I have redone my jury photos and would love some imput on which ones are best. Since most shows only have 4 + booth shot I am trying to narrow them down before I apply. The shows I am applying for are in the greater St. Louis area. My medium is jewelry. Plese be frank & honest as that will help me the most. The booth shot I'm pretty much stuck with since it's snowy, icy, & grimy with salt outside right now, & my garage isn't tall enough to put up my canopy. I don't foresee the weather changing much before I need to get the applications in.
Thanks,
Tina
*I might have to make multiple posts to get all the pictures up.
Replies
Thanks so much for all the advice and honesty, and thank you to Larry for the phone call. Sorry it took me a few days to respond - my weekend got crazy with all the non-artist aspects of my life. I am trying to implement a lot of everyone's advice. Larry: I was able to completely erase my sign & I used black bars to reduce the white canopy top & grass at the bottom. Better than it was, but I will still look for a weather opportunity to set up outside. I find the booth shot to be a curious creature - it seems that a somewhat unrealistic booth is what is wanted (i.e. no weights, signage, etc). I understand blurring out the identifiying sign info, but if I were a show director I would want to see a realistic booth (i.e. do they have appropriate weights, canopy, is their display appealing, are their signs professional sized and logically placed, is it appropriate for outdoor weather conditions, etc). I think that would give more information on how professional the artist would be at the show than a very staged booth shot, but I will play the game. Unfortuneately at the moment I don't have enough funds for professional photos, so I will have to try to make mine the best that I can. Heidi: I hope to see you at some of the St. Louis shows! If you ever get over to downtown Belleville, I'm in the Galleries at Sole Survivor.
Tina
Regarding your booth shot--maybe you can ask around to see if someone you know has a big garage or living room or maybe you could set up at a community center or VFW to get a new boothshot???? I don't know if those are feasible options--but the snow outside is a kind of a problem! It would be nice to get a new boothshot without the tent weights or signage in the picture. And get some of your jewelry pics blown up at Kinko's to hang in your booth.
Heidi
Hi Tina,
I too am a jeweler in St. Louis. Larry and Patricia have excellent suggestions that I would follow. Mail your pieces (if you haven't sold them already) to Larry or contact Don Casper (http://www.casperphotoworks.com/), a St. Louis photographer, to photograph your pieces. Or commission Larry to improve your existing images. Unfortunately, if the photography isn't perfect, the jury won't even see your jewelry. Your pieces definitely need to fill more of the space like Larry showed you. Otherwise, it doesn't matter how good your work is, it will seem less in comparison to other applicants.
This may not be what you want to hear, but instead of narrowing down from the photos you presented, I would build a series of 4 jury images by creating an additional two la lune pieces to go with your la lune earrings and necklace. Or I would create a series of 4 jury images by creating an additional two ocean themed focal necklaces to accompany your jellyfish and octopus necklaces. I think this would serve you better than picking 4 pictures from the ones you presented.
I'll see you around the St. Louis fairs next year!
Heidi
www.heidisever.com
replaced pics with smaller file size
Aqua ring.jpg
Flower earrings.jpg
Octopus necklace.jpg
Just glanced at your other images and some have the same piece of lint in the center near the top.
I'm not picking on you but everything I'm talking about is an issue that will keep you from getting into shows that get hundreds of jewelry applications.
Larry Berman
Digital Jury Services
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
Do you realize you're posting images that are approximately four times the size of everyone's monitor?
I took the first three and created a comparison. You can see the camera is set incorrectly and the images are not filling the space properly. Your camera (Sony DSC P200) has a macro setting of 2.4 inches so theoretically you should be able to get closer. If you're not using a tripod, use one so you can shoot at the base ISO your camera is capable of, which is 100.
Your booth needs a lot of work. Absolutely no identification. Take down your booth sign. Take off those semi circular shelves on the sides because they only contain your identification. crop the top of your canopy down and crop up to the carpet to get rid of the sun streak across the grass. Crop off the white weights, especially the one on the left that's sitting in the sun. If you want to keep the earring thingy on the left wall, move it back so it doesn't get cropped if you crop off the shelf instead of removing it. I can't tell if your canopy walls are down but they should be behind your curtains to cut down on the distracting back lighting hitting the walls.
Larry Berman
Digital Jury Services
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100
last but not least the booth shot....
re-uploaded picture
CHD Booth.jpg
still more pics...
reuploaded smaller pics
La Lune earrings.jpg
La Lune necklace.jpg
Swirled Arc earrings.jpg
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next