Small Confession
I fully acknowledge the vital importance of marketing and self-promotion to the financial success of an artist. Still, as a person, I hold in higher esteem those who engage in it reluctantly than those who do it with fervor.
To me, the penniless desert rat staring silently into the dancing flames of the campfire is a more agreeable companion than the boisterous art buyer, checkbook in hand, insisting on making smalltalk as if his very existence would end if chatter were to cease.
Frank Lloyd Wright once said that “art for art’s sake is the philosophy of the well-fed.” He’s right. Yet, the conclusion many draw from his words is wrong. The problem is not the concept of ars gratis artis but, rather, the fact that not enough people are sufficiently fed to appreciate it.
No End In Sight
Category: Rants and Raves, Thoughts and Musings
I totally agree. I have a gut aversion to coming off like any kind of carnival hawker or TV ad or car lot salesman. Yet I know I sometimes have to toot my own horn. There are so many times, places, or things where I could, but I either choose not to, or time simply slips away on other things. And like any horn, a note sounded occasionally can be pleasant and can draw someone’s attention toward it. A note sounded to often becomes an annoyance, or we become attenuated to it, and tune it out. I’d rather sound my horn too infrequesntly that risk turning people off my blasting it in their ears 24/7, causing them to shrink away like a dog with a blown-out ear drum.
Sometimes well fed isn’t enough. My grandfather (a tailor to the well fed) often came home at the end of a day shaking his head and muttering “Some people… All their taste is in their mouth”. Thus we have a world with who people will, without a second thought, pay $150 for a pair of sneakers they will throw out in a year or less but but dispute the same price or less for a fine photograph that they could enjoy for the rest of their life.
Guy–
This is an interesting post for sure, one that I imagine will evoke plenty or response. I think, too, that for those not familiar with your background and personality, it may come off as a bit snobbish. I imagine you’re not too concerned with that.
I have mixed feelings on this topic, but I do understand what you are voicing. I think there’s a significant difference between the photographer pushing his work to pad his ego, and the photog that is pushing his work to support his family and pay the bills. Sometimes these two may be easy to confuse, but in the end, the photographer that is getting his work front and center on a consistent basis is the one who is attracting the attention of consumers, students, art buyers, editors, creative directors, etc.
I love photography. I love doing it. I love speaking about it. I love teaching it. I love writing about it. Plain and simple–it is a huge part of my life. I also have a background in PR and Marketing, however, and understand the vital importance these components can play in the role of being a successful businessman, which would also spill over into being a successful photographer as well at times.
There’s no mistaking the intrinsic and artistic value of photography, but as you well know bills must paid and mouths must be fed. It would be a pleasant world if these obligations could be taken care of through compliments and the warm fuzzy feeling of creating something unique. That, however, is not our reality.
Maybe CFA is a bad idea.
Our blood and tears hard work whored to an unworthy consumer.
(Sigh) Naive intentions of passionate experience (good and bad) and scenic imagery shared with those who(m) have never been, but maybe unable to “see” and feel. I know much of my art will never ever convey the deep, dark, and depressive state I allow, more-so choose to journey through…
[IV. Quietus]
From sleeping visions
Daily were torn
In waking hours
Hopes our forlorn.
Is all we do and all we dream
Doomed to drown in a hopeless stream?
Wishing life were made of lasting visions
In eternal sleep
And if that rest were filled with sorrow
Still we’d sleep.
In the madness of a silent eternity
We’d find solace in
False visions that protect us
From reality.
Have you guys ever been into a Peter Lik or Wyland Gallery? When you go in the sales people are on you! I too was initially appalled at the aggressive sales pitch, but I have grown to admire & appreciate what that has allowed them to accomplish. When I participate in juried art shows, I first let people look around, but after engaging them in conversation I ASK FOR THE SALE.
Stay positive! Market! Toot your own horn! Most importantly love what ever it is that you are trying to accomplish in photography. When another photographer accomplishes something don’t be jealous or contemptuous, but celebrate with them. Most of us ARE our own brand. My success or failure depends on me.
As a fellow desert rat, I appreciate what you’re saying here, Guy. There’s no snobbery in simplicity of spirit and lifestyle, one needs not justify their love for their art and life. The bills will come and go, but being true to your craft and nature is the ultimate purity. We artists will always find a way to make a go of it and don’t need to sacrifice our values to do so. In fact, if you look at those who have best followed their hearts, they often succeed beyond their wildest dreams because their art is unique and focused on beauty and message, not money.
I once wrote a story, it’s about two fellows living in the desert who happen to meet up with a wealthy doctor. The desert rats are poor but free. The doctor is drawn to their lifestyle but eventually has to return to his life (so he thinks) and drives off wistfully into the distance. That story was based on a real event and real people, and happened some ten years ago. The two desert rats are still out there, living their free but poor life, but the doctor has since had a fatal heart attack.
To me, success is defined by being able to sit by a fire in the outback and not worry about having to go back to work, even if I don’t have much food in my pack. I can live on very little, and I love having the freedom to do exactly what I want every day. And no, I don’t own much of anything, which is a freedom in itself.
PS I love the photo and its title, which is exactly what I was beginning to think a month ago after picking the worst winter in 30 years to camp in the canyon country.
I’m not much for poetry, but the following poem expresses how I would like to live my life: with intention, attention, and nature.
