Latest work: "Kyoto Doors in Blue"

This is a photomontage I created using my photographs of some doors in Kyoto, Japan, a monoprint I made, and some covers of antique Japanese books. I like the combination of the golden brown and indigo blue colors, a yin/yang sort of thing of warm/cold.

Because the piece is long (wide), I cropped it three different ways so I could offer a series (of sorts) to Fine Art America.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Creating a series of pictures (3 of 3)

This is the last in my set of three postings regarding creating photos/pictures in a series. This was, for me, a very big sale at Fine Art America.

I took a couple of photos in Orange, California of a tattered piece of paper on a pole. Actually, it was a tattered piece of paper and some partially erased graffiti.

By chopping everything up in the photo and then rearranging it, I created a series of maybe twelve photos that were all different yet had the same "look."

Fine Art America had a wholesale decorator plan going on at the time (don't know if they still offer it) and what I think this sale was all about was for either a hotel or a suite of offices. Because FAA was selling these images at a bulk discount, my take was smaller than it ordinarily would have been, but still. Eight photos in one swoop! The paycheck was quite sizable.

You may look at these images and wonder, what the heck was the buyer thinking? These are nothing, really. And I can understand your thinking. But I think they're very cool.

My point is that if I'd made just one version and stopped, I would not have gotten the sale. I offered a bunch of similar images, and that bunch is what made the images even more salable. And is what paid the mortgage for a couple of months!

How do you apply this to your own work? Simple. Don't stop at one. If you photograph mailboxes, one might be nice, but a series of mailboxes is even nicer, is more interesting, tells more of a story, and, if you market your work, gives your buyer more than one reason to purchase your pictures.

A series of greeting cards all created using the same color palette, or with the same subject matter, is more appealing to a buyer than one card of a butterfly, one of a macro shot of ice, another of a farmhouse, etc.

And thus ends THIS little series. Until I think of another one . . .

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Creating a series of pictures (2 of 3)

In a previous post I began talking about creating series of photos, especially if you sell your work. And for all of you who attended my "Shooting & Selling" classes, this is what I was emphasizing way back then -- that it's often easier to sell a series of decent photos depicting the life cycle of a monarch butterfly, say, than to sell one exquisite shot of a monarch butterfly.

It's wonderful when one brilliant photo can tell a story, isn't it? It's what we dream of. But how often does that happen? Probably not as often as we wish. So here's where creating a series (whether intentionally or not) can really work for you. As an example:

Until last month we lived on the Oregon coast, and one of my delights was to wander around the fishing boats photographing colorful buoys and piles of nets. We were there 13 years, and I never tired of it. The result is that I have a lot of photos of buoys and nets. I didn't think of creating a series of shots; I was just shooting what I loved.

I uploaded a fair number to Fine Art America, not knowing if there was anyone as weird as I who would appreciate these pictures. But yes (hooray), I've sold a lot.

Whenever FAA sells one of my photos, I get an email announcement on my cellphone letting me know. And no matter how many pictures I sell, I love hearing that little "ding" and seeing that another sale just came through.

A week or so ago I heard my cellphone ding. And then ding again. And again. And again. Seven quick dings in a row. I figured something was wrong. Checked to see. Nope, something was very right. Seven announcements in a row from Fine Art America letting me know that someone in New York had just purchased the pictures you see here.

Now how cool is that? If I had just uploaded one buoy shot to FAA, or one shot of fishing nets, maybe I would have made a sale. But because I had a lot to choose from, a series of shots, someone was encouraged to purchase more than just one.

Bottom line? If you're marketing your work, yes, go for the one brilliant shot that tells a story, but as you're doing that, be sure you create a lot of photos that, when seen together, tell another kind of story, or might look great scattered about a restaurant, or as a gallery in someone's living room. Follow your creative dream, but be smart about the marketing end as well.

©Carol Leigh
 All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Creating a series of pictures (1 of 3)

I'm not overly good at this yet, but I definitely see the advantages of creating a series of images, pictures that are different from one another, yet "go" with each other.

The value here is that, if you sell your work, you make it easier for a buyer to purchase more than one of your images. They can buy a series of pictures for their wall.

