I posted these two stories as part of a thread that Geoff Coe started about the dismal show he had in Jacksonville last weekend. Geoff asked me to start a new blog to share the "inspiring" stories so more people might have an opportunity to read them. These are copied from the original blog:
1. "I did this show last year and it was exactly the same as Geoff described: Rain on Saturday, beautiful Sunday and nobody came out. I may have done $100 for the weekend. But on my way back to Atlanta I stopped to photograph the Okefanokee Swamp and I made an image that has been by far my best seller. It was even purchased for the permanent collection at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia. If I hadn't done the show I would have missed out on thousands of $ of sales of this one photograph.
So you never know."
2. "Geoff, Here's another example of "you never know" that happened just today. Last spring I met a woman at a show who was looking for photographs to decorate her husband's new office that was still being built. She wouldn't commit to anything until the office was finished and she could see the photographs in the office to make sure they worked. Delay after delay stretched out to almost a year but I stayed in touch with her with an occasional email. Finally she called me the other day to schedule a "viewing" at the office some images she had selected from my website to consider. I walked out this afternoon with an order for 11 large framed images for over $4K. My largest one-time sale ever.
So a below average show at the time was actually one of my best. Actual sales at a show is not always an accurate indicator of the success of the show."
The point of these stories is that a bad show is not always what it seems at the time. Anybody else have similar experiences to share?
Comments
Good question, and one that's been asked for a long time. Don't expect an answer to that one from me. I wasn't expecting an artist statement to sell. Whatever happened, it must have been a product of the times and the alignment of the moon and planets, as it stopped selling after a while. I still post it in the booth, now set in a nice font and framed. Maybe the rawness of the handwriting lent it more "art cred". I was pleased that it resonated with some folks. As an aside I have experimented with taking some of my work and including aphorisms and verse to go along with them, and that has sold surprisingly well at times. Maybe you can say art is whatever moves someone.
Robert, So the question is: WHAT IS ART?
I was at Uptown over 20 years ago. I kept hearing the same crap from the crowd over and over, "Hell, Bubba, you got yersef a 35 milly-meter cam'ra. Yew could do stuff like that." Finally the frustration got to me, and I wrote an artist statement out by hand using a felt tip calligraphy pen and a piece of parchment paper stock I had in one of my tubs. The gist of it was that you weren't buying something as much from a camera, but more of something that came from the heart and mind of an artist with a vision. It was fancier than that, but you get the drift. So I slap it in a cheap frame and hang it in a prominent place in the booth. Next thing I know someone wants to buy it! I pull a price out of my rear end, it sounds good, and the piece has a new home. WTH? So I sit back down, re-do it, walk down to a Kinko's about 50 feet away, and have 10 copies made. I wind up selling 8 of those that weekend, and probably another 60 or so over the next few years. What was intriguing was that it wasn't even formal calligraphy, just my block lettering with a little flourish, and it certainly wasn't what I juried in with. So had I not gotten pissed off at a show and failed to do something about it, I would have lost out on over a couple of thousand bucks that had the highest profit margin I've ever had.
Congrats Barry on that fantastic sale. How wonderful for you. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Life is one long series of accidents and coincidences.
What makes one successful or not is adaptability. Recognize the opportunities when they show up and take advantage of them. If I am obsessed and blinded by the setbacks and failures, I will miss opportunity when she shows her pretty little head. She is fickle and will only move on to someone else, with no one but myself to blame.
Bad shows are bad shows. But if you gained anything from them, like knowing you will never go back, or a desire for a change in your work, or even learning how to handle a moron running into your tent with his trailer while keeping a level head, then you win.
Absolutely!
There are no accidents in life.
Not true Nels. If I hadn't been at the show last spring I would not have met the woman who bought 11 photographs from me today. That's not "happenstance"; its a direct result of being at the show and you have to give the show credit for that big sale even a year later. I'll take a zero at a show if I meet someone who buys $4K a year later. Wouldn't you?
I agree that getting the Okefanokee Swamp photo is less a direct result of being at the Jacksonville show than was the sale today resulting from last spring's show, but the fact remains I would not taken that photograph if I hadn't been on my way home from the show. It was not a location I had in mind to ever visit and photograph.
So what about non-photographers? How about a pen/ink artist or painter who come across the same scene that I did who draw/paint a scene they would never otherwise have seen?
The point is that life exists in context - shows don't exist alone in space - and a seemingly poor show at the time may lead to a big sale or to something you otherwise would not have experienced. It doesn't happen often but it happens and we should keep it in mind to keep our spirits up after a bad weekend.
I LOVE THAT YOU GOT THAT SHOT--IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SHOW-- YOU COULD HAVE BEEB TRAVELING WITH NO SHOW IN MIND.
What about people who are not photographers?
Your enthusiasm is wonderful, but your logic is wrong. Poor sales equal a poor show. Everything else is happenstance.