The Summer Day
Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Jon, et al:
I see both sides, and as such, the key is finding personal balance. I can’t make myself into or want to be a carnival hawker, even when there are definite advantages to that approach. Myself, I’m learning I have to (or should) toot my own horn a little bit more than I do, yet everytime I do, I fear I’m just adding to the noise I personally dislike. I see it like the screaming traders on the stock market floor shouting in a frenzy, “Buy ME!” It’s a sound that makes me want to run the other way. Yet if we choose to (or want to) make this our sole business & profession, the market seems to demand that you make noise. (Read: Definition of a Catch-22)
I can think of nothing worse than being one of those floor traders in New York or London yelling all day, but let’s keep in mind that those guys make a pile of money. This self-promotion debate keeps popping up among photographers and is getting as redundant as the Canon/Nikon or film/digital debate.
My original draw to photography was that I did not want to work on a computer all day in a cubicle, plus I liked being outdoors. I now work 80+ hours/week in my small home office (prison?). The irony. However, I still get out an awful lot, especially compared to most “pros” from what I can tell. I think that the photo biz tolerated the reclusive pro shooting in the woods when agencies did all of the work & made them money. I look upon every one of the “old-timers” that I know who lament the loss of the way that it use to be and realize that most of them are just not capable of self-promotion. I admire & respect what they accomplished, but they only have themselves to blame for not adapting to the new business realities.
I think that my credentials are pretty strong among photographers. I will never claim to be the best photographer. I am just out a lot and able to take advantage of when the good light happens. I also genuinely love marketing & sharing my entire process with my growing audience. It is bringing me new sales & clients. I also love being in the middle of NOWHERE 40% of the year. I can not imagine not being able to escape part of the time. I own a sat phone to stay in touch with my wife, but I am going to use it this summer to tweet once/day via text message from Alaska. Do you know anyone else that is marketing while in the bush? Love it or hate it, all my marketing is paying off. My wife is happy that we have some money in the bank, we pay our mortgage (which is not underwater), my kids have food & go on nice trips a few times/year, & I get to play around in the wilderness taking pretty pictures once in awhile.
No complaints here.
I completely agree with you Guy. As a full-time photographer, like most of the folks here, I’ve been told again and again that it is necessary to promote yourself. This is the supposed only way to be successful in this business. This goes against everything I am and believe in. I have no interest in promoting myself as a product or pretending that I’m someone special. The guys who believe you have to portray yourself as greater than others and who spend their time talking about themselves are a real turn off. Generally, I figure that it stems from a combination of insecurity and believing the lie of the necessity of self-promotion. It also seems that some of these folks who begin on this approach begin to believe their self-promotion, start to look down on others, have a cocky air about them and be less than receptive to critique and on-going growth.
I guess I’ve come to the place where I see a distinct difference between marketing images and marketing one’s self. As self-employed photographers we have to let people know about our work in-order to sell it. Marketing probably takes up a large part of my time, but my hope is that the marketing is focused on the images, the locations, the things I see and learn rather than on trying to make myself look great. Guy certainly does this extremely well and this approach is very attractive. That’s probably why we are all hear and care to read what he says.
If I was searching for art, I would be much more likely to buy from the guy who had great quality work and a good attitude than the one who is all about self-promotion. I don’t think I could bring myself to buy from someone who is cocky as it would come to mind every time I looked at the image. So, in my personal opinion self-promotion might not always be the best way to do business and I’m not sure the sacrifice of one’s integrity is worth any income.
Erik, your comment reminded me of being at the Tucson Rock & Mineral show once. If you’ve never been, there are two types of people – the rock hound type and the make money type.
The rock hound types are the ones who spend lots of time in the outback enjoying geology and picking up whatever they can find. They go to the show for fun, although some do buy items for their shops, etc. They’re generally a somewhat scroungy bunch. The make-money type are there purely for obtaining whatever they think is a good deal so they can make money, they typically have no love for the subject (picture someone from Taiwan in a pin-stripe suit).
We were standing around in the fossil section, just enjoying ourselves, when this madman dressed in an expensive suit came in, he was very intense, obviously from a large American city (had an accent, will say no more), and was feverously going from booth to booth looking to grab up any good deals he could find. We were in the fossilized fish section just hanging around talking to some paleontology types when he came by and started muttering, “mackerel, mackerel,” as he proceeded to buy up several large and expensive fossilized mackerels. It was pretty humorous.
For some reason, that kind of illustrates to me the differences between over-the-top marketing and doing something you love and hoping it sells w/o having to prostitute yourself.
I don’t doubt the benefit, but as one of the worst self-promoters, it just makes me uncomfortable and goes against my personality. I do what I have to – enough of it to pay the bills, but still rely heavily on SEO, marketing services and a regular, fairly loyal clientele.
Great message. I agree whole-heartedly with all of it, especially with, “not enough people are sufficiently fed to appreciate it.” This is the greatest tragedy. I struggle with the idea of promotion because I naturally want to promote my father, Philip Hyde, as much as possible, but I have to balance that against the reality that people loved him because he was soft-spoken and did not promote himself as much. Even though I feel that he is highly under-appreciated in relation to the quality of his work, perhaps it is best not to mess with that too much. Most photographers have more respect for colleagues who do less self-promotion. However, if a photographer stays obscure, the general public doesn’t see his or her work, particularly down through the generations. Regardless of what people believe they prefer, those who everybody admires in the long run, are those who are able to both create great art and promote it well with taste and grace.
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