Palmer Davis

MW

What inspired you to start taking photographs and what is the primary inspiration for you to keep working in this field?

PD

I took my first photography class in high school and it changed my life. Suddenly my eyes were opened to a different way of seeing and perceiving and understanding the world around me. It was an epiphany that started me on an exploration that keeps unfolding. I recently came across a snapshot of myself at 16, and sure enough, I had a camera around my neck! Back then my photography teacher, Walter Rabetz, was the first of many mentors, whose insights, encouragement and example have made this journey possible for me.

My education in photography continued at Hampshire College and later at the International Center of Photography, where I am now a member of the faculty. Because of that early obsession with photography, I was drawn to a career in advertising, where I became a creative director, responsible for national brands at top Madison Avenue ad agencies. No doubt, working with professional photographers all those years, art directing and editing images honed my eye.

But it wasn’t until I transitioned out of advertising, that I was able to really dedicate myself to photography. Upon my return from a year in Italy photographing formal gardens in the Veneto, I participated in a group show in New York City. This led to several more shows in and around New York. By that point I was able to attain representation with art dealer Carol Craven, who has been an invaluable artistic guide for me ever since. For almost ten years, I’ve been fortunate enough to be one of the few photographers exhibiting in her gallery on Martha’s Vineyard, alongside such important mid-century modern painters as Thomas Hart Benton, Milton Avery and Max Beckmann. This honor has been particularly meaningful for me because I consider my aesthetic to be more painterly than purely photographic. As a result of showing there, as well as other galleries, most recently Kenise Barnes Fine Art, I’ve established a considerable following of collectors and enthusiasts.

Besides the obvious rewards of exhibiting, I would have to say I continue to make photographs because I can’t not photograph. I’m increasingly addicted to that euphoric state of hyper alertness and simultaneous calm. It ignites my senses and makes me feel more alive in the moment. I find every aspect of the process of photography as gratifying as the end result: conceptualizing, shooting (color film with a medium format camera), printing in the darkroom, editing, sequencing and finally showing— whether in a gallery, an art auction, a juried show, an online magazine or blog like this one.

Still, nothing beats the feeling of walking into someone’s home and seeing one of my photographs hanging on the wall, or hearing a collector tell me how much my work means to them. So, yes exhibiting and selling one’s work is crucial, but I believe those things should come second. Creating the work comes first. The rush of creation is my primary motivator.

MW

In your opinion and experience, how can emerging photographers evaluate themselves as ready to start promoting their works and seek broader exposure for their photographs? What is one vital action you would recommend photographers undertake to find their audience, be included in exhibitions, and gain professional representation?

PD

Creativity cannot exist in a vacuum. I’m always telling my students “You need to put your work out there. It’s a vital part of the creative cycle, otherwise you’re just talking to yourself.“ It’s important to get feedback from others in the field—anyone whose advise you respect. In addition, you need have an honest, ongoing dialog with your work. It will tell you what it needs, what is working, what is missing, what new directions you should pursue and whether or not you are ready find a broader audience. In order for you to communicate to others, first you must know what it is you want to say.

Once you are ready, there are an infinite number of ways to share your work with the world at large. It used to be that you had to lug your portfolio from door to door to get your work in front of people. Now, you can send your images to gallery owners, editors, art directors and collectors across the world on the Internet at the press of a send button. The exposure you can get from a single posting on an important photography website can be amazing. After some of my images were featured on Flak Photo, there was an entirely new audience looking at and discussing my photographs. For me to be able to read someone’s comments in Italian on my “Italian Light” series, or to be featured on Moloko + (a Russian online art and design magazine), or to see my images posted on a blog in Australia, seemed surreal to me.

So you need to get your work out there any way you can. This could be through the Internet, but if you’re just getting started, it could also be as simple as hanging your photographs in a local coffee shop, an outdoor arts festival, entering a photo contest, applying for a grant—whatever you can do to get a foothold. My first solo show was in a public library. I ended up selling more than I expected. Use your contacts; ask your friends and family and art colleagues for their connections. Once you start getting recognition for your work, one opportunity often leads to another. It makes me feel good knowing that my photographs are out there in the world, living and breathing and speaking for me—inviting people to think or wonder or simply exist in the time and place of my images.

MW

How did it come about that you achieved the status of successful, professional photographer? What steps were involved in reaching your level of success?

PD

Successful is a tricky word. I prefer to define a successful artist as one who arranges his life so that he can continue to do the work he wants to do. It can be a long and lonely journey for anyone on a creative path, so it helps to find another definition for success that works for you. When I look at a contact sheet and find an image I’m excited about printing—that’s success for me. Of course, practically speaking, it helps to have other streams of income, which is one of the reasons I teach.

To get to this point in my career has taken blind faith, self-determination and passion for the work. As an artist, you need to embrace uncertainty, not knowing where the road you’re on will ultimately lead to. There are no short cuts here. You just have to trust your instincts and stick with it day in and day out.

You also need to surround yourself with a community of fellow artists and colleagues that will support you and inspire you as you navigate your way. So many of my breaks in the fine art world have been the result of someone putting in a good word for me at the right time. For example, Tema Stauffer, a fellow ICP instructor, introduced me to Daniel Cooney, who sold my work on an online art auction through his Chelsea Gallery. That same auction led to the Flak Photo posting I mentioned earlier. As I said, it’s all about getting your work seen. In fact it’s because my photographs are featured on Culturehall.com, a curated resource for contemporary art, that Michael Werner discovered me and invited me to be interviewed for this blog.

At the end of the day, as a photographer, I feel like I have a story to tell and no one else on the planet can tell that particular story but me. So against all odds and in spite of all reason, I keep on telling it.

all images below are from Palmer Davis' series American Stories


Daydream


American Gothic

Beer and Cigarettes

Marylin

Forest

Gilded Age

Swimming Hole

Sunday Paper

Broken Windows

Miller's Drive-In

Winter Trees

© all images Palmer Davis

Amy Elkins

MW

What inspired you to start taking photographs, and what is the primary inspiration for you to keep working in this field?

AE

I had always been drawn to the arts growing up- drawing, piecing things together, painting, gluing together handmade books and collages, making things with my hands that came out of thoughts or emotions in my head. I was sort of a loner and spent a lot of time throughout my childhood riding my bike or walking around with amplified thoughts and daydreams racing about in my head. Los Angeles was sort of an isolating place to grow up. It was too big to go off and explore too often. Friends from school lived scattered across the city. My parents lived in two apartments, one in Santa Monica and one in Venice Beach. So I escaped in ways I knew how.. I liked the way I could transform things in my head onto paper. My father had studied art and has always been making and inventing things (from polarized plastic art to massive collages), his mother had been an eccentric painter who later became obsessed with Egyptian art. My mother has always played music and uses her hands to create things that way, the same way that her father had with a mandolin and my brother continues to do with many instruments. I suppose these things get passed down. I had always been very curious about photography growing up. My father had bought the entire 19-volume set of Time-Life Photography books from a thrift store when I was really young. I would lay around engrossed in the photographs for hours. Even then I was more drawn to photographs of people. A little later I ended up getting a red 35mm camera for my 8th birthday, which I used often. Years later, when I first started taking photography classes in college I was also studying life drawing, print making and various courses in psychology and cultural anthropology. I kept leaning heavier towards photography, eventually abandoning most other studies for it. I guess you could say I connected more with photography and its ability to represent things in a way that I didn’t find so much in other mediums.

What lured me back then, still lures me. I use photography as a means of looking into people’s lives in a way that I simply wouldn’t be able to, let alone have the nerve to do, in any other way. I draw often from an interest in psychology and a desire to connect with others, tending to work extensively on one subject/project at a time to try and understand it better before moving to the next. I consider myself a fine art portrait photographer and have always worked very slowly and formally with each subject. That curiosity, sometimes obsession, regarding the lives of others remains a constant source of inspiration.

MW

In your opinion and experience, how can emerging photographers evaluate themselves as ready to start promoting their works and seek broader exposure for their photographs? What is one vital action you would recommend photographers undertake to find their audience, be included in exhibitions, and gain professional representation?

AE

While faith in one’s own work goes a long way, it has always been helpful in my experience to have a network of friends/peers that are photographers or artists, perhaps a professor or mentor or someone within the blogging community to be able to show work to and get feedback from. This really can help an artist ready themselves for how to talk about/think about new work, polish up a statement, put together a final presentation, figure out print size or output or sort out who would be interested in their work. While in school, this feedback is ongoing and easy to come by but once out of school it becomes harder to keep that dialogue going. While in my last year at School of Visual Arts I reached out to several photographers I had a great deal of respect for and we would meet from time to time in person to talk about photography and maybe look over the work I was making. These mentors that I was so fortunate to have really pushed and encouraged me continue making work, to enter competitions, build a website and get my work out there.

