Jörg's site is always the second stop for me after I check what you have to say! And as usual when I hit Conscientious, he'll have some article that says what I've been thinking about in my head. And in regards to the photobook discussion, us out here self-publishing are deep in this problem. I think of all the little books and zines that I've bought from other photographers, or the books that I make, and I wonder what's the answer? When you tell someone that you're a photographer and one of the first things they might ask you is if you shoot weddings or kids (no disrespect to photographers who shoot weddings and kids), but that's how most of society thinks of photographers and photography, it's for recording life events, and any photography that doesn't fit into that, they look at it and think "what's the point?", how do you get those people to buy photobooks?
Glad to see that you're keeping the blog going on!
"...how do you get those people to buy photobooks?"
Heh, heh- it ain't gonna happen. I don't watch football, "they" look upon photography exactly as you mentioned. That's the least worry in my life. We need more education in the arts, period- and that ain't gonna happen either, when we can't even fund or teach math and language arts properly (ie- in the USA).
Not that I ain't for trying, and there are some valiant (if alarmingly few) attempts out there. The art/photography scene is way too enmeshed in making money. It takes exceptional artists ie- those capable of not only creating exceptional art, but also engaging the public in novel, creative ways (ie- Zoe Strauss) to create exceptions to the rule of how things are done. And as long as art remains a capitalist commodity, alternatives on how to get a "return" remain few and far between. Had I the "gift" of such original entrepreneurship, I would have tried myself sometime ago. As it is, I write a blog (which I no longer even promote in any real manner) for myself, and a Donald Trump sized handful of readers...
I love Zoe, ever since I saw her do her I-95 project, I've been wanting to try something like that in Dallas. Sadly, I don't think that we'll ever get the proper amount of education in the arts, at most we might get to the point where arts programs aren't automatically the first in line to get cut due to budget constraints.
Jörg's site is always the second stop for me after I check what you have to say! And as usual when I hit Conscientious, he'll have some article that says what I've been thinking about in my head. And in regards to the photobook discussion, us out here self-publishing are deep in this problem. I think of all the little books and zines that I've bought from other photographers, or the books that I make, and I wonder what's the answer? When you tell someone that you're a photographer and one of the first things they might ask you is if you shoot weddings or kids (no disrespect to photographers who shoot weddings and kids), but that's how most of society thinks of photographers and photography, it's for recording life events, and any photography that doesn't fit into that, they look at it and think "what's the point?", how do you get those people to buy photobooks?
ReplyDeleteGlad to see that you're keeping the blog going on!
"...how do you get those people to buy photobooks?"
ReplyDeleteHeh, heh- it ain't gonna happen. I don't watch football, "they" look upon photography exactly as you mentioned. That's the least worry in my life. We need more education in the arts, period- and that ain't gonna happen either, when we can't even fund or teach math and language arts properly (ie- in the USA).
Not that I ain't for trying, and there are some valiant (if alarmingly few) attempts out there. The art/photography scene is way too enmeshed in making money. It takes exceptional artists ie- those capable of not only creating exceptional art, but also engaging the public in novel, creative ways (ie- Zoe Strauss) to create exceptions to the rule of how things are done. And as long as art remains a capitalist commodity, alternatives on how to get a "return" remain few and far between. Had I the "gift" of such original entrepreneurship, I would have tried myself sometime ago. As it is, I write a blog (which I no longer even promote in any real manner) for myself, and a Donald Trump sized handful of readers...
I love Zoe, ever since I saw her do her I-95 project, I've been wanting to try something like that in Dallas. Sadly, I don't think that we'll ever get the proper amount of education in the arts, at most we might get to the point where arts programs aren't automatically the first in line to get cut due to budget constraints.
ReplyDelete