Bio for Photography Exhibit

[ornate_wrasse]

I currently have nine of my photos exhibited at a local bank. I prepared a bio which is available for the customers to see when looking at my images. I asked a photographer friend to look at it and give feedback. He was pretty critical of the bio I'd prepared. He said I shouldn't list prior exhibits and shouldn't list my education, but should focus on the prints being exhibited as well as giving some statement on my photography. This got me thinking about how to change my bio and make it better.

Do any of you have any suggestions for good photographer bios and/or can direct me to good examples of them? The main goal is to leave this bio at the site of my exhibit so that interested people can read it. I'm open to ideas that you may have.

Thanks for your ideas.

Ellen

 

[lynnb]

Hi Ellen, maybe this might help?
Cheers,

 

[kxl]

I don't completely agree with your friend.

I agree about wanting to know more about your photographic drivers and influences, and about the series on exhibit.

But I would also certainly be interested in knowing about your previous photo exhibits, and I would be interested in your education assuming it is photography or art-related; if your education is in a totally unrelated field, then maybe leave it out.

Other than that, be concise and to the point. Check and re-check your grammar and spelling.

Just my $0.02.

Good luck!

 

[Georgiy Romanov]

Your friend is right. 90% of the people read only the first few lines. It's better to write those lines about your photography and technique than about education and other blah blah blah. If the author interesting he or she will go to official site with full bio.

 

[ornate_wrasse]

Hi Ellen, maybe this might help?
Cheers,

Thanks for the link. It gives me some good ideas to proceed.

Ellen

 

[ornate_wrasse]

I don't completely agree with your friend.

I agree about wanting to know more about your photographic drivers and influences, and about the series on exhibit.

But I would also certainly be interested in knowing about your previous photo exhibits, and I would be interested in your education assuming it is photography or art-related; if your education is in a totally unrelated field, then maybe leave it out.

My education is not at all photography or art related. So maybe I'll leave it out when I redo it. The reason I'd put them in originally (education and prior exhibits) is because I have another exhibit going on at a public building in my county where these things were included. I didn't have any say in whether they were included or not. So I basically just copied what I'd put in that exhibit bio.

My friend also commented that I should leave out that I was a Certified Public Accountant, which I'd put in. That's not photography or art related either 🙂

Ellen

 

[Begather]

My education is not at all photography or art related. So maybe I'll leave it out when I redo it. The reason I'd put them in originally (education and prior exhibits) is because I have another exhibit going on at a public building in my county where these things were included. I didn't have any say in whether they were included or not. So I basically just copied what I'd put in that exhibit bio.

My friend also commented that I should leave out that I was a Certified Public Accountant, which I'd put in. That's not photography or art related either 🙂
Ellen

Really? Are you sure?

 

[Roger Hicks]

Really? Are you sure?

That was my immediate unkind thought too. I was articled to a firm of chartered accountants some 40 years ago. Do you remember the famous story of the accountants applying for a job? They were all asked, "What is 2+2?" Those who answered "four" were rejected. The successful candidate replied, "What number had you in mind?"

For the OP, I've never seen the relevance of education to this sort of thing. My wife had an exhibition over the week-end (a pre-Christmas fair). The "blurb" explained the genesis of the series -- The Ruin, http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/sechard/oeruin.htm -- and that the pictures were hand-coloured silver halide B+W prints. I guess we should have mentioned that she has exhibited regularly at Arles for the last few years, the biggest gathering of fine art photographers in the world, and possibly mentioned the books she has co-authored and the articles she has written, but we didn't. Otherwise the pictures have to speak for themselves.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Richard G]

I think your friend was right. There have been some good suggestions here. Who are you, relevant to photography only? "I fell in love with the Rolleiflex when I was 12...." What are you on about with photography, and what was the particular impetus for these photographs in this exhibition? "Found objects hidden in plain sight are part of the order of the world that we ignore." What can you say about one of two of them that helps the visitor into your vision? "In Button-stone it is all about texture and ambiguity...." 100-150 words. Very short. I had to do this recently and could have done a better job.

 

[photomoof]

Ellen, ask yourself why are you having a show and and what would you like to tell someone looking at the photos.

Are you looking for photography work, based on the show?
Are you selling prints?
Who are you?

So depending on the above questions, anything goes. The CV could be anything from a job application, to an artist's statement. Or as little as your name, and a link to your web site.

My first public show was at a savings and loan when I was just out of school, all I included was my name, that was all I had at the time. However I did get work on a corporate annual report from the show. There is nothing wrong with celebrating the joy of a first show, IMO there is nothing worse that digging too deep for a past when there really is none, on a CV.

Later when I was showing with a dealer, they did not include much background -- that is however interesting sometimes, but that is stuff for a critic to ask you when you are interviewed, or talks to your dealer. As Roger points out it might be interesting to a writer that you stated out in one career but are making and showing photos. But right now, write what you want, celebrate your work. Don't worry anything you want to make public is OK.

And as Helen said YAY!, Congrats!, I wish you good luck and many more shows. Don't worry too much, just enjoy knowing you have a show. In reality it is the work that counts.