I spent a large part of today going back through my listings on Etsy and taking additional photos for the postings. This involved rearranging the living room,and taking down the existing artwork to make space for a photo area, followed by dragging out all of the works into my living room. I struggled a bit with lighting - I used a combination of natural light and an adjustable floor lamp...this is not exactly what experts suggest. One can tell when looking at the photos that they were not shot in a fancy studio, but it's what I had to work with. I did the best that I could for the day, and actually I don't think they turned out half bad. It's definitely better than just having one photo per listing.
Some artists have a photo studio to photograph their works, others just make space. Some have money to get professional photographers to photograph their pieces, while others do the best they can.
The Haves and the Have-Nots.
It would be great if we could be judged among our peers in more of an equal manner (if we have to be judged at all), but this is not the way the world works. It's easy to see on Etsy. Some artists have awesome photos of their work and these stylish banners that look so professional. They have done amazing jobs with representing themselves and they do it with such ease...or at least it seems that way.
Artist websites vary greatly, but some really are works of art in and of themselves. They can be absolutely beautiful and sophisticated. They are often easy to navigate with a simplistic style. They scream, "I am a REAL artist. I am a TRUE PROFESSIONAL." Maybe they are not so crass as the capital letters I used, but there is a powerful professionalism about them before even browsing through their work.
Equally, there are some pretty terrible ones out there too. The ones that annoy me the most are the ones that are simply CVs with a few photos jammed between the lines of information and links. They lack any charisma, despite the oversized signature at the top of the page. Judging by the CV, these artists are quite accomplished. Maybe they are too busy traveling the world from gallery to gallery in their clean white, flowing clothes to bother with the web. I also picture them drinking wine on porches looking down over an expansive landscapes of olive and cypress trees with a slight breeze. This is what my art history books have done to me.
Anyway, I am not one of them. For now, I do not own any white clothes except for a couple of blouses, and I do not stand on porches overlooking expansive landscapes. However, I do not feel sorry that I'm not one of them who can afford luxuries of a professional photographer, a studio that is only a studio, a brilliant web designer, and plane tickets to gallery shows around the world. For now, I can honestly say it's kind of fun not to be one of them. I get to try to learn all of this stuff on my own, and by trial and error. It gives me much needed time to experiment with my work. So far I believe that I have only errored, but there will be a time when I get it right. Eventually. I hope. The challenges allow us to learn. My struggles with the format of my website (yes, I'm redoing it AGAIN) will eventually make sense and it will look professional someday. Maybe not this time around, but maybe the time after that I will get it right. I am making measurable progress and that's good. I am still trying, and sometimes, even though I'm not getting it right, that says a lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment