I have to say, as someone who was not directly involved in the whole Yan “sick of it” phenomenon (so this is Jamie now if you didn’t already guess), listening to the podcast between Todd and Yan was really interesting to me. I think the statement or idea that struck me the most was Yan’s insistence that art should speak for itself. That if it’s really art it should draw in it’s intended clientele without having to say anything about it. That true art needs no introduction or description, and if you’re doing that then you’re resorting to business tactics because your work isn’t really art.
Hmm. I’ve always been drawn to artistic and creative things and pursuits. I started life as a ballet dancer, I turned to musical theatre at a pretty young age, dabbled in art, studied modern dance in college, worked professionally in theatre, and eventually turned to photography (which had in some way been a part of my life- but was never the thing I focused on until my twenties) after injuries drove me to a corporate office job that I despised.
So, turning to photography for me was very much a choice, and a calculated one at that. I did it because it was the only way I could find for me (and Todd) to make a living doing something creative that had any sort of longevity to it. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it, I needed to be creative or I was probably going to lose my mind in the grey sea of cubicles in which I spent some of what should have been the best years of my life, but I never considered going into photography without there being money involved.
Can it still be art if money is the primary motivation, I wonder?
I guess I may have started out thinking my work was art, but I think, after seven years of running a household solely from a photography income, I’ve become too pragmatic to think of my work as art now.
I spent my early twenties as a “starving artist” making $200 a week doing 8 shows a week and practically living out of my car. I’m not really interested in going back there.
I need to make money.
I need to pay my bills.
I need to satisfy and thrill my current clients so that they will say good things about me to their friends and family and wedding coordinators so I can get hired again.
It’s much more enjoyable for me when my clients “get” it. Although I have done work with plenty of clients that don’t “get” it, too. I guess I have never felt I had the luxury to turn people away even if I thought they might be a red flag upfront. And I’ve found that first impressions can often be wrong.
But, I also whole-heartedly believe that when a client wants to book me that doesn’t “get” it, it’s entirely my fault for not being clear enough in my branding. If it happens, then it’s likely I’ve neglected the fact that I have the opportunity to clearly communicate who I am and what I do and why I do it in a way that either really turns people on or completely turns them off.
This kind of work for me is a constant work in progress. And each time something happens that is less than ideal, I force myself to analyze what went wrong, what could I have done to better set expectations, how could I have been clearer so that anyone who is considering hiring me can understand what it means to hire me right from the start? How could I help everybody who crosses my business’ path either “get” it or run away?
But I still do the work and I still pay my bills.
Because for me, taking care of my life and my family and my clients has to come before art.
Does this make my work something less noble than those of you who claim yours to be art?
I have studied lighting and composition, design and gesture, line and plane. I strive for each of my images to have a soul. But does all of that get thrown out the window when I demand to make a living from my work? Does the art become less significant if I try to help potential clients to understand it by providing meaning and context to my work?
So, I ask you who do consider yourselves to be artist-photographers, why are you doing it? Are you in it for the money? Is it less than noble to need to make a living from your work?
And, if you need to make a living from your work, why aren’t you willing to do whatever it takes to help the right people connect to your art instead of just crossing your fingers and hoping that they “get” you? What if there’s a way to help people “get” it better? Would you do it? Can you afford not to? Or are you really okay if your life and your family members’ lives suffer in order for you to do your art?
I do not have a formal art education. Yes, I have a fine arts degree, but that’s not really the same thing. But, I have gone to art museums and galleries, and have viewed (and subsequently read) the work of many artists. In museums, most works of art have a description attached to the wall next to them. Most gallery artists provide artist’s statements. Does that make the work somehow less “art” because they have given us context and a window into their motivation or inspiration to create it? Doesn’t it instead give more meaning to the work??? It does for me. I love understanding.
I would think our potential clients would love understanding our work just as much as a art gallery patron enjoys better understanding the work of the artist after reading the artist’s statement.
Or is it just that we don’t actually understand our work? Or that we’re not willing to put the effort in and to dig in and do something that is uncomfortable for us, that doesn’t come as naturally as creating an image?
Forgive my boldness, but I think it’s a cop-out to push your work out and say that if people are really right for me then they’ll get it without me having to say anything.
I think it’s because you’re afraid.
I think it’s because you’re vulnerable.
I think it’s because you yourself don’t understand why you do what you do.
I would never assert that real down and dirty business and branding work is easy, but I don’t know that it should be the dirty word that some of you who consider yourself more on the artist side of professional photography think it is.
I welcome your thoughts, comments and feedback.
-Jamie
If you “get” it, and need help figuring out how to communicate what you do and why you do it in a way that is completely client-focused, that’s what the Sexy Business Workshop is all about. Only five studios each workshop so that you come away with the answers you need. The full set of 2012 dates is now available on the Workshops page. Check it out.
(Puget Sound)
