I've found another gem in the wide universe of photography hosting/community platforms: onexposure.net (link)
Just as seen-by (link) it only shows work that has been screened by the 'staff'. seen-by really shows interesting things, but I have the feeling that Onexposure puts the bar a little higher. Maybe it's just my personal taste, but I literally chocked over my food when I first noticed the density of perfect work on that page :-)
For the first time since a long while I actually felt inspired to go out and do something creative with my camera, which might have also to do with the fact that this humid summer is finally vanishing, but that's another story.
So, besides being impressed, what is my personal experience with onexposure so far? I uploaded one of my pictures (Stairway to Hell) and gave a little artistic description. It got accepted, which was followed by a warm welcome by several other users.
You can find it here (link).
An for completeness: My current seen-by portfolio is here (link).
Gallery and Exhibition Opening
Today is the opening day of a new gallery based in Frankfurt, Germany called ccprintgalerie. Among others, I was invited to a collaboration which was about a month ago. Since then we were busy arranging everything and now I can finally announce it:
The gallery opens today with its first exhibition called "Frankfurt I". It shows work of Philipp Klinger, Christian Mueglich and some of my output.
About the prints:
The gallery sells high-resolution fine-art prints on Hahnemuehle paper. The prints are up to 100 cm (40 inches) wide, signed, numbered, and limited to up to 100 pieces.
In case you are around and interested in visiting, during this first week the champagne is chilled and waiting for you from 11 am to 8 pm. The address is:
ccprintgalerie
Sophienstraße 43
60487 Frankfurt
If you are curious about it but cannot be there (like me), you can visit it online: Click here.
From the ccpint website:
"Die ccprint*galerie ist eröffnet!
Die Eröffnungswoche findet vom 8.9. bis zum 12.9. 2008 statt. In dieser Woche haben wir von 11-20 Uhr geöffnet. Bei einem Glas Secco haben Sie die Möglichkeit, nach Feierabend die Ausstellung "Frankfurt I" zu besuchen. Die Ausstellung "Frankfurt I" zeigt ungewöhnliche Ansichten bekannter und weniger bekannter Frankfurter Motive. Die ausstellenden Künstler sind: Philipp Klinger, Christian Müglich und Oliver Fluck. Im Laufe der Ausstellung werden weitere Motive anderer Künstler hinzukommen."
Selling: another interesting case
This is now my third post about seen-by. As I mentioned before, it's a nice concept. Not a single picture on this website is published without the approval of the editors. I see two main advantages here: Firstly, you don't need to click yourself through tons of not-so-good pictures until you find something that pleases your eyes. Secondly, other websites give the selection process into the hands of the users and let them vote for each others work. This can lead to funny behavior among users ranging from chumming up to hating each other because of their actions.
So all this you simply don't have on seen-by, which makes it quite bearable. Now let's get to the point.
It turns out that seen-by folks not only happily present people's work on their website, but also select pictures that would sell well as prints. I received an email telling that some of my pictures got selected by the seen-by staff and asking for my agreement to start a limited edition printed by a well-known fine-art printer/dealer.
I must say that the fact that they already carefully chose what they want, makes it again very appealing to me. On the other hand, I read their contract and find it quite strict. According to this, I would still be the owner of my work, however I would not have the right to print and distribute those selected pictures ever again somewhere else. In the contract this sounds like this (in German):
"...Die Vervielfaeltigungsstuecke der Werke werden in einer limitierten Auflage von 100 Stueck verkauft. Die limitierte Stueckzahl bezieht sich nicht nur auf die Vervielfaeltigung und den Verkauf des Werkes im Rahmen vonseen-by , sondern auch auf jede zukuenftige und in der Vergangenheit liegende Vervielfaeltigung - sei es zu privaten oder geschaeftlichen Zwecken ausserhalb desseen-by Marktplatzes...."
Money-wise the example calculation of my possible profit makes it really tempting. In the very-unlikely best-case sales scenario, an artist might actually be able to make a living from this. So I don't really know how to deal with it.
I have this inhibition threshold that keeps me from putting my signature under something that declares a limitation of my freedom on my own work, but in this case it looks like a great step forward for someone unknown who is still new to all this.
I think I might try this...anybody has ideas, advices, objections?
Time for Business
For me personally, this is actually not the best time to do this, since I'm right now very busy with other things. However, I'm in the middle of preparing a collaboration with a company in Germany that specializes in fine-art printing. This company is also starting a gallery and I'm for now contributing images of Frankfurt to an upcoming exhibition. Pictures will be signed and printed in a limited edition of 100 prints each. Today I received the numbered labels I have to sign, my hand writing as well as my signature are actually pretty ugly. Fortunately, this is rarely a factor in a potential buyer's decision making process...I hope.
I will post more information about this exhibition as soon as I know everything about it.
Domfest Hamburg
I happen to sit at the Sacramento airport right now and just remembered that I still have Hamburg pictures I haven't posted yet. Not that I'm a big fan of such fairs, but the lights there were really nice - right after a thunderstorm and during sunset.
Endless Staircase
