The Sunday evening “portfolio walk,” an open-to-the-public event where the photographers have table space to show their work for two hours.
I recently returned from the FotoFest International Meeting Place Portfolio Review for Artists during the FotoFest event in Houston, Texas. The entire event lasts two weeks, bringing together 450 artists from over 30 countries, to meet one-on-one with nearly 200 national and international curators, publishers, gallerists, and photography industry leaders. It’s the most international and largest portfolio review program of its kind in the world.
I was there for five days, attending the first review session, and here are my initial thoughts.
The Reviews
All in all, was a great experience. It was just what I needed at the right time. I did about 17 reviews over four days, including Paula Tognarelli (Griffin Museum of Photography, Mary Virginia Swanson (consultant), Aline Smithson (Lenscratch), Christopher Rauschenberg (Blue Sky) and Anne Farrar (National Geographic Travel). The gist of the reviews was that my individual shots are mostly spot-on, and I’m just “one step away.” That step involves gaining skill at discerning which images work together to make a strong, purposeful and coherent statement. Of course, that also includes shooting with that in mind.
A few months ago, I Googled “discernment” to see what I could find on the topic, and all I found involved Christians discerning what they should do or not do. Nothing about discernment in making art, but it seems that’s a huge part of it.
The Photographers
At Fotofest there was a lot of time between the scheduled reviews to gather with other photographers (around 100 at the event) in the well-lit hallways, sharing portfolios and talking about the work. So, I learned a lot from the other artists, in addition to the reviewers, and made a few new friends with whom I’ll stay in touch. A few looked like they were still working on the basics, and some were further along than I am, using the reviews to make contacts in the museum, publishing and gallery world, rather than to get input on their projects.
It was perfect for me. Not too hot, not too cold. Just right.
Next Steps
My review with Gregory Harris, High Museum of Art, Atlanta.
Now I’m busy gleaning all the input (what I heard and what I saw) to guide my path forward. I’m listening to my recordings of each review, enhancing my notes, and putting actions in my task list. Mary Virginia Swanson gave solid advice on my web site, and I’ve already made some changes, with more to come soon. She also stressed Instagram, so here I am now, probably dropping my old blog and moving to series of Instagram posts instead.
I’ve built a Lightroom print template for the thank-you cards I’ll send the reviewers and some of the Fotofest staff, who did a fantastic job rescheduling when the pandemic prevented a few overseas reviewers from getting to Houston. And soon, I’ll start the tough work of analyzing the progress and future direction my “Floating World” project in light of the experience.
I think in the past I’ve been shooting whatever interesting images occurred to me, then reverse engineering to assemble some kind of statement. You can get a ways with that, but not the last mile.
Take-Aways
When I told someone last fall that I’d signed up for Fotofest, they observed it was a lot to bite off for my first review event. It can be harsh and discouraging. But at this point in my life, I can’t afford to wait two more years before getting the kind of input I could get at one of the biggest review events in the world. If I’m way off-track as an artist, I need to know NOW. And I didn’t hear anything like that. In fact, I seem to be just one step away from putting it all together. My individual images pass muster—I just need to get better at shooting and assembling to make a solid, consistent statement. It’s that “discernment” thing.
Pandemic
It was very, very lucky that last October I chose to attend the first of the three four-day sessions, because the second and third were “postponed” due to the pandemic. Sometimes the tiniest decisions can have a huge impact. But as Woody Allen said, “Half of life is just showing up.” And if you keep doing that, some good things are going to happen. So post-Fotofest, I feel good about being accepted in the community of those doing solid work, and getting credible, actionable advice on where I need to go next.