My fine art photos - what now?

[AlanG]

I have been a commercial photographer for a long time. But recently I started putting together a kind of free form experimental body of work.  Mostly stitched, mirrored, and otherwise altered images of spaces, buildings, ceilings and details of structures in Washington DC.  I did this just for myself but now want to show and market them.  Any opinions?

Here is the gallery:

My fine art project link

And here is a sample:[attachment=11323:27_tent_...yrighted.jpg]

[wolfnowl]

Well, they're not my style, but they seem well done.  I'm sure someone would be interested in them.

Mike.

[ChrisS]

The more abstract and geometric they are, the better, I think. Some great pieces.

[AlanG]

The more abstract and geometric they are, the better, I think. Some great pieces.

Thanks ChrisS, I think I'm leaning that way now too. That is the direction the most recent pieces have gone - I have a few new ones that are not posted yet.  The idea in those is for it to be interesting in and of itself. Then if you look real closely, you might be able to tell what building formed it. (At least someone who knows Washington might be able to.)

[Bill Allsopp]

The shots inside buildings work really well to me. Some others are so different from my usual stuff I may not be the best judge but I have no doubt you will find some interest for them.
Quality speaks for itself, subject matter is personal preference.

[joergen geerds]

Hi Alan,

congratulations to your new endevour, it's always nice to do something different after a couple of years.
I would like o offer a couple of observations, and I apologize if they may sound too harsh:
1. your work has some interesting ideas, but needs a bit more development. right now i looks eerily like work I've seen before, a wild mix between Tom Leighton and Bill Thompson. I can only recommend to go a bit easier on the gradient tool for the backgrounds, right now it looks as if somebody just discovered the gradient tool in MS Paint, which takes away from your actual work, and makes it cheesy looking.
2. gallery website: your website is designed to work for people with 24in screens and larger. i don't mind, since I have 24in, but I can see others with smaller screens or laptops not being able to see your gallery, and hence will just close the window. I would rethink the gallery presentation for a more flexible solution.
3. I would edit the amount of work you show, and maybe create sub-galleries based on themes
4. if you are planning to sell, or if you are planning to show this in any gallery, you need some information how large they are, what edition, and what printing technique, and what kind of frame (if any) you offer, and how people can buy them, and where you are showing them (if at all)

good luck for your new endevour

[AlanG]

joergen,

Thanks for your response and don't worry about sounding harsh.  We had very tough critiques in college.  I appreciate the feedback as I have been working in a vacuum and am way out of my "comfort zone" and trying to get farther out of it.
One reason I posted this here is nobody knows me and I don't know you.  So I was hoping to receive unbiased remarks. (Unlike from my friends.)


As for the screen size, I've looked at it on a 17 inch monitor and it seems ok. But this is just a very early site trying to test the waters, not actually to market anything. I have to do more research and hopefully find an agent or gallery and determine what to do with these images.  That includes pricing, sizes etc.  I have a 24 inch printer so I can print fairly large in-house.

I agree with you about the gradients. I think they are ok on some and not on others. But as I was using panoramics that had irregular shapes, I was trying to find ways to float them.  I can't always come up with something that I am happy with for each one. So some might be in flux.  Feedback will help me refine them.  My ideas are developing a bit, here are the two latest:

[attachment=11355:29_Reaga...yrighted.jpg]
[attachment=11354:28_Reaga...yrighted.jpg]

[RSL]

Alan,

I'm probably not the best judge in the world for the kind of abstractions you're doing. I'm a very straight photographer -- mostly street, but also dying towns and prairie ghosts. But I'm really intrigued by your work. Joergen's points are very valid.

Here's a thought: The new Color magazine put out by the publishers of B&W (Black and White) has a portfolio contest going with a deadline of April 15th. It'll cost you all of $35 to send in between 8 and 12 photographs as a portfolio -- 300 ppi, CMYK color, 7 inches in the max dimension. You send the stuff on a CD, so preparation is no big deal. You should be able to get a copy of Color at any bookstore. You also can download a copy of the contest info from http://www.color-mag.com/.

You won't make any money on the contest, but you might get some really good exposure. Don't give up your day job just yet though.

Best regards,