Photographer Network for Creative Industries
Photo Nite: my verdict
I am never entirely sure what to expect from networking evenings, apart from having the opportunity to meet some new people and, well, network. The concept of Photo Nite is excellent and what attracted me to it was the opportunity the organisers alluded to of meeting people who were in the business of either commissioning or buying photography. In addition to this, there was a chance to have one of my pieces of work on the wall, have it auctioned and attract some interest that way.
As it panned out, my photo never turned up and therefore that opportunity was missed. There were some great photos on display, some not so great and - to be honest - some that my six year-old son could have taken. A couple that fell into this last category seemed to attract a lot of votes too. Personal taste at the end of the day I suppose but I must admit to being a little surprised. I guess there really is no accounting for taste.
As my work was not on display I decided to do a short presentation which was well attended; the small back room being packed. A microphone would have helped as, over the music happening in the front bar it was almost impossible to make myself heard. The computer setup with projector was good but the PC had been left on battery and was dead when I sat down to load up my presentation. However, thanks to Nathan of HearJapan.com we got a power cable sorted out and all was well.
Apart from making some very nice friends, the evening was salvaged for me by meeting several potentially very useful people too. Meetings are now organized to take that the next step and for this opportunity alone I must thank the organizers of PhotoNite.
I would though urge them [and I am sure they are already aware of some of this] to learn from the experiences of Monday night for the next event......
1. More organization on the printing and exhibition front please. People like me relish the chance of having work on display but it is doubly disappointing when that chance is acted upon by us and then comes to nought despite having personally done everything to make sure the organizers have had what they need by their deadline.
2. The auction idea is nice but didn't really work out. Maybe the way people were asked to bid - by writing their bid on a piece of paper next to the photo - was not the right way of doing it. Maybe a more formal auction might work. I am not sure. Speaking for myself, I don't collect other people's photography. I have collected paintings, first-edition books and other stuff in the past but after moving 6500 miles to Japan, I dont collect anything anymore. I just dont have the space. And even if I did, that 'thing' would not be other photos. I buy photography books, I look at a lot of work on the web by pther photographers but I dont buy their prints. It might be that a room full of photographers is not the best audience if you want to auction photographs. Just my opinion.
3. The website is good and .ning is not a bad platform. The JAVA photo upload system is a bitch to make work properly through Firefox sometimes but I triumphed over that and uploaded my work. I think .ning could certainly improve the way that users can share content [photos] across the whole .ning network, and I have emailed them about that directly. I have several .ning pages in various networks and I cannot share the photos in those networks. I am me, Alfie, but tied to one network. My user profile is not roaming. That limits the functionality of .ning for me.
The submission and sign-up procedure for photographers to get their work on display was also convoluted and confusing. I build websites for a living and am reasonably techno-savvy but it had me foxed for a while as the process to submit a print and put a pic in the online gallery looked exactly the same as the first part of the process we went through to put our own pages on .ning. That was confusing. Not your fault, .ning's. They have been emailed about that too.
4. Having presentation rooms that can be sealed off from the noise of the rest of the venue. Or, having mics in all rooms. The venue is not bad but noise bleeds through to the back and no-one outside of a 2m circle from me could hear what I was saying.
5. Lots more buyers and media people please next time. I know this is the first event and getting take-up is hard but the value of such an evening from my photographer point of view is not in just having the chance to meet loads of other photographers [although it is always valuable to see other people's work], but it is in meeting people with whom I can do business: magazines, news agencies, image buyers for poster or card companies, tourism agencies, image libraries, photographic agents, gallery owners. I know there were a smattering of such people there but the attendance was overwhelmingly photographer biased.
Good luck with the next one. I would suggest getting the formula right before specialising in specific areas of photography, as your email hinted at yesterday.
I know events are not easy to organise and are often a thankless task. I know this because I organised many of them myself in the past. But as long as you listen to and work with people to improve, that is a big factor in the success of event number 2.
