading something about the travails of being an author on Substack. I have posted more than once about my own struggles with consistently finding the words to go along with my images. Well, after reading that article two weeks ago, I thought to myself, “My images are my words.” This is becoming a stronger guiding phrase for me.

If you’ve noticed I’ve not been publishing much lately because I’ve been holding back on the imagery, waiting for the words to accompany them to come to me. I now realize this is a mistake as a visual-artist-first person.

“My images are my words” became the phrase to frame my class presentation. Thus, I created a presentation that laid out the opportunity and strategy I see as being a visual artist on Substack, whose images are his words.

To note, I’m the only photographer in a group of about a dozen that is on Substack…or even knows what Substack is.

I have a sense that being a photographer on Substack may offer a unique and / or different approach to building a career as a photographer.

So, a leading question for me is, “How could we democratize art creation and collection…make it more grassroots focused….more artist-to-collector relationship focused?”

As an emerging artist, I can tell you I need more of a steady stream of income to replace the losses to date getting started and for funding future photographic projects rather than bigger sale here and there.

I’m very unlikely to be given the opportunity to stand out in the very limited amount of wall space in the traditional retail market.

So, my presentation focused on a strategy for being a visual artist on Substack, not getting into a gallery or an exhibition (at least not yet or as the “be-all and end-all” of being an artist.)

I already have a growing community of fans on Substack that is providing me such wonderful and motivating feedback to keep going. I should start there…and give the community there first dibs on my art!

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The Presentation and Feedback

I prefaced my presentation with stating that this would not be formatted as a typical portfolio review for a gallery. I gave some of the background above and decided to use this opportunity to create an outline for a much broader opportunity I want to test and explore.

For my presentation I decided to go with demonstrating the breadth of my abstract abilities across a wide range of subject matter. I made a simple poem to accompany the set of images.

Most feedback I received was along the lines of “great images but this presentation would never work for a gallery portfolio review.”

I was surprised by how many photographers thought the the inclusion of words was distracting. I do understand that if this were a typical portfolio review, I would not include any wording…the images have to stand and connect on their own.

To note though, when I’ve included words with a set of images on Substack, the feedback has been incredibly positive. Words with images seems to have an additive effect for many readers.

I’m not bummed about it. I almost kind-of expected it. But photography has a problem…especially with new and emerging photographers. The traditional market is choked full of talent and is rather opaque about helping newer talent find opportunities. Seriously, of all of the gallery sites I visited, only a few were transparent about whether to reach out or not, and if open to new artists, how to approach them.

I did receive great feedback on the images….that they stand on their own (not needing words with them) and the instructor said I edited them very well (something she repeated emphasized for our presentations.)

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“It’s About Relationships”

I can tell you, we hear this in just about every seeming inhuman space across education, work, and art where we say how important relationships are but the models and approaches for the systems are completely lacking in relationship-building values and principles.

“Relationships” is something that keeps coming up in class discussions but there is no obvious focus on encouraging and establishing relationships in the traditional market…unless you’re a well-known artist, curator, or collector.

How can I start building relationships along the traditional routes if I need opportunities to hang on a wall but I need a history of having already been hung on many walls in order to start building a relationship with a gallery or exhibition space or event?

It’s a thing where I wonder if we are truly listening to what we are saying and realizing the confoundedness of what we say we do with what we actually do.

I have established relationships in and around my art on Substack. Why wouldn’t I start there if “relationships” should be a core driver?

So, to avoid the pitfalls of an opaque and relationship-strained traditional photography market, I will test whether or not people are willing to subscribe and build a community around images as words…with occasional words thrown in when they come to me.

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Moving Forward

I’ll focus more on prioritizing the imagery by not holding back on it when the words are not coming to me.

Related to this, I’ve now made Paints With Camera my Primary Publication on Substack. All this means is that my Notes on my top-level profile will be mostly related to Paints With Camera, which makes more sense given how much imagery I share in Notes. This change also helps me stay focused on prioritizing my imagery as a visual artist on Substack.

ArtThinkMake continues just at it is with Posts reflecting on the deeper lessons related to this journey and the imagery.

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ADDENDUM

There’s a new Note further reflecting on this post and my evolution with getting better at describing the art that I create.

Read it here -

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