The Internet also creates a very accessible community. My first experiences with showing photography in New York came through Joerg Colberg, who runs the website Conscientious. I had emailed him and eventually when I had a website up he featured my work on the site, later doing my first interview. Roughly a year later he put me in my first New York exhibition with Todd Hido and Alec Soth, two photographers that I had tremendous respect for. There’s simply no real way of knowing what can unfold by simply contacting somebody or by putting your work out there to be seen. And it seems now it’s easier to do so than ever through reviews, competitions, grants, blogs, group shows, fairs, publications and d.i.y. project spaces.

MW

How did it come about that you achieved the status of successful, professional photographer? What steps were involved in reaching your level of success?

AE

I do have quite a long way to go before achieving the status you mention here. In fact, I’m not sure I’ll ever get all the way there, but I’m ok with this. I realize that this field is very competitive and challenging. I would like to get to a point where I can let go of my day job and make my entire living off of my art. Like most artists early in their careers, I still struggle to fund shooting and producing my projects as well as finding the time to work on them.

In terms of what I have achieved so far- none of it has come without working hard, being persistent and continuing to make new work. I feel like when one does these things and the right opportunity presents itself things fall naturally into place. Without all of the hard work and persistence, without working on projects for yourself, those opportunities can fall flat. It seems the photo world is very small and that many things within it are deeply connected. Six degrees of separation, especially using the internet as a tool to reach people beyond your physical location. Being involved in a few group shows in New York very early on definitely unfolded into many other unpredicted opportunities for me. The exposure lead to my first private commission, my first editorial job with New York Times Magazine and introduced my work to Yancey Richardson, whom I’m currently represented by. When Yancey Richardson gave me a solo show of my Wallflower portraits in the project room, a curator from Vienna happened to see it and selected 5 of my images (from Wallflower and Gray) to be included in a history of portraiture show at Kunsthalle Wien, a contemporary art museum in Vienna. At the press conference for that museum show in Vienna I was introduced to a gallery owner in Frankfurt who ended up taking several Wallflower works to Pulse Miami during Basel. The work then sold to a gallery owner from Montreal, who curated it into a portraiture show that is currently on display at Pierre-François Ouellette art Contemporain. The way these sort of events unfold constantly surprises me and makes me feel very fortunate and grateful. Not only for the opportunities that have come up, but for the support of those who believe in my work and get it out there. It hasn’t always been as graceful an experience as those mentioned, and quite often it is far more challenging than that. There is simply no predictable path in this field. But I suppose if there were, it wouldn’t be quite as interesting.

Bon, Brooklyn, NY, 2008, from the series Wallflower

Brendan, Brooklyn, NY, 2008, from the series Wallflower

Jake, Brooklyn, NY, 2008, from the series Wallflower

Momentary, Brooklyn, NY, 2007, from the series Gray

Whispering Pines, West Greenwich, RI, 2009, from the series Gray

Heidi, 7th Ward, New Orleans, 2009, from the series The Weight of Air

John Ben, 7th Ward, New Orleans, 2009, from the series The Weight of Air

Bella, Uptown, New Orleans, 2009, from the series The Weight of Air

13/32 (Not The Man I Once Was) from the series Black is the Day, Black is the Night

26/44 (Not The Man I Once Was) from the series Black is the Day, Black is the Night

© copyright all images Amy Elkins

Sandra Dyas

MW

What inspired you to start taking photographs, and what is the primary inspiration for you to keep working in this field?

SD

I started using my Dad's cameras when I was a little girl. The first one was a cheap Brownie. I was eight or nine. I dressed up our farm cats in my doll clothes and took their photos. Pictures of my family and cousins were part of my earliest work, too. In high school my Dad gave me his Rolleiflex twin lens. He had brought it home from WWII and he no longer used it. Mom took pictures of our family growing up, but I do not recall using her camera. I also used a Polaroid Swinger and a point and shoot in junior high and high school. My photos were always of people I knew. I really wanted to work on the yearbook but some of the teachers did not like my rebellious (very innocent) nature and voted me off of the yearbook staff.

Finishing high school I enrolled in a graphic arts program at a junior college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. How I got there is another story. It was indicative of the times... Mr. Wilson, our "guidance counselor" was aware of my desire to attend college for a degree in Art Education and said it was a "fantasy of mine". Matter of factly, he told me I would never make it in college because I did not like math and science. He convinced me to attend a junior college and enrol in Fashion Merchandising. I did not want to sell clothing and I promptly switched to Graphic Arts. This was 1971. My perception of my options in life was miniscule. Getting married, being a housewife or teacher, secretary, beautician or nurse...those were my options....as far as I knew. I was in the middle of nowhere on a rural farm in eastern Iowa.

I enjoyed the Graphic Arts program and learned a little about photography. My boyfriend gave me a Minolta SRT 101 for Christmas. It was the best gift anyone ever gave me. It was 1972. Following school I found a job working in the darkroom for a printing company in Dubuque, Iowa. By 1973 I was pregnant with my first daughter and I married my boyfriend, the one who had given me the camera. After Jenna was born, I began working as graphic artist in a printing shop in Maquoketa, Iowa. I did paste-up for brochures, business cards, etc. I made about $2.00 an hour.

I was married with a baby and needed badly to bring in more income because my husband's income was not enough and he was also young and irresponsible. In 1976 I was asked by a young woman in Bellevue, Iowa if I would like to buy her portrait studio business. My parents lent me a down payment for her business and I began photographing people for a living. I learned a great deal about people, lighting and business. It became a successful portrait business and lasted nearly twelve years. Being the portrait and wedding photographer in Bellevue eventually lost its appeal. I wanted something else and I knew it.

In 1987, my two daughters and I moved to Iowa City so I could attend undergraduate college at the University of Iowa. I had been divorced for seven years. In retrospect I can see I was making quite a leap and financially it was not such a good one. Going in debt with student loans, and being a single mom was difficult, oh and I was also learning how to be a student again. I loved school. After finishing a BFA in Intermedia (Performance Art and Video Art) I applied and was accepted into the Intermedia graduate program. During my long stint studying I was also immersed in fine art photography. The Lost Nation Photographs began in the later eighties and continued for nearly fifteen years. This work is a very personal and poetic exploration of the everyday world. Although Lost Nation is a small town in eastern Iowa, my Lost Nation does not occupy a physical place; it is a universal feeling and a metaphor for the human condition.

In answer to why I stayed in the field of photography, I would say, I love it and I think I am good at it. I enjoy the ability to go places with a camera I normally would not be permitted to go. Diane Arbus - an obvious influence of mine said once that she enjoyed the event of taking pictures. When I spend an hour or several hours with someone making their portrait, I am allowed into their personal space. Most of my work is on location. It feels very intimate. The title...The Two Way Lens speaks to this - there is always the photographer and there is always the person on the other side of the camera's lens.

Photography has taught me to pay attention to the little details in the everyday world. Teaching photography has done that too. I find myself talking to my students about getting in the zone, paying attention to the frame, slowing down and really seeing what is in front of you. Photography has taught me a great deal about life.

In 1999 I begun teaching photography part-time at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Teaching is something that is in my blood. I knew that when I was a girl. It is immensely satisfying and informs my own life as well as my art. Forming relationships with students keeps me connected. I can share my knowledge and passion with students who have similar feelings about art. Teaching is always about learning. I enjoy seeing their enthusiasm for photography.

I am at a crossroads once again. Maybe it is my age and maybe it is the economy but whatever it is, I have found it extremely difficult to obtain a full time tenured position in an art department. True, I have only begun searching three years ago. I continue to freelance and do commission work but what I would really like is a full time teaching position so as to be able to spend the rest of my time on photo projects. Who knows? It might be perfect the way it is now. I am ready for a new chapter though.

MW

In your opinion and experience, how can emerging photographers evaluate themselves as ready to start promoting their works and seek broader exposure for their photographs? What is one vital action you would recommend photographers undertake to find their audience, be included in exhibitions, and gain professional representation?

SD

The internet is a wonderful way to network with other artists and photographers. Your work has a possibility of being seen if you have a website and/or blog or by using a photo network like Flickr. Entering competitions is another good idea for photographers. Jurors see your work. Sometimes your work is accepted and this gives you more presence in the photo world. Living in a community where you are part of an artist community is important. For me the quickest way to stop doing what I am doing is to isolate myself. I would like to live in a much larger art community but where and how are the questions. Making a living in the arts is very competitive. To live as an artist you have to be willing to live very frugally.

