Last year Nicole Wolf did a couple of guest blogs that were tremendous.  She was willing to do another, but not until I read what she sent did I realize the importance of her journey.  This is a relatively long blog, technically too long for the normal blog post, but there’s no way I wanted to do it in two parts.  Nicole has been generous enough to give us a road map for the journey into fine art and it can’t be broken up into two parts just because of a blogging standard. 

So, If every now and then you wake up with the passion to enter the fine art world, then the experiences Nicole has shared with us are your road map for the journey.   Most important of all is a comment she made : “It’s a humbling journey, the journey of self discovery.”

Nicole, you’re an inspiration.  Thanks for sharing!

In the past six months, I have entered another world of photography.  Since I started my career in 1996, I thought by now I would have a grasp of the ins and outs of this business, but as I quickly discovered, the fine art world is an entirely different realm of photography.

When I was studying for my MFA at Columbia, I was reminded daily of the journey as a fine art photographer.  My professors were working artists themselves and we were fortunate to have some of the top fine art photographers lecture and teach classes at my school.  I remember sitting in a lecture led by Nan Goldin and realizing two things: you need to demand a response from your viewers, and what you have to say about your own work is equally as important as the story the image itself is trying to tell.  I worked at the Museum of Contemporary Photography and literally touched some of the most prominent work in our culture to date.  However, even through all of this and after all these years, I am just starting to understand the magnitude of what it means to be vulnerable in your art and how to really embrace the essence of who I am as an artist.

This journey all started because I have about 15,000 images from a project I have been working on for five years.  This past November, I was sitting at my computer after my sixth trip to the Northeast to photograph. I was editing, and said to myself, “What the hell am I doing with all this work?”  I knew it was time to discover the answer, and for four weeks, I edited through the photographs.

I narrowed the 15,000 down to 238 and literally had no idea at that point what I was looking at.  I knew I had reached the place where someone from the outside needed to weigh in — I needed to find an editor.  I was lucky enough to be introduced to the famed Mike Davis (http://www.michaelddavis.com/) through a dear friend. Listing his credentials would take an entire page, but I knew that anyone who edited for years at National Geographic, among several other places, could surely do better than me when looking at my work.  He taught me several things, but most importantly, qualitative thinking!  This basically boils down to the creative process and breaking your images down into five categories: color, light, composition, moment and distance from the subject.  He took those 238 images and narrowed them down to a solid 38 in a series that still blows my mind when I look at it.

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After I had my 38 precious gems, with the other 14,962 patiently awaiting a re-edit, I needed to start presenting my work.   I had no clue how to do this or where to start, and the never-ending sea of galleries, curators and reps was beyond daunting.  I had a couple of friends from grad school that I called upon for advice — these photographers had been working in the fine art world for about 12 years, so I knew that they could lead me in the right direction.

“Who is your audience?” was the first question my friend Sama asked me. “Who do you want to see your work?”  Since the work was about lobster fishermen on the northeast coast of Canada, I figured that was as good a place to start as any.  I then emailed and called about 15 galleries/museums in Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, set up meetings with nine of them and took two weeks to personally show my portfolio to these individuals.  For myself, I thought it was important to make a connection and take the time to talk about my work in person.

Simply having representation doesn’t necessarily mean you will be a successful artist.  Many great artists are not represented, but truthfully, many artists without representation don’t ever “break out,” or at best, it is a very long road.  If you do look for a gallery, you need to determine what their intention is with you and your work.  Many galleries don’t have a mission that involves promoting your career as an artist; many are just interested in your commercial viability.  This is often called “living room art,” and the gallery is selling the work to their own specific client base.  There is nothing wrong with this and it won’t damage your career, but in the meantime, a gallery also should be working hard at promoting you, advertising your work and getting it published.

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This led me to my next and current hurdle, as I waited for the right gallery opportunity, I needed to scream my name from the rooftops!  I needed to self-represent, get out there and find spaces willing to show my work, seek out joint exhibitions, solo exhibitions, get one image here, another there and move forward in this direction.  I also needed to be published — I needed press!  Fortunately, three of the images had already been published in PDN and one in Maine magazine, but I needed more.  You have to enter contests, submit press releases for shows, contact you local newspapers and periodicals, take advantage of blogs and talk, talk, talk about the work.

If you do find representation, it is a different path for every artist. You just need to discover your own goals and be represented by a gallery that understands and is on board with where you want your career to head.  Sales alone are not a gauge of your importance; money cannot be your only motivation. Some of the most important artists don’t necessarily have the most “sell-able” work. 

Outside of the huge galleries, smaller ones will encourage you to be represented in different areas, find different regions to have your work seen, but don’t over-saturate yourself.  In art, there is something to be said about exclusivity and rareness — too rare, no one knows you; too over-marketed and you appear cheap, with no real value.

I have mounds of information I could share and will continue to do so as I plunge forward.  I have recently had the pleasure of being represented by a wonderful gallery in Maine.  I have had three joint exhibitions since March, a solo in Canada in August, another solo in Maine in October, and a nine-week traveling exhibit starting next April 1st.

I am exhausted by this process, but utterly elated by what I have discovered… myself!  I have finally reached a place in my career where I am fully aware of what I want to do with my photography.  It’s a humbling journey, the journey of self discovery.  When you finally take the time to really look at yourself and your work, there is and incredible sense of self fulfillment in that.  If you are at that place and you know that you want to start the process, don’t hesitate.  Don’t be afraid of failure, embrace the opportunity to discover another part of yourself and to create work that allows the viewer to see the very best of who you are as an artist.   Nicole Wolfe, June 2010