P.S. A lot of photgraphers and creative types are not dripping with money. 1000 for the door is fine but every drink being 1000Y or more can sting. Not sure how you do anything about that, as 57 is a nice venue but I am sure there are others that might be as good or better.
As it panned out, my photo never turned up and therefore that opportunity was missed. There were some great photos on display, some not so great and - to be honest - some that my six year-old son could have taken. A couple that fell into this last category seemed to attract a lot of votes too. Personal taste at the end of the day I suppose but I must admit to being a little surprised. I guess there really is no accounting for taste.
As my work was not on display I decided to do a short presentation which was well attended; the small back room being packed. A microphone would have helped as, over the music happening in the front bar it was almost impossible to make myself heard. The computer setup with projector was good but the PC had been left on battery and was dead when I sat down to load up my presentation. However, thanks to Nathan of HearJapan.com we got a power cable sorted out and all was well.
Apart from making some very nice friends, the evening was salvaged for me by meeting several potentially very useful people too. Meetings are now organized to take that the next step and for this opportunity alone I must thank the organizers of PhotoNite.
I would though urge them [and I am sure they are already aware of some of this] to learn from the experiences of Monday night for the next event......
1. More organization on the printing and exhibition front please. People like me relish the chance of having work on display but it is doubly disappointing when that chance is acted upon by us and then comes to nought despite having personally done everything to make sure the organizers have had what they need by their deadline.
2. The auction idea is nice but didn't really work out. Maybe the way people were asked to bid - by writing their bid on a piece of paper next to the photo - was not the right way of doing it. Maybe a more formal auction might work. I am not sure. Speaking for myself, I don't collect other people's photography. I have collected paintings, first-edition books and other stuff in the past but after moving 6500 miles to Japan, I dont collect anything anymore. I just dont have the space. And even if I did, that 'thing' would not be other photos. I buy photography books, I look at a lot of work on the web by pther photographers but I dont buy their prints. It might be that a room full of photographers is not the best audience if you want to auction photographs. Just my opinion.
3. The website is good and .ning is not a bad platform. The JAVA photo upload system is a bitch to make work properly through Firefox sometimes but I triumphed over that and uploaded my work. I think .ning could certainly improve the way that users can share content [photos] across the whole .ning network, and I have emailed them about that directly. I have several .ning pages in various networks and I cannot share the photos in those networks. I am me, Alfie, but tied to one network. My user profile is not roaming. That limits the functionality of .ning for me.
The submission and sign-up procedure for photographers to get their work on display was also convoluted and confusing. I build websites for a living and am reasonably techno-savvy but it had me foxed for a while as the process to submit a print and put a pic in the online gallery looked exactly the same as the first part of the process we went through to put our own pages on .ning. That was confusing. Not your fault, .ning's. They have been emailed about that too.
4. Having presentation rooms that can be sealed off from the noise of the rest of the venue. Or, having mics in all rooms. The venue is not bad but noise bleeds through to the back and no-one outside of a 2m circle from me could hear what I was saying.
5. Lots more buyers and media people please next time. I know this is the first event and getting take-up is hard but the value of such an evening from my photographer point of view is not in just having the chance to meet loads of other photographers [although it is always valuable to see other people's work], but it is in meeting people with whom I can do business: magazines, news agencies, image buyers for poster or card companies, tourism agencies, image libraries, photographic agents, gallery owners. I know there were a smattering of such people there but the attendance was overwhelmingly photographer biased.
Good luck with the next one. I would suggest getting the formula right before specialising in specific areas of photography, as your email hinted at yesterday.
I know events are not easy to organise and are often a thankless task. I know this because I organised many of them myself in the past. But as long as you listen to and work with people to improve, that is a big factor in the success of event number 2.
P.S. A lot of photgraphers and creative types are not dripping with money. 1000 for the door is fine but every drink being 1000Y or more can sting. Not sure how you do anything about that, as 57 is a nice venue but I am sure there are others that might be as good or better.
Comment
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Comment by Artsy Tigger on June 11, 2008 at 4:52pm - Totally agree. :)
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