Josh Barry Photography’s Blog

Kudo’s and Contests

Writing by Josh Barry on Monday, 21 of January , 2008 at 1:10 am

I recently finished workflowing Gabrielle's Bat Mitzvah Portraits. I set them up online last night for the family to view. Once again I have hit the mark as I am always aiming to meet or exceed my clients expectations for my client's Bar/Bat Mitzvah Photography. I just received an email from them:

Josh,

The pictures are AMAZING!!!!!…….I wanted to see if Jewish Family Services wanted the picture of Gabbe with the Tzedakah basket because it turned out so great! Maybe they would use it for ads etc. ……..thanks again for the great memories Thanks again for the great memories!

Linda Weiner

One of the things that makes being a businessman trying to generate income using one's particular art, such as photography, difficult is we are facing a double challenge. First we have to please our client and produce a product that they will enjoy for many years. This particular challenge is a common goal of many different businesses. Not at all uncommon. If it were just that then my goals would be easier to achieve. However, take away the business side of it. Pretend I do photography for free and I am rich beyond all wildest dreams and could afford to give away my services just for the love of the art. I would still have to face the second challenge every time no matter what. What is that second challenge you may ask? well…….[I'm going to need a new paragraph for this]

As an artist we put ourselves into our work. It is a direct reflection of who we are, how much we care, how capable we are, our levels of creativity, and, believe it or not, our self-worth. So when someone looks at our "artwork" we take it personally. We think about how we failed, what could we have done better, did I listen intently enough to give myself the aim and direction to meet their goals? The second challenge is along the lines of the critique. Did my client just 'like' the portraits or did they love them? Were they able to feel the personality or each portrait? Do they like the artistic vision and creativity of each portrait? Would they show these proudly to all of their friends and family? Would they use me again?

All of those factors are wrapped up in the artist's self esteem. We all want, as artists, for someone to say "Wow!". That is why we are artists. We love to create and we love to show. A very simple concept. Pretending I did all of my photography for free again I would, as well as all artists, probably say that no matter what the conditions, if someone doesn't like our artwork it feels the same whether we are making money with our talents or not.

We paint with light and feedback about our "paintings" is needed to help us understand if we are heading in the right direction or the wrong one. It's nice to know that not only have I met the first expectation (producing a product that the client will enjoy) which is hard enough for some businesses to do but also that I have successfully met or exceeded the expectations on the 2nd challenge ( meeting or exceeding the artisitc expectations of the client or the critique ). I am so glad to have done that for my client once again. Thank you for the feedback.

Here is a portrait taken from this particular portrait sessions.

On the same theme yet completely different style of photography. I lost an impromptu photography contest today. The challenge was to take a photo and to have within that photo two elements of who you are and one other element in the photo is that it has to be taken where yo live. That is all the description we got and everything else was left up to our 'artistic interpretation.

Below is my entry.

Explanation:

Who I am and how I think is pretty simple. Life can be filled with darkness, challenges, or as I call them opportunities for excellence in problem solving. However no matter what a door always opens for me. On the other side are new beginnings, better days and brighter futures. Who I am today and what this represents is pretty accurate. Whenever I find myself in the dark I can always open a door and find the light.

Until next time

Thanks and Grins

Joshua Barry

Category: The Daily Blurb