One thing I suggest to my students is to really study photography books. I am crazy about them and have a pretty large collection. They can teach

you so much about photography. I love reading interviews and essays about the photographers and why they make photographs. My books are a big source of inspiration.

MW

How did it come about that you achieved the status of successful, professional photographer? What steps were involved in reaching your level of success?

SD

I had lunch not long ago with two younger artist friends - one a photographer and one a writer. We were talking about how to make it in the arts.

I still do not believe I have made it - but they both said I had - that my status was as a successful artist working in photography. Funny.... Maybe it is that we never believe we are where we should be or where we want to be. Maybe there is always the constant search for more. I have accomplished some success by having my name out there, being recognized by some people and getting my work into solo and group exhibitions. But it feels like I am only just getting started and sometimes I wonder about it all. With the internet and digital photography the competition is real. Mark Brautigam, (he and I were both chosen for The 50 States Project) a photographer in Milwaukee, said to me recently in an email, he had been doing some thinking about the photo world and the vast industry of portfolio reviews, competitions, etc. It seems everyone is doing it. And as Mark pointed out it is pretty easy to just get lost in it.

My book "Down to the River; Portraits of Iowa Musicians" was published by the University of Iowa Press in 2007 and that is my biggest accomplishment. A series of steps were involved in making that happen. The photo project was a personal project I had been shooting for nearly twenty years in and around Iowa City. I had no preconceived idea of ever showing the work let alone publishing it. I was working on The Lost Nation Photographs at the same time and I saw that work as my more important fine art work. Justine Zimmer, a very close friend, suggested I show the work to Holly Carver at the University of Iowa Press. Holly was extremely supportive. From the idea of publishing to the actual hard-copy book, it took me over five years of work.

This past decade I have continued to make new work and to exhibit it in college galleries as well as a few museums in Iowa. I have also been in a number of group shows outside of Iowa. Two of my gelatin silver prints were in Onward '10, juried by Debbie Fleming Caffery. Over a year ago I was selected by Stuart Pilkington to be the Iowa photographer for his 50 States Project . If my work had not been present on the internet, I would not have had this wonderful opportunity.

A month ago I created a new video piece (EPK) for Pieta Brown's latest cd "One and All". My MFA was in video art but everything then was analog. The video I made for Bo Ramsey in 2000 was made using analog. This past December, I invested in a new Canon HD Vixia camera, another big external hard-drive and Final Cut Express to make this new piece for Pieta.

I work in film and digital photography as well as video. In order to reach any level of success in the arts, you must get used to rejection, be dedicated, hard-working and of course have some talent. I struggle financially to make ends meet. If you are young and a people person, I recommend wedding photography. You learn everything about being a photographer by doing it. I have shot about 600 weddings or close to it. It is emotionally and physically a very demanding job. Extremely stressful. I did love it and I always wanted to please my clients. It was a good fit but once again, I see myself moving into something else. Not really sure what... It is not easy to be an artist but it is my life so far and I do like my life. The financial struggle is real. I have considered other careers but everything so far has been linked to photography.

The Blue Chair, from the series Heaven & Earth

Red Lips, from the series Heaven & Earth

The Gold Curtain, from the series Heaven & Earth

Blue Birds, from the series Heaven & Earth

Ballerina Girl with Apple, Iowa City, Iowa, from the series The Lost Nation Photographs

Cowboy, Iowa City, Iowa, from the series The Lost Nation Photographs

Carnival Man, Iowa City, Iowa, from the series The Lost Nation Photographs

Greg Brown, Iowa City, Iowa, from the series Down to the River, Portraits of Iowa Musicians

Joan In Her Turquoise Dress, Bellevue, Iowa, from the 50 States Project

Mark Stevenson, Iowa City, Iowa, from the series Holding On; Portraits of People I Know

© copyright all images Sandra Dyas

Hiroshi Watanabe

MW

What inspired you to start taking photographs, and what is the primary inspiration for you to keep working in this field?

