The redone website has been up since late Spring. The promos are done and, for once, the email lists recorded NOT ONLY in my email log but actually, with some sense of order in word files. We'll see how long that lasts ....
Is the website working? I believe it is as I have already fielded a museum invitation to submit based upon their curator's review of my portfolios on site; a recommendation from a retired cultural attaché, a career diplomat, to definitely submit my Chinatowns project to the US Embassy in Beijing; and the clear identification of what it is I am doing by a simple link to the URL.
So, here I sit: website in hand, several proposals out but with a large question: When and if I land a more substantial exhibition/book project, et al, HOW do I present the work? I've already seen it in online format. I have already printed the showcase prints for the portfolio. I've exhibited in some smaller shows. But now, when the opportunity arises for a more serious review, how do I see the work being exhibited?
These questions have to do with
1. THE PRINTS, OF COURSE, and the questions encompass
HOW LARGE?
WHAT MEDIA? I have shot the Chinatowns in film - 35mm and 645 (medium format) transparencies - and in digital. I have printed for exhibtion in cibachrome and on archival digital media. I love cibachrome and I love my master printer, Frank Green, at The Lab Ciba.
Some say ciba/ilfachromes are "old school" but hey - how can you beat that incredible color saturation?
But, I also love my Epson 7800 and Hahnemühle Photo Rag which gives an entirely different matte look to a print. Whether in the darkroom or in the digital lab, choice of paper and other production and presentation questions when making an art print remain the same.
WHERE IS THE ELEMENT OF CONSISTENCY? For in the Chinatowns Project, work varies in size, vertical vs horizontal and the extent of the crop. It is not studio work and the type of camera, lens and approach may change, not only due to locale but also due to the duration and evolution of this 9+ year project. For the Gridlock work, the concerns are different since camera, format and print remains consistent throughout.
HOW TO PRINT? Should I center? When I decide the size of the print, how large on the paper should the white space be? Will I need a mat or? Today, the mat seems less important than placing the image on the paper and determining the nature of the impact of that total vision.
2. HOW TO FRAME? I love wide, flat wood frames. I love large prints. But there is a reality, especially in today's market: what do I do that preserves my vision AND permits the print to be accessible/saleable in my "market," i.e., that of an emerging photographer. Saleable and, at the same time, affordable for me to do so that the exhibition can be out there.
The economics of exhibiting consist of many variables and, much as I want to show in exactly the way I want, I have to consider the context. More than many emerging photographers, my experience both in the music industry and in book publishing helps me here. Sometimes.
I know how to compromise. But I also know when to stop, at least in music and books. The question now: In this area of my passion, my time and my expense, gladly undertaken as I seriously further the career, can I rationally weight and compare these considerations?
We'll see.
In the interim, I've posted a garden comp on Facebok for a writer friend's birthday. Sometimes it seems important to just shoot and, on a foray into my own garden, this is what I do. It starts this ramble. And, when I think about it, it too is about presentation.
