Common Misconceptions about Networking in Photography

by McKenna Duffy (AAU MFA Student)

You’ve probably heard it before, “You’ve just got to start networking.” It’s a phrase on the tips of every professional’s tongue, but rarely do they ever divulge any further information. What is networking? How do I do that? Don’t you just come across like a sleazy salesman? How do I not come across as a sleazy salesman?

Maybe it’s the paranoid anti-capitalist punk in me, but I can’t help but think that those in “the know” retain information to stifle competition and maintain rank. I’m sure many of you have had similar thoughts. Right? Or am I alone, here? … Bueller?

The truth is, there are a lot of common misconceptions about networking, particularly in the photography industry. I’m here today to tackle a few of them for you, because I like sharing.

1.     “Just show up, shake hands, and hand out business cards.”

That sentence makes you a little nauseous, doesn’t it? Well, you’re not alone, plus it’s just not true. This is the main thing that makes people react with the “sleazy salesman” insecurities. When someone shakes your hand and hands you a business card, how long do you remember their name? What happens to those business cards?

If you replied “five seconds” and “the trash or the bottom of my purse,” you know everyone else’s answer, too.

This may leave you wondering, if I don’t shake hands and hand out business cards, then how do I make a memorable impression? Well…

2. “It’s strictly business, keep your work and personal life separate.”

Most people will sneer in disgust at me putting this on a list of misconceptions, but it’s a huge one. Networking is essentially making friends. Industry friends. If you go to a networking event, there won’t be a ton of employers looking to hire, just wandering around looking for a person of your talents. There will be, instead, a ton of photographers like you, wandering around looking for someone to hire them. They will have their hand sanitizer and business cards readily available on the quick-draw.

The largest way to network and get work is to be a friend. Be willing to meet people, get to know them, and help them out. I mean, these may not be the same people you go get smashed with on NYE (but if you do, no hate!), but if you want someone to remember your name when they or someone they know needs a snazzy pet photographer, you’ve got to be memorable. Sometimes, this means doing some minor work for free, to help a friend out. Perhaps volunteering for a night to help that organization they work for. Maybe doing a quick one-off headshot for this grant they need.

I know it sounds bad, but the most amazing part of this - they will help you out, too. You need a new logo? They can whip one up for free or on the cheap. They’ll volunteer at one of YOUR organizations. You will prove to each other just how good you are at what you do.

Then… the real magic…

Your new industry friend’s boss needs a staff photographer. Your new industry friend? He thinks of you, instantly. Suggests you to his boss, and BAM! You’ve got an interview. Isn’t that fantastic? Well, this is how true networking works… and it’s pretty universal, be it snazzy pet photography, or snagging the eye of a local gallery curator.

Then, last but not least…

3. “For only $99, register to come to our exclusive networking event!”

Please don’t waste your money. Please. Do you remember in number two, when I talked about numerous job-hungry photographers with the hand sanitizer and business cards on the quick-draw? This is where you will find them. And that will mostly be it. There may be one or two employers there, which I’m sure this event promoter will name-drop on the invitations and marketing . . . but not nearly enough for hundreds of freelance photographers.

You won’t be able to make friends here. Remember, that’s what networking is - making industry friends. You’ll only be able to make really large wads of business cards, or maybe a few cents from recycling all the empty bottles of hand sanitizer.

Instead, make your way to events of other industry friends. Some of them will work in theater, for non-profits, have gallery shows, you-name-it, and there will be events. Use these events to make more industry friends. If you don’t have any industry friends yet, go get involved in something! For example, a local magazine was having a release party, so I went. I enjoyed the wine, the spoken word, the imagery, and I made friends. Now, I’m glad to say I’ve been published in that magazine. And the bonus? I didn’t have to spend $99 to get in.

So, when networking, please keep these misconceptions in mind. And remember, the best way to stand out in the crowd is not to be in it.

Portfolio Flash: Ian Gwinn

Influenced by Dutch masters' Vanitas paintings, AAU BFA student Ian Gwinn recently completed Remains.

Says Gwinn:

I am interested in the temporal state and Vanitas art seeks to look and consider that transient state of things and earthly possessions. I am intrigued by the changing temporal state of organic elements in nature and the elements forged by humankind in the pursuit of permanence. While many look for the ideal beauty in the perfected state of nature, I see in the remains an enduring beauty of the cyclical nature of life.

More of Gwinn's work can be viewed here.

6 Ways a Formal Education Can Benefit Your Photography

by Todd Vorenkamp (MFA, Academy of Art University, 2011)

Only in the arts is the term “self-taught” worn like a badge of honor. You can’t swing a dead cat around the Internet without hitting a photographer who broadcasts “self-taught” on the biography page of his or her website. I found a website titled: “Top 25 Self-Taught Photographers.” Really?

Professions outside the arts do not promote “self-taught.” Self-taught doctor? No thanks; I’ll go somewhere else. Self-taught airline pilot? I’ll take the next flight. Self-taught lawyer? I’d rather skip the jail time.

Photo lessons from Dad, magazines, and books aside, it is cool to wear the self-taught badge, especially if people tell you that you are a good photographer. So, when the opportunity to go to art school arrived on my doorstep, I hesitated about the fact that I would have to strip myself of this badge.

I was a “self-taught photographer” right up until the moment I became a “formally trained photographic artist” and started working toward my Masters of Fine Arts degree.

With “self-taught” so celebrated, what are the benefits of a formal art education?

1. Time

Many artists bemoan that they do not make enough time for their art. Life often gets in the way. Work, friends, family, taxes, television, etc.; the list goes on.

Entering an art school forces you to make time for your art. And, unlike your other schooling experiences, if you are “forced” to do something you love, you will likely do it energetically and enthusiastically.

Art school takes time. But, by investing in your art, this is time you are investing in yourself.

2. Practice

You will practice your art in art school. Like almost everything, practice makes almost perfect. That you have to continuously produce new art leads you to unconsciously improve your craft. You are not just taking photographs every week; you are driven to compile a solid body of work for every class, every semester.

If you feel you are at the top of your game photographically, you might consider going to art school. You will learn to apply a critical eye to your work, all while receiving feedback from others. It is one thing to get praise from friends and family, but subjecting your work to virtual strangers who are also immersed in the field will certainly give you new perspective.

You might be surprised to find that there is always room for improvement.

3. Immersion

If you enjoy photography, imagine the pleasure of immersing yourself in the art for weeks, months, or years. For me, the best part of a photo workshop is the immersion in the world of photography. It is a natural high for me. Art school is like attending a continuous photography workshop.

During the school year, I was out making photographs three to five times per week. On the nights that I was not creating photographs, I was reading about photography, editing photos, reviewing classmates’ images, or engaged in class discussions about the art.

If you are passionate about taking photographs, you will love the fact that art school not only drives you to create art, but you also will study and learn about the history of the genre, other arts, and the way people view and think about art.

4. Meaning

I used to just be a guy who took good pictures. People liked my photos. Many asked for emailed copies, prints, or my website address. I felt good about my photography.

Week One in grad school: “Nice photograph. What does it mean?”

Art school will force you to articulate the meaning behind your imagery. If you don’t think that your images have meaning, art school will drive a lot of personal introspection, so you can then discover why you take some photographs, but not others. Moving forward, you can be conscious of why you create the art you create. Self-discovery.

5. Passion

There is a true gift in being able to study something you are intensely passionate about. The practicality of an art school degree can be debated. Making a living as an artist is difficult — regardless of the genre.

Remember dreading schoolwork and grumbling about homework? If you are passionate about art, or whatever you chose to study in life, you will — I kid you not — love going to school and love getting assignments. Summer school will no longer be a burden.

For me, graduation was bittersweet. If there were more credits to be had, I would still be in art school. Ph.D. program for photography, anyone?

6. Friendships

Art school also surrounds you with others who are passionate about the same things in which you are invested. You are exposed to their work and they get exposed to yours. You learn about each classmate and how they feel and think. Art education is an intimate learning experience that can create lifelong friendships, professional contacts, and photographic growth and challenges. Your friends will push you to improve your art and you will push them to improve theirs.

So long, self-taught badge. It was nice to wear you for a while, but fashions change, and I have no regrets about removing you.

This article was originally published on March 13, 2016, by B&H Photo on Medium.com.

Fairmont Gallery of Art Opens with AAU Students

In December, San Francisco's historic Fairmont Hotel debuted their Gallery of Art. To kick-off the opening, the hotel hosted a contest for AAU student work featuring iconic San Francisco scenes. Selected artists were honored during a December ceremony, and the exhibit will be installed for the remainder of 2016.

The exhibition features Sail, the first-place winner by Kushal Kapoor, second-place image Full of Grace, by Analia (Ana) Gutierrez, and third-place recipient, Wonderland, by Qianwen (Candi) Jiang.

From left to right: Qianwen (Candi) Jiang with Dr. Elisa Stephens (Academy of Art University President), Analia (Ana) Gutierrez, Kushal Kapoor, Jim Wood (Executive Director), Will Mosgrove (former Director of Graduate Photography).

All exhibition works are for sale. For more information, please contact Mary Casserly at Mcasserly@academyart.edu.

We congratulate selected students!

Portfolio Flash: Associate Director Adrienne Pao with Robin Lasser

This spring, School of Photography welcomes Faculty member Adrienne Pao into the position of Graduate Associate Director. Here, we look at the collaborative project of Pao and artist-teacher Robin Lasser. For more than a decade, Pao and Lasser have been producing Dress Tents, tent-like forms that are worn and photographed as part of a series of performances. The interior of the tents house video and sound that reference the original landscape for which each dress was designed. Pieces from Dress Tents have been exhibited in the U.S., China, Argentina, and Russia.

