Take Me Seriously!!!
Goodday,
I’m having major issues with people taking my work seriously. I want to know what I have to do to publish my own book of photography. Someone, Anyone out there who is feeling what I’m feeling or has any information on how I can display my work for the world to see. HELP ME!!
Paul Louis Vil...
Hey there Shany! Unfortunately I cannot give you any kind of direct information on how to achieve your goals. I can tell you just to be patient! That is the kind of advise that really sucks but it’s honest. You do beautiful work with your camera and i’m positive your time will come. Do not stress yourself out with hypothetical deadlines on how much you have to achieve by a certain time, you’ll drive yourself up the wall! Keep striving towards your goals and always be prepared that when you have achieved a new level of proffessionality you are going to have to work harder to get to the next. That’s not a bad thing.
Your redbubble portfolio is great, keep your creative spirit soaring and success will follow. Now, chin up and get back to work!!! :p!
Matt Mawson
Shany, congratulations on getting one of your photos published in the upcoming anthology. I like your work. Keep taking photos. Build up your portfolio. Enter competitions. Publishers might not be interested in investing in a book of your work until you build up a name—it’s expensive to set up a print run, and they have to believe it’s going to make them a profit. You can self-publish through www.lulu.com at no cost to yourself (I believe Red Bubble will also offer self-publishing soon). It’s then up to you to promote the book. You could get a few copies to send off to publishers (and to show off to friends).
Ashlee Maegan
I’ve come to realise this too. It’s something that only time can further. I have a list of goals up on my wall and slowly but surely I have been crossing them off because I’ve achieved them. Believe that you will reach your goals. You need to get exposure, like said – competitions – I entered one competition and from that one competition I have had media exposure, offers for collaborations a larger fan base and from all these opportunities new opportunities are coming up. Once you’re in the flow of opportunities creating more opportunities on their own it’s easy to go upwards.
A big tip, don’t get demoralised or lose faith in what you do! If you’re good at what you do and you show a great passion and belief in what you do people will see that eventually :)
All the best!
Ashlee
Ashlee Maegan
Also – there are ways you can get your work out there yourself – have you thought about starting a zine? Or writing articles about photography or other art related things, let people know you have an opinion. Do you have a website? There are heaps of ways to self-promote. Exhibit in open exhibitions, get involved in networking events offering your services as a professional photographer for events. Be creative in how your self-promote, your chances of being remembered are higher. And yeah, there might be a bit of cost involved in some of those things, but they will be worth it in the long run. You could even go to local art markets and sell prints of your works. Being around other people and talking to them about what you do is invaluable :)
That’s all for now…
ShanyBW
Thank you guys so much for your input. I’m going to put everything into action! At times I get discourage because I want things to happen NOW…but of course patience and persistance is the key to success. Well I guess I’ll get back to work now..1Luv
Shany
rufflesal
Hi ShanyBW,
I’m not a photographer or even an artist. I jut believe in following your dreams. One good way of getting action is by Writing down your goals or drawing a picture of yourself in your goal. This is the way to connect your subconscious to reality. I also believe in networking. You have a nice face so it shouldnt be hard for you to make heaps of friends. Let them all know what your goals is so that you have all their eyes and ears keeping a lookout for you – if oppurtunities pop up. You might like to put some of your work on Flickr.com or some other similar website. I would of suggested you printo your own zine (fanzine) with a collection of your drawings, thoughts and photos. Your gallery looks pretty classy so a zine might not be the answer.
Good luck with it all.
kathleen
Hi Shany, I love your work… a few of us veteran red bubblers are organising an international collaboration in a digital train type concept (here is the original entry), I am trying to get a few more international artists interested. If you would like to view some of the other collaborations that have happened as a result of this glorious site, please have a look at the RB Collaborations Hub (or BubHub as I like to call it). Please let me know if you are interested by leaving a note on the Train journal entry. I hope to get it started next week.
kathleen
Hi Shany, thanks for getting back to me about your interest in the collaboration train thingy. sorry the link didn’t work after I spoke to RB headquarters about what I was up to they decided to make a whole new forum for Collaborations only and moved the pages but I couldn’t edit the comment. I’ve been churning the idea of management of this idea and that’s why I’ve been letting it be for days in between… All you need to do if you so choose is to agree to participate and use the inspiration of other artists to create or contribute a piece as a carriage of our train… I am putting the stuff together today and I will let everyone know the details when they clear… is that clear? here’s the link to the new collaborations hub.