multiple exposure photography and how to improve your commercial representation as an artist

red hut, rye harbour, green sky © Caroline Fraser 2013

I went to a seminar last week about how to improve my commercial profile. It was enlightening and useful.................. but.............

ever since I have been feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO

SO MUCH TO DO THAT I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START

Should I visit galleries and talk nicely to gallery owners?

Galleries apparently look for 

● solo exhibitions

● publications ( including brochures, art books)

● critical writing e.g. reviews in magazine, newspapers. 

● biennials and festivals; consider satellites eg Edinburgh Art festival, Whitstable

biennial

● awards

● being in significant collections.

Well that's me out then.

My only claim to fame is having one of my images in the bedroom of the US ambassador's residence in Tokyo.

And the other day one of my images made it onto Canadian TV ( but they forgot to mention my name)

So I have to work hard at getting accepted in biennials..........expensive and likely to lead to a sense of failure if you don't remember that acceptance is for the chosen and fairly random few. You need a tough skin and healthy bank account to cope with regular rejections.

I should visit art fairs and find out which galleries I need to visit.

I shouldn't visit art fairs and talk to gallery owners there............. on pain of death should that be a strategy............

Read  what not to do at an art fair   for a serious and amusing guide to what NOT to do..........at art fairs.

I should join various websites such as Axis and re-title to raise my profile. Now both of these are by application, and for Axis I probably need to do an MSc before I will be accepted.............. so that's at least another £10,000 and 2 years of hard labour...............

So I have done nothing.

And concentrated on making sure I earn some money doing my day job after I have retired from my current day job. By applying for work in New Zealand and the Hebrides, which seem so much more appealing than suburban south east London.

Meanwhile I have continued to work on my current passion for multiple exposure photography in the hope that I will create something different and fun.


All of the images below were taken at Camber Sands and Rye harbour (after George Clooney had gone back home)

multiple exposure using camera rotation for a totally wacky effect

multiple exposure using horizontal movement for repetition

triple exposure of a girl in the dunes

5 in camera exposures of Dungeness from Camber Sands

What I enjoy about this one is the bird flying across the picture.

red hut, rye harbour, pink sunset

For this one, which is one of my favourites, I have superimposed the red hut at Rye harbour onto the sunset over the nature reserve at Rye harbour, turning it pink.


All of these images are experimental, and are fun to make.

Which is what keeps me sane when faced with the fact that increasing my commercial representation is unlikely to come to fruition in the immediate future!