Pricing Your Work

Later this month, MEG will host Success as an Artist, a six-hour seminar led by Catriona Fraser, owner and director of The Fraser Gallery and an expert on what it takes to develop a successful fine arts career. One of the topics Kate will cover is pricing, and we asked her to share some insights ahead of time. 

MEG: What are some of the factors artists need to consider when setting prices? What harm comes from setting prices too low? Too high?

Fraser: Pricing your work correctly is one of the hardest things to do if you're an emerging artist without a sales history. A common mistake artists make is to ask other artists how to price their work...this leads to unrealistically high prices. Another mistake is to compare your work to what you perceive to be similar work in a gallery. The price of artwork has very little to do with artistic merit, or hours spent on the creative side...the price of art is based, for the most part, on the professional accomplishments of the artist...and size does matter...bigger is better.

Unfortunately, prices for fine art photographs by mid-career and established photographers have been in a steady decline over the last few years...you can buy a limited edition, signed and numbered print by an internationally known artist for under $1,500, so even very well established photographers with gallery representation, museum exhibitions, great reviews and multiple books published can only get $800 - $1,000 for their work...for emerging photographers prices are in the $200 - $400 range.

The main rules to remember when pricing your work are to start low to build your collector base; be consistent with your prices, whether you're selling from your studio or through a gallery; and gradually increase your prices as you build your professional credentials.

Fraser will share what it takes to build your professional credentials and much more at the seminar on March 22nd and March 29th at MEG. Information is available here. To register, please contact Fraser at 301-254-0586 or by e-mail at info@thefrasergallery.com.

Q&A With Karen Keating

MEG member Karen Keating shares some thoughts about Cuba Revisited, her new show featuring portraits of people in a changing and challenging place.

Last spring, you made your third trip to Cuba, but the first in eight years. What felt the same and what felt different when photographing on the streets? The streets of Havana seem busier, especially in the central part of the city. Tourists are the most visible -- traveling in groups, gathering as tour guides with umbrellas explain a building, an historical event or answer questions. This kind of group travel was not common in 2000 or 2001. The tourists are from all parts of Europe and the world except the United States.

               (c) Karen Keating

      In Old Havana, my favorite part of the city, there are new restaurants in the Plazas, more renovating and a subtle feeling that a kind of gentrification is occurring as well as displacement. The exuberance that I felt during my first few trips as I watched the daily unfolding of Cubans' lives, their ability to embrace each day, seemed missing.

Your portraits capture a sense of "watching and waiting," which was the title of your prior book on Cuba. Do you feel the emotion behind this watchfulness is the same today as it was during your prior trips? This is conjecture, not fact, but the emotion as Cubans watch and wait now seems to have an edge. Rules and regulations, if not laws, seem to be shifting, and people are looking for opportunities. Perhaps there is more intensity in their watching. I saw less "celebrating" or living in the moment, especially in Havana. In Regla and Matanzas, the pace of the day is slower and the number of visitors watching the Cubans is less and the people feel less watchful.

Many of your portraits are close up and personal. How do you make your subjects feel comfortable? How much do you interact with them before shooting? How long do you spend shooting each subject? I do not have a prescription for my street portraits. I "hang out," I stay in one spot, wander slowly, watch the flow of activity and people. I use a noisy camera that makes it obvious that I am taking photos. I watch their body language, trying to see an opening maybe just a smile, a "may I take your photo?" I have Spanish phrases, but no real Spanish language ability. I NEVER take a photo if a person says no. I never use telephoto lenses.  I have no idea how long I take with a person; I try to leave my watch in my room and just let the day unfold. In this series from spring 2011, I spent time in some people's homes because we were working with Cuban photographers, but the majority of these images are from the street.

When you're walking through the streets, what draws your attention?  In Cuba, the people, their interactions, their activities, their environment and certainly the quality of the light and shadows are the elements that grab my attention. I am not a fast, quick shooter; I guess like the Cubans, I watch and wait, too. I never go out with a script, a plan. However, having been to Cuba five times, I am trying to think more conceptually -- what are the recurring themes, the connections?  Finishing a portfolio or set of images allows me to reflect, pull together my thoughts making me eager to return.

You typically shoot only in film, but also brought a digital camera on this trip so you could easily review images with other photographers. When shooting digitally, did you find yourself being less deliberate about what you chose to shoot vs. when you shoot film? Shooting with a digital camera made me a little crazy, less focused, sloppy at times. I was eager for feedback from the photographers during the trip, but I am not sure that it was valuable during the shooting process.  There are five images in this exhibit shot digitally -- at least three of those I could not have taken with my film equipment. The boxing arena was great fun digitally!  Then there is the issue of the square vs. rectangle composition. I do not like cropping later.

Are you done with Cuba or is there more you'd like to explore?  No, I am not "done" with Cuba. I continue to find connections between what I shoot in Cuba and my personal concerns. The texture of Cubans' lives, the challenges, the humanity of each day continues to resonate with me. I want to spend more time in other areas of the island, travel slowly. I especially liked the tobacco-growing area, Vinales.

What's next for you? Next, right now, is an Easter trip to Sicily with Ernesto Bazan who became my inspiration in Cuba. He is a phenomenal photographer of Cuba. Being Sicilian, he found Cuba was a connection to his homeland and I would like to see this unique island before returning to Cuba!

A reception for Cuba Revisited will be held Sunday, March 4th from 12:30-2:30 pm. A light brunch will be served. Keating will also give an Artist Talk on Thursday, March 15th from 7:00-8:00 pm. 

New Exhibit: Karen Keating - "Cuba Revisited, 2011"

MEG Favorites, Part III

Turning the corner from January to February means we’re fully in the New Year, but we have one last post in our series of favorite images from 2011. The selections of MEG members Sandy LeBrun-Evans and Maureen Minehan prove that photographs can be very personal, yet still universal, at the same time. 

Sandy LeBrun-Evans

                                            (c) Sandy LeBrun-Evans

I thought a lot about my favorite image from last year and at first I thought it was a tossup between two from my Forgotten series – Café 27 and Truck. The real answer though is more personal – my true favorite image from 2011 is one I took of my daughter walking down the beach with her girls behind her, heads down, following their mama. Something about my strong baby girl leading the way for her own daughters spoke to me. She is a wonderful mom and a great person for her girls to look up to and follow through life.  

Maureen Minehan

                                                (c) Maureen Minehan

My favorite 2011 image also features family and sand, even though no people appear in it. This image was taken during a family trip to Rehoboth Beach, DE that included multiple generations. My expectations for shooting much that week were low – it can be hard to combine family time with photography, no matter what the location. Still, my brother gamely rose with me each morning at 5 a.m. to capture sunrise from the beach and I treasure both the quiet time I had with him and the new work that came from it. This image reflects the peace and beauty of those early morning excursions and will be included in my upcoming solo exhibit opening March 26^th at Multiple Exposures.

Drumroll Please...

At MEG, we believe opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor. Opportunities we don’t know about are opportunities we can’t pursue.

For that reason, we are excited to host Success as an Artist, a six-hour seminar led by Catriona Fraser, owner and director of The Fraser Gallery and an expert on what it takes to develop a successful fine arts career. With over 16 years experience as one of the most successful art dealers in the Washington, D.C. area, and an excellent reputation for supporting local emerging artists, Fraser’s presentation reflects her deep experience and connections in the art marketplace.

The information and resources provided in the seminar are useful to artists working in all media, including painting, sculpture and photography. Whether you’re an emerging artist or just want to boost your art career with fresh ideas, you’ll leave the seminar with practical information and advice on what it takes to thrive in today’s challenging arts environment.  Each artist receives a resource packet including a CD of essential documents and other reference materials.

The seminar will take place at Multiple Exposures Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Arts Center in Alexandria, VA over two evenings:

 ·    Thursday, March 22^nd: 6pm-9pm

·      Thursday, March 29^th: 6pm-9pm

 Topics to be covered include:

 March 22

• Professional presentation of your work
 

• How to cut your framing and presentation costs
 

• Framing resources
 

• How to take good images of your artwork
 

• How to price your artwork
 

• How to write a resume
 

• How to build your artistic credentials
 

• Juried competitions and other opportunities
 

• Publicity and marketing
• PR contacts and art critics
 

• How to write a press release
 
 


March 29

• Regional arts organizations
 

• Galleries
 

• Gallery/Artist relationships and contracts
 

• Outdoor arts festivals, display panels, tents, selling your work, credit cards
• Alternative funding, grants and residencies
 

• Museum acquisitions of your work


The fee to attend the two-night seminar is $85.00. To register, please contact Fraser at 301-254-0586 or info@thefrasergallery.com.

Several MEG members have already reaped the benefits of attending past Fraser seminars and you’re likely to see at least a few of us in the seats this time too. Hope you’ll join us!

More information on Fraser and the seminar, including feedback from previous attendees, is available here.  


MEG Favorites, Part II

Last week, we shared several MEG members' favorite images from among the thousands they captured in 2011. In our second post in this series, this week we see favorites from MEG members Colleen Henderson, Michael Borek and Janet Matthews and learn why they chose them.