HW

When I was in a high school, I was told by my parents that I must study hard and go to a university. I didn’t want to study. I had a good friend who wanted to become an artist., and he was a painter. I was somewhat influenced by his idea, but I knew I was not good at drawing and I had no other particular artistic talent. So, I thought I would do photography. Photography sounded fun and easy and no hard studying was necessary, I thought. I found the university with 4 year photography course and I was successfully admitted, and that satisfied both my parents’ requirement and my wish of easy life. My father bought me a Minolta 35mm SRL and that was my first camera. I had no prior interest in photography. I played a lot and enjoyed the four years of college life, but somehow I became serious about photography as I studied it. When I graduated, I found a job in the US which happened to be a production company specializing in making commercials for Japan. I thought I would work for the company for a year or two and look for a photography job meanwhile. But one photographer whom I met suggested that I stayed on with the job. He said advertising and filming had much potential while photography had no future. At that time, I was starting a family and I had the responsibility. So, I stayed on with the job and a four years later I started my own production company. After I ran the business for 15 years, one morning, I woke up and all the sudden I decided to become a photographer again. I don’t know why but I had decided. I traveled and built up a portfolio between commercial jobs for 5 years and after that I closed down the business and became a full time photographer. It’s been 10 years since then and I am still a photographer.

MW

In your opinion and experience, how can emerging photographers evaluate themselves as ready to start promoting their works and seek broader exposure for their photographs? What is one vital action you would recommend photographers undertake to find their audience, be included in exhibitions, and gain professional representation?

HW

Obviously, one has to start by showing his/her work, and there are many occasions nowadays—contests, portfolio reviews, grants, etc. I don’t think opportunity is an issue here. There are plenty of chances to be discovered if you are good. So, the question is, “Are you good? “ Simple, easy, and sure way to find out is you. No one can answer this question but yourself. If you aren’t sure if your wok is good, then probably your work is not good enough. Don’t ask somebody else. Instead, hang your work and live with it. If it makes you feel good and proud that you made it, your work is good. If you think, “He will be sorry.” when someone rejected your work, then your work is very good. When you are sure about your work, you are ready to be found.

MW

How did it come about that you achieved the status of successful, professional photographer? What steps were involved in reaching your level of success?

HW

I am not sure if I am successful professional photographer. If “successful professional” means I can live a good, somewhat luxurious, life by the profession, then I am certainly not. I am represented by well-established galleries in New York, Chicago, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, and others, and I sell decent number of work every month. But fine art photography requires a lot of money to produce. I spend a lot for films and prints and also traveling. I work full time 5 days a week and I don’t do anything else. My expenses are almost as high as my photography income and I have so little left at the end even when I am lucky. So, maybe I am not qualified to answer this question. Then why am I doing photography? I think it is a combination of passion and stupidity. For me, photography is intellectual, artistic, and curiosity fulfilling. I love making photographs.

White Terns, Midway Atoll, from the series American Studies

Maiko Takaku, Matsuo Kabuki, from the series Kabuki Players

Patient RC 2, Epilepsy, from the series I See Angels Every Day

El Arbolito Park, Quito, Ecuador, from the series Gods, Nations, and Histories

Aikichi 2, Suo Sarumawashi, from the series Suo Sarumawashi

Fukunosuke, Suo Sarumawashi, from the series Suo Sarumawashi

Santa Monica Pier, from the series American Studies

Bubble Man, New York, from the series American Studies

Sardar Market, Jodhpur, India, from the series Gods, Nations, and Histories

Ellis Island 2, New York, from the series American Studies

Marina Ema & Kazusa Ito, Matsua Kabuki, from the series Kabuki Players

© copyright all images Hiroshi Watanabe

Aline Smithson

MW

What inspired you to start taking photographs, and what is the primary inspiration for you to keep working in this field?

AS

From an early age, I was immersed in creative pursuits, whether designing doll clothes or drawing cartoons, and in college I was doing pretty much the same thing on an elevated level--I was focused on painting, and designing clothes on the side. After college, I moved to New York to become the next Diebenkorn, but ended up involved in fashion, while continuing to paint in my free time.

Becoming a photographer was a totally organic evolution—I had been surrounded by photographers all my life (my father and my uncle), we had a darkroom in our basement growing up, and I worked as a fashion editor alongside incredible photographers, but hadn’t considered it as a career until it sort of hit me in the face. Once I committed to photography, it felt like it was natural fit and it brought me back to my roots as an image-maker and artist. I realized I had spent decades looking at images—on album covers, in magazines, in galleries and museums, and I wanted to create my own.