Selling one image is great. Selling a set or a series of images can make you giddy.

Let me show you three different examples. And I'll do it in three separate posts because there will be lots of photos.

The first photo you see here is what I started with. I used pictures of rust and handpainted circles to create this, an image I call "Parallel Universes."

Okay. Looks good. But what if it were square? So I cropped the image to create the same thing in a square format instead of a rectangular horizontal format. Now a buyer has a format choice. Same picture, two different formats.

I then changed the blending mode to create a lighter-colored version of my original picture. And again, I then cropped it to make a square.

Four pictures, slightly different.

What next? Well, I rotated one of the layers and created the image you see in the fifth picture. A change in blending modes and I created the sixth and seventh images.

If I wanted to, I could also make diptychs and triptychs of these pictures. But at this point I was tired of these and wanted to move on to something new. If I were smart, I would create those diptychs and triptychs. Maybe some rainy day I will . . .

But look what I've done. I've created seven different images, all incorporating the same colors, the same compositional elements, so that if a person wanted, let's say, throw pillows for a couch, but doesn't want them all the same, here are some options for them. Or maybe they might want two rectangular and one square photo for a wall grouping. I've offered them that.

Have these sold at Fine Art America? No, not yet. But they've only been up a couple of weeks. When they do sell, I'll be sure to mention it here. (Now watch. Someone will buy just one, thereby shooting my whole "offer a series" suggestion out of the sky!)

I've got two more examples to show you, series that did sell at Fine Art America. Stay tuned.

©Carol Leigh
 All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Creating a series . . .

When you’re selling your work, whether it be at art shows, in galleries, for stock, or for something like Fine Art America, it behooves you to create a series of photos, photos that relate to one another in subject matter, technique, location, color palette, etc. Why? Because creating a series makes it easier for a buyer to select more than one, to buy more than one. Selling one photograph or painting or piece of pottery is terrific; selling two or more to a collector is wonderful!

Lately I’ve been experimenting with a variety of painterly effects, seeing which techniques work best with which subject matter. I thought about a series of photographs I’d taken on Martha’s Vineyard and began playing with them. Let me share the thought process rather than the technical aspects (although that probably just kills a few of you!).

We were walking around a section of Martha’s Vineyard called Oak Bluffs. This was close to mid-day and the lighting was harsh, extremely contrasty. Too contrasty for big overviews, and the sky was greyish-white. What to do?

I concentrated on details, looking for shady areas, looking for subject matter where the light was even, and also looking for a “theme” of sorts. Something that could turn into a series later on. I was drawn to the screen doors, doors that had old-fashioned wooden elements and hardware on them and, if I was lucky, doors that were painted bright colors. So I consciously looked for cool screen doors, as well as other “verandah paraphernalia” such as chairs, flower pots, flower boxes, etc.

Had I more time, I would have walked this part of Martha’s Vineyard for a couple of hours, watching the light, seeing different things on each pass, seeing how the light ruined previously-wonderful bits and how it now made other bits look great. One pass doesn’t cut it, sort of like shooting at an antique car show, or photographing fishing nets and floats. Work it, baby! Work it!

But I digress . . . I was looking for a theme, looking for a little photo essay, sort of, something I could shoot in bad light but as long as the light was even, I was okay. And now, almost exactly a year later, I’m looking back at those photos and am thinking, now what can I do to them? And so I experimented with a number of painterly techniques and textures that seemed to work well with these little vignettes. And for the past few days I’ve been creating a series, a series of architectural detail shots from this one section of Martha’s Vineyard.

I’ve uploaded them to a gallery on Fine Art America where you can see them all, if you wish (although I keep finding more to add). I envision people buying multiples, thinking that a set of three or so might be especially appealing (the whole being greater than the sum of its parts), and so for this series of photos, I marked my prices down 15%, hoping to make my work more affordable so that people might be tempted to purchase more than one.

Will the pricing work? Will people be attracted to the concept? To the technique? I don’t know. All I know is that I had fun creating these and, if someone likes them enough to purchase more than one, it won’t break their bank account, and might add a bit to my own.

And that’s the power of series. More is better.

© Carol Leigh