Colleen Henderson

                                                     (c) Colleen Henderson

There are several reasons this image rose above the others. First, for the second year in a row, for about half the year (beginning in early spring and running thru late summer), I committed to creating a visual "Daily Journal," (my shortened version of a 365 project).  This involves creating images daily and then selecting only one image each day to post to the web.  Both years I have found the process demanding and challenging, but also very rewarding. Not only does it provide a visual window into my daily life, it greatly increases my awareness of the world around me, sparks my creativity, encourages me to make images of scenes I might ignore, and often leaves me with unexpected gifts from the "photo gods." Cathedral Gate is one such gift. 

Second, Cathedral Gate surprised me a bit when I returned home from shooting and began post-processing.  What I'd thought was a detail shot of a wooden gate and its locking mechanism, turned into a semi-abstract image made up of squares, rectangles and circles with varying degrees of tone, color and texture.  I enjoy the arrangement of shapes and the interplay of tones.  The overall balance of the image leaves me with a calm and peaceful feeling.

Michael Borek

                                                          (c) Michael Borek

I took this picture in Montana last summer. The combination of a typical landscape with  common traffic signs created a reality that felt familiar, yet strange. It feels like there's a metaphorical context to the image:  You need to stop because you cannot continue in the same direction and get where you are headed if you continue on this road.

Janet Matthews 

                                                         (c) Janet Matthews

I'm not sure that I have a single favorite image from 2011. But I do have a project from the past year that I am excited about. Last spring, I was en route to pick up my morning latte and I saw a truck carrying ticket booths traveling in the opposite direction. The carnival was back in town. I had been shooting carnival images with a toy camera for several years and thought I was done, but that day I decided I still wanted to continue this work. I decided to take a completely different approach: to try to capture images of the carnival culture, the people who set it up and take it down, control the rides, work the booths and live with the show for the season. This approach was way out of my comfort zone of creating work in a studio, by myself at my own pace. This image is one of several favorites from that experience. It shares my interest in structure and composition as well as documenting one of the workers in his environment. I followed these folks to several locations and am looking forward to meeting up with them again in the coming year.

 

Five Tips For A Better Website

If you have your own website, you know how challenging it can be to make it pleasing to the eye, informative and accurately reflect you and your work. At MEG, we're incredibly lucky to have design guru Blake Stenning as part of our membership. Co-founder of Pittny Creative, a full-service design and branding firm, Blake brought his many talents to bear on MEG's recently revamped website. He shares some wisdom on web design below: 

 
1. Start with a cohesive identity. The look & feel of MEG's new website grew out of the visual identity we established in 2010 as part of MEG's new branding efforts. Multiple Exposures Gallery has been a fixture in the DC region for years, but until recently, its communications and marketing efforts had little cohesiveness. While some individual pieces were well designed, MEG itself had no real recognizable identity and we needed to establish a graphic language unique to MEG. In fact, one of the first things my firm did was to streamline the name. Since many people were already referring to Multiple Exposures Gallery by its acronym, it seemed natural to formalize the MEG abbreviation as part of a bold, yet elegant logo. The mark's simple, classic styling serves as the foundation for all of MEG's communications components, from business cards to the new website.

2. Articulate your goals.  From a practical standpoint, our goal for the MEG site was to make it simple and flexible enough to be updated on a regular basis -- without huge time investments or programming expertise – to ensure content remains current. For the viewer, we wanted the site to be simple and intuitive to navigate. And from a technical standpoint, our goal was to incorporate best practices for HTML markup and coding.

3. Help your content shine. The biggest challenge for the MEG website was presenting the work of 15 photographers and not favoring one format over another, such as portraits over landscapes or color over black-and-white. And because each MEG photographer has a unique vision, it was crucial that the website's design did not compete with their work. Ultimately, we decided on a JavaScript image viewer that allowed us to design a uniform thumbnail gallery for all members. When you click on an individual thumbnail image, the entire background goes dark and the photo is enlarged to allow for an unencumbered viewing environment.

4. Think through the navigation. The other important consideration was that access to any MEG member's thumbnail gallery has to be easy from anywhere within the website. We achieved this by featuring a right column sidebar listing that is a duplicate of the Artists' pulldown menu in the top navigation. The only time the sidebar is unavailable is from within an individual member's gallery, where the listing is replaced with the artist's bio.

5. Keep it simple. My advice to any photographer who wants to create their own photo website is to keep it simple and think through how you want a visitor to experience your work. It's much easier to make changes before you've invested hours in HTML coding. For those opting to use blogging templates, the principles are basically the same – plan ahead. Know what you want to say and then try and find a template that's flexible enough to accommodate your content, but keep in mind that it may sometimes be necessary to adapt your content to fit within the constraints of the template.