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At the end of a review, photographers typically hand over a sample of their work—a promo card, a CD, a small booklet—as a leave-behind the reviewer can take home. Ann Jastrab, gallery director of Rayko Photo Center of San Francisco, tells photographers, “Keep in mind that most of the material we get is hard to bring back because we get so much of it.”
She jokes, “Unfortunately the leave behinds often get left behind” especially if more than a dozen photographers give them booklets, cards and CDs. Her advice to photographers: “Instead, follow up with me a few days or a few weeks later with an eye-catching 4 x 6 postcard that has an iconic image on the front and your contact information on the back. That works best for me.”
Jastrab, a frequent reviewer at Photolucida, Photo Alliance in San Francisco, and Review LA among others, says that the images that really wow her on a mailed card get pinned up on her office wall. It also helps her figure out which images might work together in a group show. For example, Rayko currently has a juried show of camera-less photography on view called “No Mirrors” that features work by nearly 50 artists from around the world. Christopher Colville is one of them.
“I met Christopher at Photolucida earlier this year and he showed me two bodies of work. One was of otherworldly landscapes in the desert and the other was an ongoing series of where he put gunpowder on a photo sheet and ignited it. The visual results are (literally) an explosion of gray, white, and brown,” Jastrab explains. Shortly after their meeting, Jastrab received a postcard with one of Colville’s gunpowder images on it, which promptly made it to her wall. Seeing it on her wall next to other photographers’ work, she decided the series would work in the gallery’s upcoming show. In fact, a triptych by Colville appears on the card announcing the exhibit.
Colville didn’t have to wait very long after meeting Jastrab. That’s more the exception than the rule of portfolio review success stories, however. Jastrab says if you don’t hear from a reviewer right away, don’t give up hope. “I’m actually showing the work of someone I met at Photo Lucida two years ago,” she says, “so you never know how long it is going to take but if the work is good, it will happen. That’s the importance of the wall of pictures for me, it’s like, ‘Oh, NOW it’s time to do that show.’”
One person Jastrab reached out to two years after meeting him at Photolucida is Carl Corey, whose book Tavern League: Portraits of Wisconsin Bars is due out in July; he recently signed with the Rose Gallery in Santa Monica. “I didn’t even have a review with him,” says Jastrab, but a friend who was also reviewing portfolios urged her to meet him at the end of the day. Jastrep says, “And the one image I really loved, he sent me later as a thank you card. That was really smart of him.”
Corey took it one step further. The next time he was in San Francisco he called Jastrab to ask if he could meet with her. He brought along all of his prints from their previous meeting as a reminder. “Touching base never hurts,” Jastrab says. “If something doesn’t come out of a review the first time, don’t be discouraged. Check in sporadically and keep your name and work in that person’s head.”
Not every reviewer agrees, however. Before sending a follow-up, ask reviewers if they want to be contacted.
Curator Anne Wilkes Tucker of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, for example, only wants follow-up pieces if she asks for them. If she does, she advises photographers to send a brief resume with contact information, Web site address or a CD.
“During the review I want to see between 20 to 30 pieces max. I also prefer an artist not go on and on about the work before I see it,” she says. “Don’t tell me who has bought the work and where it was shown. Either the work will speak for itself or it won’t.” Tucker, who notes, “We are open to all types of work and all levels of talent,” purchased a Myra Greene ambrotype at the last Fotofest in Houston. At press time, Tucker was also hoping to acquire a Scott Connoroe image from his series on U.S. coastlines. (Connoroe was named a PDN 30 emerging photographer to watch in 2010.) Greene, who says she uses various photographic processes to engage issues on “the body, memory, absorption of culture and the and the ever shifting identity of African-American,” also caught the eye of reviewer Jastrab with her series called “My White Friends.”
Too often, photographers will attend reviews with just one body of work and then show up with the same set of images. Christopher Rauschenberg, co-curator of Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, Oregon (and co-founder of Photolucida), recommends photographers bring at least two or three different series for review. “We all say it, but not everyone listens,” says Rauschenberg. By bringing more than one project to show, “you minimize the chances of having work that someone won’t care anything about or has no feeling for.”
After the review, Rauschenberg says, you should stay in touch reviewers as you shoot new work or update a project with new images. Rauschenberg saw Evžen Sobek’s work twice in different years and was impressed with his long-term project “Life in Blue.” The series documented leisure activities by the shores of a reservoir on the southeastern tip of the Czech Republic, but Rauschenberg didn’t do anything with the work until after their second meeting.
“The work stayed on my mind in between reviews not only because it was impressive but also because Evžen stayed in touch once the first review was over.” When Rauschenberg met with Sobek the second time around, he saw that the series had been updated with several new images that were as strong as the ones Rauschenberg had previously seen. “We did a show with him in May and ended up with a much stronger exhibit than if I had jumped on the work after the first review.” Sobek’s book Life in Blue is also being published by Kehrer Verlag and is due out this December.
“Remember, always leave a card or mail a card with a sample of your work on it and include your name and contact information,” Rauschenberg advises. “I might remember your image of a donut long after you leave but not necessarily your name. Make sure I remember your name too.”