Does Photography have to be too personal?

I am beginning to think that my photographic vision has become a very niche taste. It is as if my photographs dont possess a worldly quality to attract a larger audience. Not that its is an ambition but I do want to understand why is it happening so. Maybe I havent come across the right audience just yet or maybe my focus has become too narrow. Or maybe I just dont know how to present my work accordingly. Here are some of the photographs I have produced in the last one year. They are from different series but contain a very similar abstract feel.

Would like views of the forum members.

Zeeshan Ali said:

I am beginning to think that my photographic vision has become a very niche taste. It is as if my photographs dont possess a worldly quality to attract a larger audience. Not that its is an ambition but I do want to understand why is it happening so. Maybe I havent come across the right audience just yet or maybe my focus has become too narrow. Or maybe I just dont know how to present my work accordingly. Here are some of the photographs I have produced in the last one year. They are from different series but contain a very similar abstract feel.

Would like views of the forum members.

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Zeeshan,

these all all fine - i dont have an issue with any of them - i wouldn't worry.

I guess if you comment on others images more comments will come to you !

cheers

Are you aiming to sell? What is your marketing strategy? How are you broadening your audience?

I don't own a business or sell anything so I can't give much advice there but those are a few questions I'd ask myself.

Thanks Mark and Jake for your responses. I'm new and will participate in discussions.

Jake, to answer your questions, I have spoken to a few gallery owners in my area and they have only promised hope. I have a facebook page, my own website and a flickr page. I havent communicated to my audience, whatever size it is right now, that I am selling the photographs. I have asked for critique from a few people, people who think they qualify to critique photographs, and all they talk about are technical qualities as well as faults. I have met maybe one or two people who truly understand my photographs are probably beyond technical limitations. And thats where I get confused; how do I communicate to a larger audience without saying too much or spoon feeding them with the ideas in the photographs.

I have also sent my work to a few publications and again I have only received promises. So I have begun to wonder if my work has a very small niche. Looking at the images, can you suggest any publications internationally that would be interested in such photographs?

I would like however for someone to provide their subjective feedback on the photographs. It will help me understand how does an international audience view my work.

Zee

Zeeshan Ali said:

Thanks Mark and Jake for your responses. I'm new and will participate in discussions.

Jake, to answer your questions, I have spoken to a few gallery owners in my area and they have only promised hope. I have a facebook page, my own website and a flickr page. I havent communicated to my audience, whatever size it is right now, that I am selling the photographs. I have asked for critique from a few people, people who think they qualify to critique photographs, and all they talk about are technical qualities as well as faults. I have met maybe one or two people who truly understand my photographs are probably beyond technical limitations. And thats where I get confused; how do I communicate to a larger audience without saying too much or spoon feeding them with the ideas in the photographs.

I have also sent my work to a few publications and again I have only received promises. So I have begun to wonder if my work has a very small niche. Looking at the images, can you suggest any publications internationally that would be interested in such photographs?

I would like however for someone to provide their subjective feedback on the photographs. It will help me understand how does an international audience view my work.

Zee

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I would like to comment on your photos but I'm not into abstract as much as I'm onto portraiture. I think thi is mostly because I lack the Artistic background and knowledge of artistic design.

But as far as Flickr goes, join as many groups as possible and add as many tags as possible to broaden your viewers. Although this can be time consuming because it takes time to add a couple pieces to each group and one can add only so many per day/week to certain groups. One would have to have a serious daily Flickr schedule to remind themselves to keep up to date on all the groups.

Jake, I appreciate your honesty.

I'll see what I can do about Flickr. It does seem like a full time activity. So far I have only focused on critique groups and it hasnt worked out yet. Thanks for your input.

Let me first say that I actually like these pictures. They are well composed, technically good and play with the concepts of abstraction and ambiguity.

Now, you are asking why you are not reaching a wider audience. I think that the answer is simple: there is no audience for this kind of photography. Flickr has been mentioned, there are a dozen of so groups devoted to similar pictures, probably a few millions pictures in a similar style and probably less than a handful of people interested in them, if you don't count the photographers themselves of course. And the photographers are not a real "audience", since they are only there for their own pictures. They may stroke another photographer ego if they get more strokes in exchange, hence the profusion of groups of the style "post 1, comment 3", but nobody gets anything out of that.

There are a few galleries who try to sell pictures which may appear similar at first sight. Look here and here for two examples. The difference is subtle but essential: these photographers chose a subject first and went to make a series of this subject while you, and many others, apparently go out for a walk and photography subjects that come to you along the route.

