Over the years, I have juried and curated thousands of images for competitions and exhibitions. When I am looking for the winners, I'm looking for the ones with impact. I look for answers to the following questions:
· What is the overall statement the artist is trying to make? Did it work?
· Where is the impact and what are the weaknesses?
· Are the technical issues handled well?
· If there is a grouping from the same person, how do the images relate to each other and is there a style?
Tools today are quite different from our old film days, but the questions are still the same. Because our software makes things much easier does not mean it should make the process more casual. When I am choosing an image for exhibition, or jurying the awards in a group show, I think about style, image quality, what the image is saying, and is it memorable?
I thought a lot about the answers to these and other questions as I moved through my teaching career. What elements of consideration can be applied to any type of portfolio to make it more successful? What guidelines do artists need to know. Here are some thoughts:
1. The first item is the artist’s point of view. I'm not talking about the point of view of the camera. What is it that you are saying with your image? You must be able to convey how you felt about this scene, item, or subject matter in the most comprehensive and yet concise way.
2. Continuity within a portfolio can be created by the choice of subject matter or finishing technique, as well as other elements. Try to understand what your gallery person, juror or viewer is looking for. Another word for continuity might be style.
3. Professionalism in art means that the work you show has a clear statement with attention to detail and finishing. All the materials should be museum quality.
4. Keep it simple. You need to be able to summarize the essence of your work. The shorter the better. You will want to spend some time on this and if you are showing in a gallery, you can use this summary as the basis for your artist statement or even in a press release. Bottom line, you need to be able to talk about your work. If you cannot, who can? What is it you want the viewer to understand? Be prepared to verbalize that concept.
5. I like images with a strong dominant visual element or focal point that is supported by smaller and less dominant elements within the frame.
6. Learn the Elements and Principles of Design. If you do not know what they are, I have a book waiting for you.
(https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Inspiration-Art-Principles-Photography/dp/B0CS6VT3LP/ref=sr_1_9?crid=MNT9TW2T3STG&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Nb0kgZMKqjSyW0wa-8ljdoHqehVXxioa38K9vX3zX3JK2pKElBUyAyM4GiVq0CKYHPiAPr3DtoAvHWPXiNWEZxM0S6_fDTlSD51NpxytrB3Yrs6A3J9TOxgicAJpMoUZLNWL09GqCQUDlBeeNqbiyw.dcrlEhkbBsMtCnFpHy1hI0L4KPXYefbbkD_l5enyaBg&dib_tag=se&keywords=Nancy+Ori&qid=1705182031&s=books&sprefix=nancy+ori%2Cstripbooks%2C87&sr=1-9)
7. What is your approach? My approach is the same for for all my shoots. I do research first, but certainly observation, listening, interpreting, and controlling what I can at time of capture and in post.
8. Post Processing. The digital darkroom is capable of being a visual research lab, a place for discovery, observation, interpretation, and true learning. Cleaning up and enhancing the image makes for better communication.
We live in an amazing time of technology relating to all arts. The cameras today are truly remarkable in how they do so much to help us get a great photograph. What the camera cannot do for us is interpret the full impact of our emotion at that moment as well as create something that can communicate with emotion. To do that we need to invest our time to think about what is going on in front of us and what we want to say about the situation.
The story with AI is going to bring with it a whole host of new challenges. There is now no camera, or art materials. You will need to become a wordsmith in order to create the right prompts to garner the idea that you are looking for. Through the process of creation, however, you will still want to go back to our original questions to be sure that you are creating good communication.
The story with AI is going to bring with it a whole host of new challenges. There is now no camera. You will need to become a wordsmith in order to create the right prompts to garner the image idea that you are looking for and then be able to fine tune it. Through the process of creation, however, you will still want to go back to our original questions to be sure that you are creating good communication.A direct and compelling headline
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