Pay To Play?
I have been trying to articulate in the past weeks, mostly through rather cryptic, complaining posts (sorry), my thoughts on my chosen career path, making photographs for the fine art market. The case I make for myself has two parts, the first of which I offer here, relating to the structure of the art marketplace, and how much an artist has to pay just to be seen.
I made a list of a special set of expenses associated only with getting fine art photography out into the world and in front of gallery and museum directors. This is my estimate of a year’s promotional expenses for a mid-career, semi-unknown photographer (not counting materials to actually make the art, space rental, equipment, website hosting, etc., which together can add up to a much larger sum than this):
• Entry to 10-12 juried competitions, roughly 8 of which involves a fee, averaging $30 per competition = $240. (Some photographers I know enter more than 12 in a year, but this is my average.)
• A relatively successful photographer might get into one-third of the competitions—we’ll say 4.
• Expenses related to each competition show: 1) round-trip shipping out of state, $50; 2) printing, matting, framing, $150; 3) buying the book / exhibition catalog, about $30. Multiplied by 4 = $920.
• Donating a piece to a charity auction, perhaps 1-2 a year. This one is impossible to quantify in terms of expenses. It’s for a good cause, so I won’t count it.
• Entry fee, travel, and meal expenses for a visit to a trade show such as FotoFest in Houston (to meet connections, get reviews, and shop around a portfolio) can easily exceed $1000. Some friends of mine go to at least one event like this per year. (I should add that I have never been able to afford this. Poor photographers without well-paying day jobs have a major disadvantage.)
Total = $2,160, not including donations