Say Pao and Lasser:

We are interested in the land and the body as sites of seduction . . .

By referencing modes of female representation such as “bare foot and in the kitchen” in the Picnic Dress Tent, or “mother nature” in the Greenhouse Dress Tent, the dress tents simultaneously utilize and address a history of fantasy associated with women. Through pop-culture humor, the Picnic Dress Tent examines our recreational activities in the landscape though playfully familiar scenarios that leave us to question and reexamine our flow of routine and our relationship to the body as site of cultural desire. A play on green house gasses and what it takes to be “green” in contemporary culture, the Greenhouse Dress Tent becomes a commentary on the current fashion of being “green.”

More Dress Tents can be seen at www.adriennepao.com and www.robinlasser.com. We wish Adrienne continued success with Dress Tents and in her new position!

"Silver Spillers" Featured in AAU Galleries

It's the spring semester, and we're back in the swing of things.

While we were out, MFA students Gabe Riddle, Anette Marweld, Lucky (Ying Jung) Lu, Nan Lu, and Rachel Liu -- the self-proclaimed "Silver Spillers" -- occupied the Cannery Gallery for the month of December. In January, the show, Silver Spillers: Contemporary Interpretations of Historic Photographic Processes, moved to 625 Sutter Gallery.

The exhibition was conceived in Connie Begg's Alternative Practices class of Spring 2015. It featured Joan of Arc, a 56-piece installation of 8x10 inch, wet plate collodion on metal plates, by Rachel Liu.

AAU graduating students and alumni can apply for an exhibition at AAU Galleries by submitting a petition here.

A Birth of Collaboration

By DeAnn Desilets

Inspiration and ideas for projects can come forward at the most unlikely times. I have learned to be open to it, look for it, and run with it when it comes into my world through conversation, vision or experience. Then I try and throw it into the folds of my life and see what happens.

For example, a few months ago at my husband’s birthday party, I started talking to a friend of ours. Carly is a composer, a damn good one, and a humble one, who has won a Primetime Emmy Award for a piece she wrote.

We got to talking about how we both find it difficult to continue to create our own work for ourselves, when we use our creative juices all day for other people. We commiserated that it is harder and harder to find people to talk to about our prospective projects. Mostly though, we found that the toughest thing is to hold ourselves accountable for creating new work. Yes, you can set deadlines for yourself all day. Sticking to them however, is another beast entirely.

This inspired me to ask Carly, “Hey, would you be interested in sharing work every week to get feedback?” That question led to a very positive discussion, which eventually led to a decision to work on a project together. Neither of us has worked with the other’s art form--performance and visual arts. So we decided to approach this differently than most artistic partnerships. We would have no constraints and we would keep our imagination and creations open to interpretation on both sides. While the end goal is still to create something together, we are really making something for each other, with each new collaboration.

Every week, instead of creating an image and musical piece together, we independently construct our own ideas on a subject or mood, surprising each other. I send Carly an image I have created and she composes music that partners and accompanies the image. Then she sends me a musical score, and I create an image from how the music moves me. By trading off back and forth, we each get to see how we each interprets each other’s work in our own expressive way. In turn, this makes us both think and create in new and exciting ways. It is the most amazing and inspiring process, and I get chills every time I hear a new composition from Carly. Not just because she is really good, but also because when I listen I can see my images come to life.

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In response to the photograph by DeAnn Desilets, above, composer Carly Comando created the musical piece, Aurora.

Before we started creating together just a month or so ago, I was making imagery, but not consistently. Now, we are each creating a new piece almost every week! Sometimes life takes over and sometimes the brain needs more time to bring something to life, but the creative juices have been primed. I honestly have not been this productive since before graduation!

Eventually, if we create enough, we are going to show it somewhere. Perhaps we will plan a live performance and large projections. Or perhaps we will plan a more intimate setting with people walking around with personal headsets, looking through spy glass holes to see the vignette to experience it on a more intimate level. This may be a while into the future, but it is exciting to think about.

This cross-pollination of visual and performance art, is something so entirely new to me, and such a different way of thinking of things. I am pushing my directed realities and montage work, and she is working with more electronic sounds, which she has not done before. What better way to explore together in a bubble of trust and adventure, with no expectations other than to have fun and be open? How great it is to push yourself and be accountable, not just to yourself, but also to someone else. I highly recommend it. It is quite exhilarating. I’m not saying everyone needs to go out and find a composer. However, one should find someone who thinks differently and creates differently. It may be another photographer, a painter, an illustrator, a writer, a printmaker, or a sculptor.

In the end if you can’t push yourself, you can’t keep growing. Find someone you admire and really challenge yourself with them. Either in a collaborative project or just as someone you know will check in on you. You will give each other the energy needed to grow. Don’t just talk about it either. I have learned that you can’t just say you will do something. Put your words into actions no matter what you are planning creatively. Imagination is real, so bring it to life.