Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2771587

Sure, I have possibly said too much about the exhibit I had recently. Today the photos came off the walls and I am a wiser man, wiser artist for it.    I went into doing the exhibit with no experience and asked advice from folks here.  That was certainly helpful and appreciated.

I did learn from having done the exhibit.    Sure, different venue means different requirements, etc.   Yet., sharing what may be learned from this sort of exposure may help someone else here who is considerng an exhibit.  I encourage folks to try...

You are not going to break even on a first show.   I went in without the goal of sales because it was  essentially a gut check for me...and a exposure of me (basically shy) through my work.  That part was difficult.  I left with a smile and did manage a few sales and more positive comments and viewing than previous exhibits (all sorts of art) at the same location.    You certainly cannot second guess your audience unless you preview and handpick that bunch!  Surprises are guaranteed in response to images.

The biggest surprise:  Many folks commented on the black/white images. These were very positive comments.   Perhaps the regular person(who can define that? !) has seen so much color which is the norm for digital photo takers from cell phones to digital cams at the family events...black and white is appreciated.

Fancy printing....folks looked and liked.  I believe all would have done just as well with fine quality chemically processed photos as with the more costly and more delicate giclee prints I used for aboiut 3/4 of the display.  Upfront costs are much lower for photos chemically developed.

One person liked both the giclee and photo developed prints and said, "I am glad you did not fall for the fad of super detail and over pushed skies and colors, whatever you call it. That to me is 'posters' , not a regular but well done photo like I would be attracted to."    Well, I might have fallen for that "fad", a little, if I knew more about tone mapping, etc.    Whew, on that one.  I pass this on for what one comment is worth.

Look over every single detail of each image before you have the print made. Let it rest and maybe have someone else take a look.  Then, save the final file and print!  I had one image I redid twice in print and should have not done that.  It was a mental connection of what what was there, what I wanted in the look and what a print would look like compared to a computer monitor. Honestly, I pushed too hard to get it done and needed to relax and take more time, had that been a real option.

So, there you go.   Nothing was framed since that is so very costly and I am not rich by any means.(My riches are in people and such, not material things.).  All was mounted on acid free foam core board and matted.  This makes a nice presentation.  With giclee there is the chance of damage from water(slight but real as with other ink based printing).   Photo chemical development is a more traditional look but is safer when  not under glass...

To Any Who Have Exhibited Their Work:  Please add any comments or suggestions you might have which will be useful to others. There are cetainly photographers here who may have opportunity to exhibit their work and may beneifit from what is said here.

Tom

The link is to the original thread when it all started..

Tom
Thank you for sharing your exhibit experience.
I am glad that your exhibit was so successfull.
Regards
Christo

Wonderful, Tom! I'm hoping to be able to exhibit someday too, so I welcome the advice. The comment on the B&W is very interesting, I seem to be drawn to other photographer's B&W photos too, so it makes me think twice about holding back on those. What would you say is a good percentage of B&W to show along with color photos? Also.... did you show any "manipulated" work and what kind of comments did you get?

I think I would have to agree with you when it comes to "not expecting'" much in the way of sales the first time out. Just having my work in some place where people could see it and comment on it would be payment enough for a first time. The money will come eventually, especially once word of mouth gets out. I actually sold some of my "manipulated" prints at our local county arts gallery one year, but that's because I had them priced so low (compared to the other artist showing there). So I really didn't "make" any money, but that was just a foot in the door kind of experience.

Anyway, congrats on a successful first exhibit, Tom and thanks for the tips!
Kim

I will have perhaps 20 photos on display in a larger local library during December. They get pretty good traffic and different traffic than the previous exhibit to some extent.  Now that I have some stuff already to go, I can add new images easily and tailor the exhibit as I like.

I suppose in my exhibit about 1/3 were bw, mixed and displayed among the color prints.  Mixing seemed to emphasize  the bw photos better.

There were not any with enough manipulation to call it that...sure, background cleanup improvements, etc., but no drastic changes from the original shots.

I will likely go with about 1/2 bw in the next exhibit.     This is a simple start but is a start and that is huge to me.  I may also have a few with more deliberate manipulation to make a point of view.        Tom.

Well I hope you will be able to post a few pictures of that exhibit also. It will be great to see the difference between the two.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1465485&member

At a recent small exhibition I used the image above on the invitations and posters which ensured a good turn out ! If you look at the stats for this posting you will see it was viewed many more times than any of my other postings ;-) not sure why ! The image was displayed alongside the image below, again one of my most viewed images ! [ www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php](http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1874229&member)

Yes, I can see why it worked...good idea.