Website image condensing. Displaying best images only.

Celtic Snapper

Bit of a strange query, hopefully someone can advise.

I'm thinking of approaching some local galleries to see if any of my images are good enough to exhibit.
I will be directing potential galleries to my website, and from research done, I gather I need to dump all my images except my very best. Question is how do I whittle down to my best? I thought of asking friends on Facebook what their favorites are, which would be good as they'll indicate what type of images are popular. However, most are not very knowledgable about what makes a good photograph, and I'm sure any gallery would look closely at my technical capabilities!

So how would you identify your best images???

Ideas on a postcard!

Moderators, feel free to move this post if it's in the wrong area! Cheers!

Thanks,
Carl

AceCo55

I have no experience with trying to get galleries to exhibit my work ... so take this with a big mound of salt!
I suspect that gallery owners/managers get these types of approaches quite often and I just can't see any incentive for them to go to your website.
I would have thought a more effective strategy would be to have a printed portfolio that you can physically show them and discuss with them in person.
Big photos (no 10x8's) in a presentation folder maybe.

I agree - the last place I would go to select photos for a portfolio would be Facebook, family or friends.
Might I suggest you post photos for critique on the appropriate critique sub-forums here and other photography forum websites.
You are likely to get honest and knowledgeable feedback that will
1) help you select the very best of your work
2) improve your photography

All the very best in your endeavors

Cygnus Studios

Depends on the type of gallery that you attempt to get your work into.
Galleries that charge you a wall space fee won't really care what you put up as long as you pay.
Galleries that make commissions on sales, will want images that sell quickly.

There are some that may worry a bit about the technical details, but the buying public don't know them and don't care about them. People buy what people like, simple as that.

I do agree that you should take some images into a gallery instead of directing someone to a website. An image may look great on a monitor and not so much in print. They need to see what they are going to represent. I would go 16x20 in a nice folder.

Getting opinions on facebook or forums isn't really going to help much. Friends will tell you that everything looks good and photographers will pick things apart that don't matter to anyone else.

Personally I would go to local/regional galleries and find out what is selling and make sure that I was offering items in a similar fashion. Pretty pictures are nice, but just because something is pretty doesn't mean it will sell well. What's hot in your area? Is it landscapes, cityscapes, abstract, black and white, street scenes, night photography, etc. etc, If you're in a tourist area, are those tourists shopping in galleries? If so, local photos might sell very well.

Like any venture, do your homework and be successful.

puzzledpaul

Cygnus Studios wrote: »

Personally I would go to local/regional galleries and find out what is selling and make sure that I was offering items in a similar fashion. Pretty pictures are nice, but just because something is pretty doesn't mean it will sell well. What's hot in your area? Is it landscapes, cityscapes, abstract, black and white, street scenes, night photography, etc. etc, If you're in a tourist area, are those tourists shopping in galleries? If so, local photos might sell very well.

Like any venture, do your homework and be successful.

I'd also check out craft fairs and similar venues (if such exist in your area?) ...
As regards other selling / display possibilities are there any decent laybys / parking areas where you could set up a 'stall' with pics of the view (+others of course)

I don't know about Wales, but in England it's possible to get a 'peddler's licence' for this sort of operation / endeavour - I had one for several years (about £12/ yr iirc)

pp

AlliOOP

My suggestion is to first contact the gallery management about what they want in the gallery before approaching with a portfolio of work. A phone call inquiring re:interest in the gallery will usually do. If the gallery is focusing on one genre (i.e. local interest in Wales) and the majority of your portfolio is a different one (i.e. alternative lifestyles of London in B&W) it is a waste of time and effort to present even the best of the best works. This also gives you an idea of what subjects to immediately cut from a presentation -- immediately narrowing those items that need review for quality/content.

Celtic Snapper

Thanks for your comments everyone. I have done some homework on this already. I live on the edge of a national park, and my target gallery is in the park and displays landscape images of the park, which is what I photograph the most. My target audience is both local people who pop into the shop and look around the gallery, and also the hundreds of tourists that pass the gallery on a daily basis. The gallery operates on a commission basis.

Advice I've read online suggests e-mailing the gallery and directing them to the website, but I too think a portfolio of prints would look more professional.

But this again brings me back to my main question, how do I establish which are my best images, from the hundreds I have on my website? I have too many to post on a forum. I notice some websites will keep statistics on viewings of a particular image, I can try and investigate what that brings up?! But apart from that, there's a danger I could walk in to a gallery, and not be accepted because I've not shown them my best images.

I like the idea of a craft fair stall, that would give some indication of popularity, if the images sell. Renting a pitch, and investment in stall furniture could be expensive and I may not make a single sale ( is my work good enough?, I don't know!). Think it's fair to say I've reached a bit of s dead end, and don't know how to progress?!

puzzledpaul

@Celtic Snapper said:

>

I like the idea of a craft fair stall, that would give some indication of popularity, if the images sell. Renting a pitch, and investment in stall furniture could be expensive and I may not make a single sale ( is my work good enough?, I don't know!). Think it's fair to say I've reached a bit of s dead end, and don't know how to progress?!

Well, it's surely worth a go, I'd have thought ...the craft fair / personal sell angle has a distinct advantage (imo) of transferring your passion / enthusiasm, unlike the gallery approach ... and you never know who you might meet?

I don't know how much of a DiYer you are, but building display equipment can't be that difficult, I'd have thought?
My main selling / display pitch when I was making stuff (clue in my username) was from a licensed street pitch in London.
It was (and still is) a 'clean' pitch ... ie stall holders had to bring everything (pitch equipment and stock) in the morning and remove same at the end of the day.

This posed significant challenges for me, as I travelled to London (100miles away) by coach ... and getting to the coach station from home was done by bike (pedal variety)

A folding bike trailer + lightweight ali tubing (no bit longer than 70cm) was involved + lightweight Tyvek tarp

Re image selection - surely it's got to be all about the light?

pp

Cygnus Studios

@Celtic Snapper said:

But this again brings me back to my main question, how do I establish which are my best images, from the hundreds I have on my website? I have too many to post on a forum. I notice some websites will keep statistics on viewings of a particular image, I can try and investigate what that brings up?! But apart from that, there's a danger I could walk in to a gallery, and not be accepted because I've not shown them my best images.

This is the question every photographer must deal with at some point. If you do not trust your own eye to choose the very best, I would find one or two people are not associated with you to do the job. People who will not say great shot to everything but choose the images that move them in some way.

You could use other photographers, but more than likely they will look for technical details and not consider whether the images are salable to a general audience.

stella82

@AlliOOP said:
My suggestion is to first contact the gallery management about what they want in the gallery before approaching with a portfolio of work. A phone call inquiring re:interest in the gallery will usually do. If the gallery is focusing on one genre (i.e. local interest in Wales) and the majority of your portfolio is a different one (i.e. alternative lifestyles of London in B&W) it is a waste of time and effort to present even the best of the best works. This also gives you an idea of what subjects to immediately cut from a presentation -- immediately narrowing those items that need review for quality/content.

I agree with AlliOOP - I think figuring out what the gallery usually exhibits is the best way to go about it. And then to imagine a selection of your works with a certain theme running through it. The gallery will think more along the lines of "does he/she fit with our aesthetic and how?".