Four years ago, I threw out the window all professional protocols and naively plopped myself on the doorstep of our State Photgraphic Centre.
After a period of 3 years with a debilitating illness I saw the light. (yes...pun intended ) It was time for me to stop worrying about what others thought about my photographs, and just share and offer what I love.
One morning I printed out 10 images - my 'Transience' series
Transience images which I had been working with during my recovery, and put them in a folder in the car and drove to Brisbane to find somewhere I could exhibit them. The place I thought of first, upon inspection wasn't too good, so I phoned my Mum and asked her to look up where the Queensland Centre of Photography was.
I landed on their doorstep without an appointment, without a professional submission proposal, without one item I could put on my CV, without any knowing of where or how I was going to print them for an exhibition, without any knowing of what was even involved in exhibiting. In 10 minutes a spot was made for me in their exhibition programme...and I haven't looked back.
Julie's exhibitionsThe sample prints I had printed myself using a small Canon desktop photo printer, so I needed to find out firstly how to use Photoshop to get the best out of my images, learn about Colour Management, ... all to get the prints to match my output from my little Canon Pixma.
Now I have a reasonable understanding of how to process images adequately, but so much is still beyond my understanding. I also print my own work, which is not only personally satisfying, but helps when planning an exhibition because all the responsibility is then up to myself and there is no-one else to rely on or to blame if things go wrong.
I consider it not only fulfilling being able to exhibit and share my work, but a responsibility as well, and not to be taken lightly. My work is conceptually based, so I feel it is important to develop it as thoroughly as I can, then just totally let it go when it is in the gallery.
40 - 50% commission is the standard here in Australia.
I have also found it has been important for me give an artist talk for those who are interested in my work. That has been very rewarding, and the questions that I am asked more often than not help me to understand and look at my own work in different ways.
Julie