At first, there was a huge learning curve, but my happiest days were those spent in the darkroom, figuring out my craft and sensibility. I only took a few classes, and the rest has been self-taught. I had two small children at home and had to contain my photography to the hours that they were in school. I had no community, except for the friends I made in the darkroom, and spent hours navigating the internet trying to learn from other photographers—seeing how they put together portfolios, what exhibitions they submitted to, what magazine accepted submissions. But I never had any doubt that this was my path. And in retrospect, taking things slowly was a good thing. And even though I wish I could have started earlier and earned an MFA, I think being a self-taught photographer has kept my vision unique.

I made many, many mistakes, got rejected many times, but when I started creating work that kept me awake at night with excitement, things started to happen. I got into Review Santa Fe, was offered exhibitions, and began teaching.

What sustains my vision is that I continually want to interpret the world through my own artistic lens.

MW

In your opinion and experience, how can emerging photographers evaluate themselves as ready to start promoting their works and seek broader exposure for their photographs? What is one vital action you would recommend photographers undertake to find their audience, be included in exhibitions, and gain professional representation?

AS

The two biggest problems that beginning photographers face are learning how to edit, and making high quality prints. Beginning photographers forget that it’s not just the image that is for sale, but the print. Many students have never produced prints, even though they have made thousands of photographs, and perhaps the fact that they have thousands of photographs, doesn’t allow them to commit to a single image!

Emerging photographers have to remember that the art world has seen everything, and in order to produce work that gets the attention of those rarefied eyes; it has to be unique, meaningful, and professional. Oh yes, and interesting or important enough not only in concept, but worthy of the energy it takes to promote the work for years to come. It’s important for work to say something, to tell a story, to have a point of view, to have a voice, and to understand why you are making the work and who your audience is.

When a photographer is ready to “emerge”, they should be visually sophisticated, well versed in the photo world—being familiar with galleries, museums, major competitions, and other photographers—and be able to present a cohesive body of work with a smart statement and corresponding materials. The best places for emerging photographers to test the waters are at portfolio reviews, with a wide variety of reviewers giving critical feedback. Portfolio reviews can be very expensive, but there are many smaller ones cropping up that emerging photographers can take advantage of. In the beginning, I started by submitting to group shows, many that included mixed media, and to magazines, online and in print. I realized early on that the most important thing was THE WORK.

MW

How did it come about that you achieved the status of successful, professional photographer? What steps were involved in reaching your level of success?

AS

Success is an interesting concept…I do consider myself to be professional, but I am not sure what successful means anymore. As I achieve more personal goals, I find just as many or more that I have yet to achieve, and that keeps me working hard every day. There is no magic to this journey. It’s just putting one foot in front of the other, trying to keep the momentum going especially on those days when the last thing I feel like being is creative. Trust me, there are dry spells, periods of insecurity and defeat, but I have discovered that by celebrating and exploring other photographers during those times (well, all the time) and living a visual life, it keeps me engaged and energized.

In addition, developing a supportive photographic community is vital to success. I have to say that having the encouragement and friendship of photographers, editors, gallerists, etc has been one of the greatest rewards of this journey. One gallerist in particular, Crista Dix from Wallspace Gallery in Seattle, has been my champion and sounding board, and I have learned so much from her guidance and friendship, and one magazine editor in particular, Russell Joslin of SHOTS, helped create my first community of photographer friendships and got my work seen on an international level.

I can’t speak enough about the importance of good will and to giving back to this community. Take time to make connections. Let other photographers know that you appreciate their work, compliment a curator on an exhibition or an editor on a publication, be open to what is going on, and show up. Donate to auctions, support institutions that promote your work. I have been writing the photography blog, Lenscratch, for the past several years, and though it’s a lot of work, I have learned so much and connected with so many terrific human beings. Opportunities have come to me because of that hard work, but better yet, opportunities have come to photographers I have featured on the blog. And I find that incredibly satisfying.

Fur, from the series Daughter


Quincy, from the series Spring Fever



Shirley and Boat, from the series Paradise in Color



The Baths, from the series Dolls at Night



Mother, from the series Dolls at Night



Arrangement 10, from the series Arrangement in Green and Black - Portrait of the photographer's mother



Moving Trough, from the series Shadows and Stains, Notes from a Dark Room



Mother, from the series Inside Out



Rhino, from the series Unreal / Reality



John and Roy, from the series Paradise in Color



Arrangement 1, from the series Arrangement in Green and Black - Portrait of the photographer's mother



Brothel, from the series Dolls at Night


© all images Aline Smithson