Monday
Dec082008
"shoulda-woulda-coulda"
Monday, December 8, 2008 at 09:41PM 
This came in the mail today, an invitation to participate in the portfolio review/project review/single image competition in Santa Fe at what used to be called the Santa Fe Center for Photography. Is this yet another means to separate photographers from their money - as if the entire digital "revolution" wasn't effective enough? If I decide to participate, am I going to be sharing space with the likes of "Erin?"
Anyone out there got some experience with portfolio reviews that they care to share? I'd really like to have my cynicism about these things destroyed...
in workshop
workshop
Reader Comments (6)
Reviews are really the next plateau for me. I've got a few friends that have been on a sort of circuit with review events for a few years, both as participants and reviewers. Alec Soth was discovered at Review Santa Fe. Amy Stein won Photo Lucida in 2006. I dropped by review Santa Fe in 2004 when I was in town for a workshop, and met up with a reviewer I know and got to chat with Sam Abell briefly, and said to myself, when I have a body of work that's ready, I'm going to do this. 4 years later and I'm almost ready.
Yeah, it's not a small amount of money. And those in the know tell me it make take a few rounds of doing reviews before you figure out who you want to look at your work, and how to get the feedback you need. Opening yourself up to the risk of having your work torn to shreds by important people takes a lot of courage. Participants either seem to come home in tears, or elated from these events.
I'm not sure if 2009 will be the year I dive in, or if I need to wait until 2010. I'm not in a hurry. Really, though, what other idea do you have that's going to completely push you to pick your best work, print it, totally nail your explanation of why you photograph what you do and what it means, and get feedback from gallery owners, curators, and publishers?
I have lots of dear friends in the same boat as me -- a history of local shows starting with cafés and moving onward to small-medium local galleries. For many of us, that may be as far as we go. If you want to go further, getting in the same room as someone who can help you make that happen seems like a brilliant idea. If anyone has a better idea of how to make that happen than in-person review events, I'd love to hear about it!
Cheers,
Joe
Thanks Joe, this is encouraging. I suppose there are no guarantees in life, so it's difficult to say even generally what people manage to do after attending these events. But I would still love to hear some reassurance that attendees actually make some progress after these events, other than pats on the back, or devastating comments that drive them out of the field entirely.
I wish you well, Joe. What's your likely subject matter for review? The night photography or the toy camera work?
Sometimes in life you have to go head on and jump in because if you don't you will still be questioning yourself, "shoulda-woulda-coulda".
Yes Don, the key to life is action. I've learned that from going on stage. But as one who is primarily a DIYer and not very good at networking, it annoys me that many of my options in life are determined by others over whom I have no control. Nor do I believe that all experiences in life are necessarily positive or even necessary. How to pick and choose amongst the many? This is why I ask for the opinions of others. Thanks for yours, Don.
K, you asked me for my take on this stuff... I know not about portfolio reviews except as/from a prospective employer or gallery owner. In both these categories there is a specific aim and audience and so the assessment has a specific purpose. When it comes to a general review by an "expert," I am at a loss, perhaps because I think being recognized as an expert at something is often pretty random. Being in the right place, knowing the right person at the right time. So if this is what paying for a review is all about, it sounds kinda weird to me. Now even the occurrence of crossing paths with the "right person" is up for sale? Or to be more accurate, a person who has already been vetted by the "right person." How often does this contact translate into something profitable for the reviewee? And is that profit about fame, pocket change, making a living, art, craft or self-esteem? I think people become known more universally because they say something unique and have the courage of their own vision. Or tap into an undefinable human aesthetic need. Once you graduate beyond the naive basics, the most important thing is confidence in your own explorations and point of view. That confidence is to me best achieved by internal motivation rather than external. Other people's opinions can serve to boost that confidence and give you thought-provoking feedback, and once in a blue moon lead to something "big," but the bottom line is, only you know what you are trying to accomplish and whether you have succeeded.
Look at Eggleston. He was not recognized at large for his work even after the 1976 MoMA show, because even then people didn't get it. (I know it took me years and historical perspective to...) Yes, he was recognized by someone with influence that got him that show. But it was recognition, not critique with redirection (I assume) that John Szarkowski provided. The real expert is the artist who sticks to their own story. Despite lack of recognition.
Jan, thanks for your considered comments.
"How often does this contact translate into something profitable for the reviewee?"
This is my basic question about the entire affair. On the surface, it seems to be another forum for people higher up the ladder to make a few additional bucks advising those below them how to present themselves to people who are even higher up the ladder than the reviewers.
But as Joe has pointed out to me, what other ways are there to show one's work to a roomful of people with a modicum of expertise and influence? What becomes of the connections for the majority of attendees is anybody's guess. But I suppose I'm not particularly interested in what happens to most people, only what could happen for me.