As the owner of one of Australia’s largest on-line photo galleries and communities at www.photoartgallery.com I am most frequently asked by our members and others of the best ways for emerging enthusiast photographers to get recognised for their work in these days of such prolific imagery.
In the knowledge that you are reading this as a Photo Art Gallery Member, you have already taken one very positive step forward by joining and participating in a community that aims to encourage and stimulate your photography in ways you may not have come to know on your own, and to that end you must do more of the same if you wish to improve your skills, get recognition for your work, and ultimately have any chance of being “found” by collectors or others in the hectic world of digital imagery.
So here are my Top 10 MUST DO’s for 2010 if you want to continue to move up the ladder and hopefully create both personal satisfaction, recognition from your peers and the potential for income from your hobby.
1. Participate in Competitions and events that keep challenging you and test your skills and knowledge
2. Consider formal education in the area of Photography via an APS or other recognized course or educational exploit – there are some great courses available
3. Join a local Camera Club so you can share your passion and learn from others in your area. This way you stop annoying your immediate spouse who are over your passion for pixels already!
4. Get involved in a few (two or three) key website communities or locations that help you get feedback and display your work ( we recommend APS and www.photoartgallery.com of course!)
5. Always keep your displayed work fresh and changing so that your fans, buyers and others can continue to see new content from you – don’t set and forget!
6. Promote your Profiles, Galleries and Exhibitions to your network and ask your fans to help you to spread the word (Most Photogs forget to self promote and market themselves)
7. Think about new ways you can promote your work via Photobooks, Cards, Calendars and other gifts, you can create and sell via affordable gifts that use your imagery
8. Link your Profile, Website, Blog, Memberships, Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites together as it helps you get found on the web and creates a daily update for your followers
9. Photograph what you are genuinely interested in. There is no point in shooting trees if you can’t stand the outdoor’s and finding your niche will allow you to best hone your skills
10. Be realistic about pricing of your work as its better to get a start by getting your work on someone’s wall than being too precious about it
There are plenty of awesome photographers out there who do not know how to successfully market their work – as sure as there are some who sell more inferior imagery as they are better at sales and marketing. Given time seems to be one of our greatest enemies we have found that most Photogs prefer to use an intermediary site to help them promote and display their work as it ultimately gives them more exposure and more time to shoot. If you can do that with some vigour and follow these 10 points I would be very confident that your passion will be well rewarded throughout 2010 and beyond and only time will tell if you are the next Max Dupain or Annie Leibowitz. Good luck!!
