My first art fair, and a request for help

[Peter David Grant]

While a quick look to the left will show this as my 16th post, I've hung around here for quite a while. I've read much, and learnt lots, which is what has kept me coming back daily for a few years now. When ever I've shared my work, it has gone down well, with some well-rounded and helpful responses. In fact one reply I had suggested selling my work.

So two years later, I am attending an artists fair for the very first time over the first weekend of June, in London, England.

http://www.untitledartistsfair.co.uk/

I am planning to have 10 to 15 or so image on display and for sale, just selecting these images is next to impossible, as I have such emotional attachment to them. I would therefore greatly appreciate if I could have / steel some of your valuable time to look through a selection of 44 images I've collected, and simply click / tick the number in the box below the slideshow.

The page link with the slideshow and form is below;
http://www.pgrant.co.uk/blog/fair-selection/

I've got a blog post up as well, about how I came to booking my space here for those that are interested.

I welcome and invite any feedback and suggestions you can make, either here or through my blog.

Many thanks in advanced,
Peter

 

[SamStewart]

when you show your work and someone say why did you choose the images you did will you say because the internet told me to?

i think it's important that if you're looking to display a body of work that you have some conjoining factor or theme running throughout them. go through your images and see what ones work together and how you can create a narrative or get something across. simply saying they were all shot in England might be a little too vague.

chances are you'll be asked to explain yourself at your own exhibit and if you don't have a solid answer its gonna seem pretty funny.

 

[Vics]

I liked numbers 16 and 24. I liked many others, but those two really stood out from the rest for me. Good luck!

 

[mdarnton]

I went through and voted, but I did it based on what I thought someone would buy to hang on their wall, not what I liked. Two very different things.

 

[daveleo]

I went through something similar recently, having to pick 15 of my images to frame and hang in a new cafe. My plan was simple . . . pick the images that I felt the closest too, but my friends wanted me to show my "pretty" scenic pictures (to which I usually say "go buy a calender" and leave me alone).

Well . . . I ended up with 10 of my personal favorites and 5 that were conventionally nice to look at.

I left a stack of my cards there and they were all taken and my website has had much more traffic this month, for whatever that is worth.

There is no right answer and I won't pick my favorites for you . . . In fact, I'm kind of curious as to which pictures you finally select and why. Like someone mentioned, I hope it's not because "My friends on the internet picked all of them for me".


EDIT: I'm back to edit my wording, as it now reads to me as caustic (not intended). I simply think you should make up your own mind about why you want to show your pictures. If the answer is "To express my artistic vision" . . . then only you can decide what to hang. If the answer is "To sell as many as possible" then you need to understand who is your market at the fair (not necessarily the same as the opinions you will get from people on this or any other photographers forum) - who buys stuff at this fair, and what do they buy?

 

[daninjc]

I agree with Sam that you should be able to (ruthlessly) edit your own work, leaving behind the emotional attachment to the images.
I sent in my suggestions. IMHO, 43 stands out, and I liked 16 and 17.
Some others I found ok, but many left me perplexed.
Good luck!
d

 

[River Dog]

There are a couple of very memorable images in there, that I remember from before but didn't realise they were from the same person.

You have some style going on and that it is well worth showing (not enough of it to exhibit right now) but I am not going to tell you which ones I really, really like - self-editing must be critical to finding your own eye, so you will know next time you go shooting.

 

[Ducky]

I voted for three. Honestly, I found many just unappealing, at least on my wall. Nice bits of photography all around, however.

 

[Ducky]

Oh, good luck in the show.

 

[Deep Fried]

I just sent my likes. I was going to mention a few but after submitting my clicked selections disappeared so I will generalize...

I have a fine art background. I'm going to go a little into critique mode, which means I am going to criticize a few things and I hope it helps you to improve, or to help you with culling some images. Sometimes people don't like being critiqued and get upset. I get the impression that you would like some feedback so that is why I will give some.

Basically, some of your images have powerful emotional and visual content, and some do not. The men praying, the man touching a girls hair, the headless manequine and others are powerful. Those are the keepers. Images that do not provoke an emotion or are 'boring' in content or visual appeal would be the ones to cull. Mundane street shots, smoking girl etc.

You have some fantastic work in there. I would not have taken the time to comment if you didn't. Show your best stuff. Do not include lesser images just to reach a certain number

 

[Peter David Grant]

SamStewart - Thats a good point you mention, I'll work on this for sure. Thanks for the input.

Vics - Thanks!

mdarnton - you're very correct, maybe I should have specified my request more. The results are very interesting so far though. Thanks for taking part.

daveleo - you raise very good points, ones I have to some extent already spent time thinking about. My image selection processes is going to be a combination of what the results show, and what my vision is. I already know what the majority of the work that is on show will be, its largely the amount of stock to carry at the fair I am unsure off. I'll be sure to share how and what my selection is, and why I made those choices when I finally decide.

daninjc - I don't disagree, I should be able to, and hopefully this is just a stepping stone to helping me achieve that. That said, I do think it helps to have other people express their views, often its easy to miss something simple, a missing picture, one that doesn't fit.

River Dog - Thanks for your comments, I am glad that some of the images have remembered memorable. I am also glad you enjoy my style, narrowing it down is something I am working on. Regardless, I am committed to the fair, and am thoroughly looking forward to it.

Ducky - Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it.

Jeff - Thanks for your comments, I just checked out the ones you ticked, and I really agree with your saying. On another note, I love critique and comments, because photography / art, is just like anything else. If we are not learning and developing we are not moving forwards. Going back to your post, emotion is the key driver to the images I like, and will likely exhibit. Some images are duffers, I wanted to see how they where responded to, in comparison to the ones I love (such as the man touching the girls hair).


Thanks again to you all for replying here, and sharing your collective wisdom, as ever its very useful and appreciative.

 

[shadowfox]

Peter,
I submitted my likes.
I think you have a good eye on compositions that are more metaphorical in nature.
Personally, I think your strongest images are the man standing alone near three trees, and the shot with a lot of large stone columns and a glimpse of a girl in between.

I also like the girl reading a book on a busy sidewalk. It is interesting for me because I was expecting her to read on an iPad instead 🙂

Overall a good set of street photography.

Question, what Wordpress plugin did you use to gather the likes? I've never seen that before.

 

[Peter David Grant]

Hi Will,

Thanks for the 'likes', really appreciated. The two images you highlight are my personal favorites! I love the idea of metaphorical natured images, I will have to remember that. Thanks

They are created using the very powerful contact 7 plugin, its dead easy to set up and sends me an email each time someone hits submit. I also use it on my subscribe page.

Thanks for the post, and your input.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[Peter David Grant]

Hi,

I want to thank you all for the votes you've all given, I've closed the voting now, as I've made my selection. I'll write a post this weekend, and share with you what and why I have selected.

Thanks again,
Peter