Okay…so I said it. There is something wrong with academic institutions and what they are trying to teach. And I will say one more thing…before I get into things. Gallery Exhibitions are fun. I love them…but they are not everything. Not even close, especially in the world of photography.
So, let's talk about an exhibition. Yes, you have to apply and get accepted to a gallery…were you are able to show around 30 of your works and have some food and wine and be able to rub shoulders with the community that comes in to view your work. However, most of those people are going to be your friends (and if they are like mine…they will be more interested in the free wine because they have seen your work way too much). There might be a few people off the street that wonder in…but for the most part, you will know know the vast majority of people who will be at your exhibition and chances are…you will not sale any work…at least not for a long time. Even with a degree or advanced degree.
So what then? What does academic institutions have wrong? For photography? Commercial use…or rather how actually make a profit from your work.
Now before I go further, I will say that I LOVE Exhibitions. I really do. There is something magical about them. And they are very good to have your work looked at by people…regardless of how many people are at the opening. However, in my experience, many more people have become familiar with my work through being published. I have sold more images through my published work. I have had more opportunities through my published work; and throughout my time in college (from undergraduate to graduate school and eventually teaching at the college level) no one tell the students that this avenue is even an option. Programs in college stress so hard the gallery experience…even in the field of photography, when this field has many different avenues.
I have had my fair shares of Exhibitions, from local ones in the Kansas City Metro Area to Time Square, to over in Europe. And that is just fine. I loved opening day, seeing everyone, drinking a little while and talking about my work. But once those opening receptions are done, then what? The work sits there for a month or so until your exhibition closes and on to the next artist.
However, hooking up with a local publication, in my case The Pitch out of Kansas City, has seemed to give me MUCH more opportunities than what the galleries do. I get paid a small amount for my work (something EVERY artists dreams of, getting paid for their work) and I get a ton more eyes on my photos than what I would at a gallery. Each time I shoot for the publication, it is a new experience…a new band that I have not worked with before, and I get the chance to continue to work on a collection that is on going in the field of documentary photography. Yes, it is photographing bands which some local art magazines consider it too “pop culture”… even after featuring me as an up and coming, noteworthy artist to look out for, but so what?
I asked another photographer, who happens to also do concert photography and is a good friend of mine, which would he choose, an exhibition of his work OR the publication of his work in a magazine. He stated the following:
“I would say the publication. A gallery is ephemeral. The publication gives me immortality.”
And this statement I agree with. I have even curated an exhibition of printmaking work from the Renaissance in famous books (like the Nuremberg Chronicles as a prime example) and as we come up on the 10th year anniversary of that exhibition, no one really remembers it, let alone cares about it. There are only a few records of that exhibition that are tucked away at the institute that I curated the exhibition for, and that is about it. Even Google searches are hard to find about this exhibition, which a lot of local news outlets covered it! So there was a lot of press about it during the time…press even reached out across the state to St. Louis and up into Nebraska…so other states picked it up, but then years on…it is only a faint memory.
So what should the goal be for photography in academia? Simple. To create. Don't have specific motives in mind. Someone might want to have an exhibition of their work…and that is fine. Guide them towards that. But the gallery is NOT the only option that we photographers have out there. We are a diverse group of people that can really go forward and be happy just creating. If we publish our work in a book and never have Exhibitions…then so what? Why not have a student who is enrolled in a photography program at a school not want to go and try to work for National Geographic or Reuters? If that is what they want to do, it earns then a decent pay check, and they are happy…then let them do it. Don't discourage them and say they should be in the journalism department or something like that. Take them under your belt and show them how to improve their work so when they are done with the program, they are creating as gorgeous images as the next student…but yes…encourage them to also take a few journalism classes so they can see what they will be doing and to get experience under their belt in that field.
Even as I write this, I received a rejection letter for an adjunct position at a local community college in Overland Park, KS (for an unknown reason) and notice that my photographs, that I shot for a new advertising campaign Capelli Sportswear, went live earlier this week. My only speculation is that I only had two Exhibitions of my work in 2022, while I focused more on publication and in total had over 100 of my photoshoots published in the same year. We, as photographers, are in a very special area of the fine arts world where we don't need to rely strictly on galleries to show and promote our work. Why not exploit that to the best of our abilities?
So all in all, let the students experiment and create, see what is best for them. Gallery Exhibitions are fine and all, but should not be the final determination of a photographers worth. There is much more that can be assessed than how many gallery showings one can do in a certain time period. Personally, I could go back to having six or more Exhibitions per year. But really? Let me hear from a photo editor that the image I took was amazing, have a check wrote to me, and let thousands of people all over the world see it.