It is also worth noting that even for these artists who made it to galleries, the price for this category of pictures is amongst the lowest one can get. The audience is small.

If you want a much wider audience, try to photography scantily clad women.

Jerome Marot said:

There are a few galleries who try to sell pictures which may appear similar at first sight. Look here and here for two examples. The difference is subtle but essential: these photographers chose a subject first and went to make a series of this subject ..........

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Jerome,

This is totally new to me! I appreciate learning about the work especially this woman!


I don't quite understand the website, but am impressed by some of the fine works here. I'll bookmark the site.

Asher

Zeeshan Ali said:

I am beginning to think that my photographic vision has become a very niche taste..............

Would like views of the forum members.

Click to expand...

If I may, I'd like to look at these 3 together as they appear to have in common flatness and abstraction whereas the excluded pictures seem to represent the real things that reflected the light that went into the camera.




In these two the diagonals work together nicely. Obviously this was important to you, so perhaps try to hone in on what attracts you to your subjects. When you do, they'll all fit together in some sequence, where one will strengthen the next one. I'd be happy to have made the pictures. Don't worry about the rest of the planet. You do have to think of yourself, as it's your mind that's at work and you're job is to evoke great experience for yourself, in the first instance. That we also might "get it" is something extra, unless you have to put bread on the table and this is not the way at the outset, not just yet, anyway.


This fellow is on its own it seems.




It could be, of course that I lack the insight to connect these 3 with the two excluded, but so far any connections escapes me. Of course, I may get humbled fast when you explain how they work together.


Ali, (if it's your first name??)

I find these pictures interesting as they are incomplete descriptions of things we know and leave enough for us to muse on our own.

However, unlike the pictures by the lady I linked to in the previous post, there's no drive on my part to either own even the pictures I like or mark them for return. What they have is interest so that I'd be happy if they were framed and in my room but then I would have to justify them if they were not already there. There does not seem to be anything that I can feel, as yet, that identifies the pictures you have shown as having some unique motif or way of expression that makes me want to tell others so they'll not miss it. That girls pictures with the cat, in the previous post, addressed to Jerome, is, OTOH, unique, at least to me, and is worth chatting about to others. They'd find her work fun and a little like a scene from Wendy in Peter Pan.

I would like to see more of your work. It in necessary for one to present pictures in sets that have something in common. As you add a few, then weed out and put aside others that don't fit. Then you will build a coherent body of work. It becomes a kind of self-branding. I cannot promise this approach will sell your works, but without something like that, folk will likely as not get turned off, as if you have no focus, then why should they?

So try us out and post related pictures according to a master mental classification you have in mind. And then let's see what we can do in giving you useful comments.

Aslo as far as satisfaction, you can get it in a variety of ways. I do a lot of work for charities doing ambitious projects that they couldn't otherwise afford but which have criteria that have to be met. Others might earn money weekends as an assistant or 2cd shooter at weddings. We've quite a few who've done this successfully here. This will give you a sense of achievement separate from your art.

Art, to me, has to be something that one needs to do for oneself. If one is so fortunate to have it also become popular, then that's a rare bonus, but don't count on it. Here, at least, we'll try to be both honest and respectful. You won't get a score of responses, but the few who try will be open and forthright.

Don't be put off by not getting immediate popularity. The first struggle is to wow oneself! In this, you've made a good start!

Hope this helps,

Asher

Jerome and Asher,

Thank you for your detailed input. I wouldn't necessarily want hundreds of comments on my pictures but two thoughtful responses are all I need to understand and reflect upon my photography.

.....while you, and many others, apparently go out for a walk and photography subjects that come to you along the route.

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I can understand why you got that impression. Its probably because the photographs are from different series and bear no similarities but very few which Asher pointed out. You'd be interested to know that I dont photograph unless I have a specific subject or idea to pursue. I dont keep my camera with me all the time. The reason why I posted pictures from different series was to merely make a point that I am attracted by abstract shapes, lines, figures and etc. Every time I take up a project, it seems that my mind looks for abstract compositions. One thing which I have realized after self evaluation and critique from different people is that my photographs dont work if they are presented as single photographs, even if they are well composed technically they dont evoke as much emotion and feelings unless they are presented alongside rest of the set. And your feedback also supports my realization.

