If you are a passionate amateur photographer, you will be increasingly keen to show others your work. And, whilst family and friends will show an interest – either genuine or just out of politeness – there may come a point where you want to get your work before a wider audience.
A photography exhibition is one way to make this happen. You could either organise your own personal exhibition or perhaps manage to find space in a larger exhibition. But how do you make this happen?
In this article we take a look at how to exhibit your photos.
A good place to start exhibiting your work is from the comfort of your own home. By creating a website and/or social media account(s) you can gradually start getting your name known and putting your work out there. This will help when you get around to trying to find a place to exhibit your work.
Use your website and social media presence to showcase your work. Make sure you post good quality images that represent what you can do in the best possible light. Keep your website and channels up to date, but don’t overdo your posts so that people get overwhelmed.
Also use your social media channels to connect and interact with others that may be interested in your work. This needs to be a two way street : you will need to follow and support people who you want to follow and support you. Also make sure that you keep up to date with trends and exhibitions that may be of interest or value to you.
One way to exhibit your work that is totally under your control is to organise your own photography exhibition. If the thought of the organising and the cost is too daunting to handle yourself, you could consider teaming up either with other photographers or a combined group of creatives, for example artists, musicians and writers.
Look around for potential venues that are cost-effective. For example, community centres, libraries, offices, small shopping arcades : any unused space could work. The key thing is that it needs to be a place with regular footfall and which is easily accessible for visitors.
If possible, it’s a good idea to set up your exhibition a few days before its official opening. This gives you time to experiment with the layout and deal with any last minute issues.
The success or otherwise of your exhibition is very much dependent on how well you publicise it. People won’t come unless they know about it, so use every resource you can to make sure they do know. As well as your website and social media channels, use more traditional methods such as posters and flyers, and also make the most of word of mouth recommendations and networking contacts.
Whilst on the subject of word of mouth and networking, the importance of this cannot be overstated. The more people that know you – both as a person and a photographer – the more opportunities you are likely to have to display your work.
You can add to these opportunities by being proactive in the local community. For example asking to display your work at local events, community centres, music evenings, amateur dramatics, pubs, cafes, shops, shopping centres etc
It may even be worth offering to photograph a couple of local events for free. This is a great way of getting known, and you may be able to sell the resulting photos afterwards.
Another good way to display your work is to enter photography competitions. These can range from small local competitions to larger national or even global competitions. Depending on the nature of the competition, it is an opportunity for your work to be displayed locally, nationally or globally, and get it in front of a whole new audience.
Check out our article How to Win Photography Competitions for a few tips on well-known photographic competitions to enter and how to stand the best chance of winning.
Once you have worked your way through some or all of the above ideas on how to exhibit your photos, you may decide it’s time to try and get your work submitted in a larger gallery.
The best way to start is by doing some research as to galleries that may be interested in the type of work that you do. Smaller galleries may be more open to unsolicited contact, but don’t automatically write off approaching larger galleries too.
Find out as much as you can about a gallery and how it operates before putting yourself forward. One way to do this is to attend a few exhibitions and events at the gallery before approaching them yourself. Try to get to know the gallery owners and curators, and also network with artists and photographers who are exhibiting their work, to find out their experiences of the gallery.
If you are invited to submit work to a gallery, make sure you follow any submission guidelines provided, and that you also include as much relevant information about you as you can. For example:
Sometimes you may see open calls for exhibitions and galleries, and there are some websites such as London Photography that collate details of these. This can be a fruitful option to explore, just be careful to check out the reputation, fees and terms and conditions of the host before entering an open call.
We hope that this article gives some useful pointers about how to exhibit your photos. Good luck, and we hope that you succeed in getting your photography work in front of the wider audience it deserves.
Do check back here soon for more helpful photography guides from Print Your Memory.
