Hi folks,
Having recently had some large prints made of some of my better shots, and
bearing in mind that the local small art gallery owner had said to me about a
year ago that they get asked quite often by tourists if they have prints of
Sumner (the sea-side suburb where I live), I took a selection of prints into
the
gallery and caught both husband and wife (she runs the gallery) there.
They were very polite, but I did not get an acceptance.
So I got to thinking why.
1. Their image as a gallery. They stock mainly oils and water-colours; but
also art-prints of classic paintings. AND a very few local photos. Mustn't give
the wrong impression.
2. There's something about a glossy print that doesn't appeal to a person
wanting to hang an image on the wall of their home.
3. The few photos that did have were manipulated. One photographer puts
his prints through a process that gives the image an appearance of being
brushed with oil paints. Another very successful local makes composites;
one shot that sells a lot (printed using commercial processes on art paper)
seems to me to be a basic nice shot, with a red filter or photoshop colouring,
AND a sandwich outline of a table and chairs in the foreground as though
looking from a room out to the red sunset. This would make a colourful
graphic print that would hang well on a wall.
4. Composition is of prime importance.
5. Colours need to be strong otherwise they will not show up when hung in a
room.
6. Presentation - ie border or not, and what kind of border, is very important.
7. For the kind of local shot she had mentioned to me previously, perhaps
the best medium would be some kind of postcard. But she kept asking me if
I had had any printed. And she meant printed as in off-set printing.
8. She showed me a Cibachrome somebody had sent in from Australia to be
framed, and frankly I was not impressed - but as much as anything I think it
was the basic shot that lacked punch.
9. Photos to hang / sell must generally have strong graphic composition /
interest.
The links / images just given by John Hudson reminded me of this, so I
thought I'd share my thoughts. I've also recently had a discussion about this
topic with Wayne Harridge.
Brian
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