Don't be a Jerk

Review Santa Fe was held almost a week and half ago now and I am finally getting around to commenting. I want to follow up this post with a list and a few images of photographers whose work I liked, but first I wanted to comment on the interaction that goes on at the table.

There is no other art medium that has this type or forum known as the portfolio reviews. It is an anomaly that only occurs in the photo world. At these venues, I am happy to offer as much advice as I possibly can to every one of the photographers who sits across from me. Sometimes I fail, but I feel an obligation to help. People on both sides of the table take risks and spend money to get to this place, but the reviewees spend more and also expose themselves and their artwork to the best accolades or much worse insults. I know of a few reviewees who have had horrible experiences sitting across the table from reviewers. I walked past one reviewee who was saying at the end of a review "you do not have to be so mean." Often it is like a person who waits tables waiting on the person who has not. Not saying that everyone has to have had waited tables or been on the other side of the table to have empathy, but it helps. There seems to be no venue for photographers who do not want to be blackballed to express their true feelings about certain experiences aside from anonymous evaluation forms. I tried to get a photographer to respond to some questions about a review I once worked, but she feared that she would never be shown again or could not be totally honest. I do not know what to say about this situation but to appeal to the reviewers to be gracious and tell photographers to do their research well and take the insults lightly.

Another friend who dated a critic would watch him write at the typewriter, as this was years ago, with a furrowed brow. In person, he is a very nice human being, but behind the keyboard he was vicious. On one occasion, this woman appealed to his kinder nature when she read a review he was writing on an artist's first public exhibition. She said "You know you could ruin what could be a wonderful artist" or something along those lines. He took another route of criticism and his usual butchery. This "reviewee" is now a much revered sculptor. I am not Aesop, but there is a moral.

On Portfolio Reviews via Conscientious

Jörg Colberg asked if I would like to answer a few questions pertaining to the relevancy of portfolio reviews in the contemporary photography market. The responses from a few professionals-- photographers, gallerist, photo editors and other professionals-- can be find the on the Conscientious blog. The four questions are

Q: What do you see as the purpose of a portfolio review?

Q: What questions might photographers ask themselves before deciding to
go to one (or apply for one)?

Q: What should a photographer do to make a portfolio review worth
her/his while?

Q: If you attended (a) portfolio review(s) as a photographer in the past
what did you learn from it (them)?

Currently, he has posted the responses from David Bram of Fraction, Jörg Colberg, Andrew Hetherington, Bill Hunt, David Sebbah (Sr. Art Director at T, The New York Times Style Magazine), Brian Ulrich and me.

Finally Recovering...

©Sarah Wilson

© Colleen Mullins

© Steffanie Halley

© Scott Dalton

© Nell Dickerson

This month has been crazy with PhotoNOLA, James Enyeart and Jessica Lange signings at photo-eye, The photo-eye Staff Show and just the holidays in general.

Here are some of the images from the portfolios from PhotoNOLA to begin the decompression.

New Orleans Photo Alliance Portfolio Reviews

Portfolio Reviews will take place Dec 6 & 7 at the International House Hotel. Registration will open on August 15, and be filled on a first come first served basis. Check the PhotoNOLA website in the next few weeks for more information.

David Bram, Fractionmag.com, Albuquerque, NM
Alejandro Castellanos, Director, Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City, Mexico
Jörg Colberg, Conscientious, Northampton, MA
Rose Courville, Curator, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA
Crista Dix, Owner/Director, Wall Space Gallery, Seattle, WA
Roy Flukinger, Curator, Harry Ransom Research Center, Austin, TX
Pascale Giffard, Exhibitions Manager, Les Recontres d'Arles, FranceReuel Golden, Executive Editor, Photo District News (PDN), NY
MaryAnne Golon, TIME, New York, NY
David Houston, Curator, Ogden Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
Russell Joslin, SHOTS Magazine, Minneapolis, MN
Stella Kramer, Photography Consultant, New York, NY
Melanie McWhorter, photo-eye, Santa Fe, NM
Charles Megnin, Owner, The Darkroom, New Orleans, LA
Ann Pallesen, Photographic Center NorthWest, Seattle, WA
Doug Parker, Times Picayune , New Orleans, LA
Kira Pollack, New York Times Magazine, New York, NY
George Slade, Minnesota Center for Photography, Minneapolis, MN
Susan Spiritus, Susan Spiritus Gallery, Newport Beach, CA
Mary Virginia Swanson, Marketing Consultant, Tucson, AZ/NYC
Hannah Watson, Trolley Books, London
Clint Willour, Executive Director & Curator, Galveston Arts Center, TX
Jack Woody, Twin Palms Publishers, Santa Fe, NM
Del Zogg, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX

Atlanta Celebrates Photography portfolio reviews

ACP 10 Portfolio Review deadline for submission is June 7th, 2008.

As part of ACP 10, Atlanta Celebrates Photography will offer a day of portfolio reviews with a distinguished group of reviewers on Saturday, October 11th, 2008, at Grady High School in Atlanta. Space is available for fifty-two (52) photographers, and each photographer will receive four reviews. Confirmed photographers will be able to requests reviewers in July, and the final assignments will be done through a computerized matching program. ACP makes every effort to match photographers with their first choice of reviewers.

As of June 2nd, here are our confirmed reviewers:
Sue Brisk - Editorial Director, Magnum Photos, NYC, NY
Brian Clamp - Owner, Clampart, NYC, NY
Daniel Cooney - Owner, Cooney Fine Art, NYC, NY
Julian Cox - Head Curator of Photography, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Natasha Egan - Assoc. Dir. Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL
Sylvie Fortin - Editor, Art Papers, Atlanta, GA
Brooks Jensen - Publisher, Lenswork, Anacortes, WA
Debra Klomp Ching - Co-Owner, Klompching Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Carol McCusker - Curator, MOPA, San Diego, CA
Danielle Place - Creative Director, Photography Department, Turner Images, Atlanta, GA
Erik Schneider - Owner, Quality Pictures, Portland, OR

Anna Skillman - Owner, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
Madeline Yale - Director of Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX