Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Something Personal-Connections, Visibility And Fun!

Dragon Blood trees on the island of Socotra off the coast of Yemen, my accepted entry into last year's Something Personal APA Exhibition.
Personal work is essential to a successful commercial career, and the APA/SF's Something Personal Exhibition offers visibility and a wealth of connection opportunities...if you enter!

Something Personal
Way back when I started my professional photography career, some thirty years ago, it was common to hear professionals say that they did commercial work to support their personal work. These days what we all hear is how important personal work is for boosting our commercial success.  Any way you parse it, personal work is a tremendously important aspect of any photographer’s journey.

Connections, Marketing And Fun
The San Francisco Chapter of the APA (American Photographic Artists) has a yearly Gallery Exhibition “Something Personal” that not only gives you a chance to get your personal work out in front of the world, but in front of the “creatives” who actually give out work as well. This is the biggest photographic event of the year in San Francisco and is actually the 18th year of the exhibition and a perfect opportunity to combine fun, connections and marketing.

Getting Your Work Seen
Because a hundred images are accepted for the opening exhibition (with 200 displayed online) your chances of actually getting your work seen is excellent…way better than competitions such as the Communication Arts Photography Annual. The actual opening is also a kick and certainly my favorite venue for connecting with fellow artists, art directors and designers from my past, but also for meeting and making new friends and clients within the industry. This year the opening will be hold at the Midway Gallery (http://www.themidwaysf.com/) with a full bar…nice!

A New Time And A New Venue
This year the event has been moved up by a month and the deadline is only two weeks away and shouldn’t be missed. There is a reason, BTW, that you see the names of the most successful commercial shooters over and over again in this competition…its because they know the benefits of being a part of the “Something Personal” show… and you would be surprised at the number of entries many of them make to insure that they are represented. This year I have entered about ten images myself…and might add to that number in the next couple of weeks.

The deadline for entry is Tuesday, September 29, 2015, and the opening party is Wednesday, November 4th, 2015 (5:00 to 11:00). BTW, after the party last year several of us traded our framed prints...very fun way to add to your collection of work from other photographers you admire!


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