I would like to see more of your work. It in necessary for one to present pictures in sets that have something in common. As you add a few, then weed out and put aside others that don't fit. Then you will build a coherent body of work. It becomes a kind of self branding. I cannot promise iy will sell your works, but without something like that, folk will likely as not get turned off as if you have no focus, then why should they.

So try us out and post related pictures according to a master mental classification you have in mind. And then let's see what we can do in giving you useful comments.

Click to expand...

Yes I think I should now post the pictures in their respective series. Please note that so far I have photographed spaces as subjects. The photographs interpret my understanding of the space and how it brings about a feeling of abstraction. I'll start by sharing my first real body of work, "The Carpenter's Workshop". To me this project was a revelation. I started seeing things visually which I had never experienced before. There are some signature compositional elements that I enjoy making such as cutting the frame in halves, using diagonals and arranging things compositionally so that they work together yet makes the viewer try to figure out what is actually happening.

Here are the eleven images from the set and they are in order;

This project was kind of a stepping stone for me in how I perceive the surroundings around me. Hope these pictures will give you a better idea of how I put together images and if they try to convey a coherent meaning.

Zeeshan

Zeeshan,

My immediate response would be, then title the work,


Then one's mind creates a ready made fabric and context in which to assemble the utterly diverse impressions you gathered as you looked around. There's a brilliant nature photographer here, Michael Spinak, who goes to great pains to look at nature without disturbing it, to the extent that he would go barefoot. (That's another story in itself). Well he introduces his work very well. Of course, one can follow the pictures on one's own. The often quoted aphorism, "The picture/art should speak for itself" while, sounding wise and insightful, is actually quite foolish, as unless we know the body of work of that artist, and the culture from which it sprung, we, likely as not, lack the tools to fully experience the export and execution of the concept from the craftsman's mind.

So I'd get this one block to understanding your pictures out of the way and then show the pictures in a sequence which allows the inside of the workman's place to unfold and then get more detailed or even the opposite, start with the obscure and gradually bring in context until they have built up the full nature of the experience you are giving.

Ordering the sequence of events is critical.

Thanks again for sharing this challenging and important project. It's worth lingering on this to get it right. I'd start again in "Riskit!" and carefully introduce the topic, what you were thinking of and how you met the fellow. Then work out how you will sequin ce the pictures grossly and then in detail, section by section.

Just an idea, but very practical.

Asher

Zeeshan,

My immediate response would be, then title the work,

"Looking, In the Carpenter's Workshop!"

Then one's mind creates a ready made fabric and context in which to assemble the utterly diverse impressions you gathered as you looked around. There's a brilliant nature photographer here, Michael Spinak, who goes to great pains to look at nature without disturbing it, to the extent that he would go barefoot. (That's another story in itself). Well he introduces his work very well. Of course, one can follow the pictures on one's own. The often quoted aphorism, "The picture/art should speak for itself" while, sounding wise and insightful, is actually quite foolish, as unless we know the body of work of that artist, and the culture from which it sprung, we, likely as not, lack the tools to fully experience the export and execution of the concept from the craftsman's mind.

So I'd get this one block to understanding your pictures out of the way and then show the pictures in a sequence which allows the inside of the workman's place to unfold and then get more detailed or even the opposite, start with the obscure and gradually bring in context until they have built up the full nature of the experience you are giving.

Ordering the sequence of events is critical.

Thanks again for sharing this challenging and important project. It's worth lingering on this to get it right. I'd start again in "Riskit!" and carefully introduce the topic, what you were thinking of and how you met the fellow. Then work out how you will sequin ce the pictures grossly and then in detail, section by section.

Just an idea, but very practical.

Asher

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I agree on the title. It explains the perspective to a certain degree. I fully agree with you on the fact that some pictures/series have to be explained to give the audience a direction to follow. I am almost always at a loss if I leave the audience to decipher my intentions of photographing the space the way I like to do. I got this critique today on one of my images from Echoes from a Distant Landscape, "Thanks for sharing your thesis with us, I thought your presentation was well done and for the most part succesfully portrayed your idea. As for this photo, I dont' think it conveys the message as well on it's own as it did with your body of work."

I will start a new thread with this project and will hopefully try to outline my perspective and the inspirations that guided me throughout the project.

Thanks once again for the time to respond to my photographs.

Zee

Zeeshan Ali said:

This project was kind of a stepping stone for me in how I perceive the surroundings around me. Hope these pictures will give you a better idea of how I put together images and if they try to convey a coherent meaning.

Click to expand...

It does. Indeed the pictures work better as a series, because the viewer has an idea about the project as a whole.