From Photographer to Gallery Artist: The Complete Guide to Finding Gallery Representation for Your Fine Art Photography
by: Kara Lane (0)
"Anyone can become a fine art photographer, but not everyone can become a gallery-represented artist.”
Talent alone will not bring you recognition as a fine art photographer. For that, you need exposure to collectors and museums. Galleries can give you that exposure, but first you need an effective marketing plan to reach the galleries. You will find that plan in From Photographer to Gallery Artist.
Author Kara Lane conducted hundreds of hours of research, and contacted over sixty galleries, to find the best strategies for getting your fine art photography into galleries. Now she is sharing the secrets she discovered with you.
In this complete guide to finding gallery representation, you will learn:
- The criteria galleries use to evaluate fine art photography
- Three primary resources for identifying the best galleries for you
- The tools you need to showcase your images and experience
- Six major marketing strategies for attracting gallery representation
- Key issues to discuss with galleries before agreeing to representation
- How eight famous fine art photographers achieved their success
- Self-assessment questions to help clarify what you want from your life and art
- Lists of recommended portfolio review events, art fairs, juried shows and competitions, art magazines and blogs, artist websites, and other resources to help you become a gallery-represented fine art photographer
With your talent, effort, and persistence…and the research and marketing strategies in From Photographer to Gallery Artist…you can achieve gallery representation!
The Reviews
Fine Art Photography GuideThis book will give you the facts on how to earn art gallery representation. The author has interviewed numerous high level galleries. She presents the most common roads to success such as portfolio reviews. She also profiles several currently famous and gallery represented photographers and explains how they reached stardom.I learned so much by reading this book. For instance, one of the galleries said that some photographers are overdramatic when they show up with white gloves for their artwork. Fine art galleries know how to handle artwork, and don’t need to be handed white gloves. I found that funny because I saw a famous fine art photographer do a presentation at Imaging USA, and he specifically recommended taking two sets of white gloves, one for the photographer and one for the curator. Myth officially debunked.I bought both the paperback and the Kindle version so I could easily reference it when traveling, but I also wanted a hard copy I could highlight and dog-ear. This is my new favorite reference book.It is also a great inspiration to get out of my comfort zone, try some of these approaches, build several bodies of work, and hopefully hang on the walls of the most beloved galleries.I will recommend it to all my photography guild friends.
I'm not a photographer, but my brother-in-law has a fine art photography business, and I thought this would be an interesting read. The level of research done by the author is very thorough! The information is well laid out and easy to follow. I feel a lot of the advice in this book could be used for other types of artistry as well, including my jewelry design business. I think any artist is keen on getting their work seen by as many people as possible, and may contact every potential outlet without getting the result they want. Kara's point about researching what type of work each gallery represents, and aligning yourself with those that best fit with your aesthetic to be very valuable. In addition to creating the work, there's only so much time we can spend on marketing ourselves. I found her advice about researching galleries first and targeting the best potential match to be a great way to go about it. It's all about targeted marketing.
I have often been told I should be a professional photographer. I have listened halfheartedly to that compliment and smiled accordingly. However, after reading Kara Lane's book not once but twice, I may have renewed interest in making my photography more than an avocation and giving it a try.Kara's book provided a step-by-step, comprehensive overview of how to obtain gallery representation. Not only does it provide an overview, it is filled with specific references and recommendation. Too often, "anyone can do this" and "how to" books are filled with generalities and encouragement...lacking true substance. Kara Lane has given real references and insights from professionals.Read it and learn!!!
You'd be hard pressed to ferret out this information on your own. Save yourself a few years and accelerate your career NOW...! Concise and presented in clear language, this is accessible to everyone. Essential guide for anyone looking to get their work in front of a larger audience.
It was disappointing. The book is 96 pages, all text. So it's short. That could have been a good thing had it not been both pedantic and wooden. She makes clear that she wrote this from research. However, it's lifeless. The examples are all at arm's length, and not at all engaging. She does provide a mechanical description of processes and relationships. Had any of them been engaging or compelling, the book would have a life it lacks. Therefore, it's rather overpriced.In addition, the softcover appears to be an inexpensive on-demand production. Within 24 hours the cover curled badly. So it won't be finding a place on my shelf because it can't.
The author is very helpful. I am in the process of following this path.
Amazing book.
Nicely done, with some good points to follow.
