Above: Images in my World Portrait gallery.
When I give a presentation on the business side of photography, I say to my students: "Your pictures do you absolutely no good sitting on your hard drive and backup hard drive (or hanging out in the cloud). You need to get your best work out there for others to see. Today, even though the methods for showing and sharing one's work has changed, the old adage - 'Publish or Perish' is still true."
In addition to getting your work "out there," galleries are a way to generate income. For me, I print the images in my galleries and sign each one. Most of the photographers I know, however, opt for on-line, automated sales.
I tell my students that the best way, as well as the easiest way, I've found to share one's work is through the web-based and iPad/iPhone galleries offer by Squarespace.
Above: My most recent Gallery - Camargue Horses.
If you click the Galleries on the left side of this page, you'll see a drop down menu of my galleries, which I am constantly changing and updating. For example, I added my Camargue gallery shortly after returning from a workshop that I was leading in Provence, France. Adding that gallery, by the way, took about 20 minutes, thanks, in part, to the drag-and-drop feature of adding pictures in Squarespace galleries. Converting my RAW files to JPEGs with Photoshop's Image Processor was also time-saver.
Above: Squrespace Portfolio app on my iPhone. Full-frame view is also an option.
Speaking of included features and ease of posting, Squarespace offers a free mobile app - for both the iPad and iPhone - called Portfolio. With this awesome app, your website galleries are automatically linked to your mobile device, so you can share your pictures while on the road.
Above: Thumbnail view of my Route 66 Gallery on my iPad.
I gladly, happily and eagerly share my images. Sometimes for fun. Sometimes for business. I always encourage the sharing aspect of galleries.
I meet some photographers throughout the year, however, who don't have on-line galleries. Some don't want to share their work, for fear of someone stealing their images. Others think it's too difficult to create galleries. Still, some photographers don't think they need galleries.
Above: Images look awesome full screen on the new iPad.
I'm interested in your take on on-line and mobile galleries. Do you have galleries? If so, why - and how are they helping your business, or helping you to simply have more fun with your photography. Likewise, if you don't have galleries, why not?
Please leave your comment in the Comments section here so other can read and learn.
Explore the light,
Rick
