Who are your audience?

[GSNfan]

As photographers we need people as subjects or as audience. Its easy to say that 'I photograph for myself' but that is like singing in the shower which is not the same as performing for an audience.

So, who're your audience? Who looks at your photos?

 

[Dunn]

Honestly, not many people.

I have a flickr that I upload to occasionally, but I don't really know who looks at that. I don't have a super amount of views.

The only person who really gets to see just about every photo is my girlfriend. She has an interest in photography and when I get film developed I show them to her.

I wish I had more of an audience, but I'm not the "look at what I can do" kind of person. I want to start a project soon so maybe I'll try to get that out there.

 

[hipsterdufus]

I am remarkably similar to Mr. Dunn. When I take photographs, my first audience is myself and then my wife. Then, my friends. Then, anyone who has a somewhat surrealist bent in the art world. Unfortunately, I don't think many art people think much of my pictures. Oh well. I think I'm making some of the best pictures of my life, but the number of flickr views I get begs to differ.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I have virtually none.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Group 1: Whoever is willing to pay.

Group 2: Anyone who likes my work.

The two groups overlap to very varying degrees.

What are the other options?

Cheers,

R.

 

[Chris101]

...
What are the other options?

People who are tricked into looking at it because it's hanging in a gallery.

 

[Roger Hicks]

People who are tricked into looking at it because it's hanging in a gallery.

Dear Chris,

True, though presumably the gallery owner liked it. Will everyone who goes to the gallery hate it? No, no more than everyone who goes to the gallery will like it.

How does anyone find out if they like someone else's work, except by looking at it?

Cheers,

R.

 

[Chris101]

Dear Chris,

True, though presumably the gallery owner liked it. Will everyone who goes to the gallery hate it? No, no more than everyone who goes to the gallery will like it.

How does anyone find out if they like someone else's work, except by looking at it?

Cheers,

R.

Thanks Roger,

That's exactly why I try to get stuff in galleries. So that people who will find it compelling will have an opportunity to see it. Of course I also post a lot of my work on the internet - the big public gallery. I have often traded prints with people who wanted one of mine, and even sold a print or two that way. I don't really care if they sell or not though, because I have a fun day job.

Come to think of it though, I wouldn't mind if people hated my work. It's indifference that I don't like!

 

[paulfish4570]

my bride, in general, likes all of my stuff, including the minimalist work and other such things.
my daughter and her husband especailly like my people work.
various friends like my work - even street stuff - when they have a chance to see it. i don't post to facebook any more, so they don't get to see much.
mostly, i shoot for myself - and you guys here. y'all have good minds, good eyes and some wits about you ... 🙂

 

[Mablo]

I'm not a professional photographer like many of you. So I don't even dream about someone ever paying me one centime for my images. The truth is I take photographs because the whole process gives me great satisfaction. I'm happy when I'm with a camera.

Nevertheless, I've managed to cultivate a small but slowly increasing bunch of people who are following my photos on the Flickr. Many are from RFF circles. I want to thank you all.

 

[jesse1dog]

RFF and one member in particular who I meet fairly often.
It seems a long way to go from 1 exposure from a 36 exposure roll, developed, scanned, imported, moved to flickr, and then moved to RFF.
As a result anything you are likely to see of mine will be of digital origin - it's faster to get a result, and into a post.
The Blurb books I have produced have generated some other interest but I suspect it was more about the Blurb process and outcome rather than the photographs.
Really I suppose, I take photographs for ME!


jesse

 

[igi]

People who are tricked into looking at it because it's hanging in a gallery.

The first thing I thought about was the random gallery on RFF's home page 😀

I also have no audience other than those who chance upon my flickr page I guess... I got 3 views today though🙂

 

[le vrai rdu]

I don't knw who look my pictures

My family and most of my friend are not that much interested in photo

I had a reasonnable amount of people watching my flickr , but who they are ? do they take time to look or not ? So these figures doesn't mean many things

 

[MC JC86]

mom/dog/close friend attacked by rapidly passing sycophantic spell.

 

[Keith]

Aside from people here and whoever looks at my Zenfolio site It's hard to tell. The photos I take at gallery openings are handed to QUT on disc and where they finish up after that I'm never really sure. Three did crop up in a contemporary arts magazine out of the blue which was nice ... though when I bolted down to the local newsagent to get a copy of the mag they'd never heard of it so I had to order a copy direct from the publisher! 😛

I can't be bothered with flickr ... I deleted all my images there aside from one and that was because it is linked to a sticky thread here!

 

[tbarker13]

My audiences probably include people interested in theater, performers, glamour, B&W images, etc.
Most of the exposure I get comes from Facebook, Flicker and various other photo forums.

I see several people here mentioning Flicker. Pretty much the only way to get viewed on that site is to push yourself out there. You have to join and participate in groups - especially those that require posters to look at and comment on other people's images.

I used to do more of that (it was amazing how fast you pick up views, contacts, etc.), but it grew very tiring. I'm lucky now if I even remember to post in the M-mount group.

 

[daveleo]

what a wonderful question !

what a wonderful question !

i have wondered this many times . . . why didn't i ever ask ?
it is great to see the responses and i hope many more come in.

to the question . . . i recently found my niche (sp?) in the non-professional photo world . . . i lend my pictures to local coffee houses (cafes) for a few months, and then switch them around.

there is no money involved . . i just get a kick to see my stuff hanging somewhere and they get free pictures on the walls.

the fascinating thing is which pictures people want to hang in their cafe versus which pictures you thought were your "works of art".

so, basically, aside from my home and family members and whoever visits my web page (i think someone does, anyway ? ) . . . my audience is local cafes and i love it enormously.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

A few years ago an RFF member PM'd me and asked if he could use one of my shots as a screen saver. I thought that was great! It was a test of a J-3 after shimming.

 

[andredossantos]

A couple years ago I started posting images in Flickr just to get myself organized. I had started photographing again after a couple years of a layoff and mostly I wanted
to have a place where I could make sets and organize my thoughts and give myself ideas for projects.

Anyway, I met some people who were interested in similar type of photography and we all grew pretty close. We meet up pretty regularly in person and also follow each others work on flickr.

Also, I've met some awesome local people here on RFF and we also get together to shoot and hang out.

That's about it I have no illusions that anything I do will have any wider audience than my friends. I'm probably A) not anywhere near good enough and B) not motivated enough to even try. As someone else said earlier, taking pictures is simply fun!

 

[yanidel]

I have posted a daily picture or article on my websites for the last three years. Stats show over 5000 unique visits a day though I think the real number is more around 1500. I guess my audience is therefore the world, it is always amazing to see I got a visit or email from places like Iran or Trinidad & Tobago. I hope every once in a while on of my pictures has a little impact on someone's life somewhere.