One’s work doesn’t usually matter, it’s the photography that is
being juried. Most juries choose work they recognize.
Aren’t the items supposed to “fill the frame?”? I thought all the
items were ok, nothing special, and would not be chosen for a juried
show.? There is too much Background.
looks to me like we are really having a photo contest not a a search for innovative jewelry and craftsman ship. Perhaps all you "Jurors" out there should in the intrest of fairness and equality set the standard and reccomend to the submitters,
You know, there is a minimum level of professionalism needed to be
in shows. Quality photography shows that you are a professional. That
you care that your work will really be seen. That the juror will
go, “Wow, what a nice pendant!” And not, “What in the heck is that?”
Quality photography makes sure that your work has a fair chance to
be seen.
If you don’t like the jury system, you don’t have to participate,
you can sell in other ways.
Elaine
http://www.CreativeTextureTools.com ™
Hard to Find Tools for Metal Clay
Most juries choose work they recognize.
Sometimes jurors are jurying work outside of their field and will
recognize no work.
I like to think that it is not quite so bad as you say.
Elaine
http://www.CreativeTextureTools.com ™
Hard to Find Tools for Metal Clay
Take a look at the before and after images at the following link and then come back and read the rest of this.
I don’t know what happened to the link on my original post (it was
there!), but here it is again:
http://www.bethrosengard.com/Misc/JansPix.html
Beth
To those who are confused about what is getting judged, the
photography, the background, or the jewelry, I offer these thoughts.
Jurors do give a rats **s about what they are doing. It is a very
difficult job. Some shows will get 1200 entries, with 4-5 slides/
images each, visual fatigue is a real problem for jurors.
Jewelry is one of the largest categories to be judged in any show.
Every one and their dog thinks they are a jeweler these days. They
think they can go into a show with some “stuff” and make 5 figures.
Its a common misconception but is very persistent. Jurors must wade
thru dichroic glass chicklets, strung beads, etc in addition to
poorly executed and poorly photographed metal jewelry. Then there
are the cleverly shot imported jewelry that has no business in a
hand- made by artist show, that must be discerned and rejected. (But
that is a whole 'nother thread.)
Those are the givens. To make ones work stand out one does need good
photography. One has to make ones work stand out in the crowd. I
can’t access the images we are talking about, but I can tell you a
slate background is a no. (If someone can email me the url I would
like to look). A plain background is a must. Usually one item per
image unless the items work as a suite, like a necklace & earrings.
Jurors in big shows may only be looking at the images for 10 seconds
max. Your images should be selected and arranged to make a strong
graphic statement in those 10 seconds & not give the jurors any
reason to say no. If you pick 4-5 images of different work it looks
like a series of happy accidents and you won’t get selected. Make
the images you select work together.
The much mentioned Bruce Baker gives great hints in his cd on how to
do this correctly. Also on the Art Fair Source Book website
(http://www.artfairsourcebook.com/) check out their “Virtual Jury.”
For a reasonable fee you can have an experienced juror look at your
images and give you input about them. Money well spent considering
the jury fees.
hth
Carla
Hello Elaine et al,
I think we say "slides" when we mean: actual slides or digital images transported to the people running the jury, either by mailing a CD, or uploading to a server...
My experience is the jury wanted actual slides, and further
instructions discussed where the artist’s name should be placed and
whether the slide frames should be plastic or cardboard. Amazingly
this jury was for an well-established, university art musuem show.
I was astounded. But then, we here in Kansas are not always up to
the speed of either coast when adopting new technology. 
The
slower life style has advantages and…
Judy in Kansas, who watched her beloved Wildcats chalk up a rather
ugly win at football last night.
Quality photography makes sure that your work has a fair chance to be seen. If you don't like the jury system, you don't have to participate, you can sell in other ways.
you know i agree with you in part i dont agree with the jury system
and, i do not participate my specific point on your argument is you
havent got a clue as to how to communicate what a quality or
photograph is to the submitting community. How about i make a deal
with you ! suppose you E, succesfully prompt three individual
jurorsin combination of ethnicity and gender excluding yourself or
your friends and who dont already know each other to agree on what
single color and type background to use for silver and another for
gold and another for two tone and which one to use for each color
combination of gemstone and metal and how a photo should be cropped
with + or - tolerances for border to edge of item and light intensity
percentages and where shadows should be left to right ? right to left
top to bottom ? and i will submit slides of some my work to your next
Jewelry show ?, photo contest events -
best regards goo
Jurors do give a rats **s about what they are doing. It is a very difficult job. Some shows will get 1200 entries, with 4-5 slides/ images each, visual fatigue is a real problem for jurors.
If the job is too difficult because of too many slides then perhaps
those calling for entries should state a specific number of entries
will be accepted. you,dont want to sit through 1200 slides in order
to show a little respect then do somthing about it . Shorten the
acceptance period for the jewelry category and set some standards in
your announcement or call for show entries. Perhaps try to devote a
paragraph to what is expected in a photograhph and what you would
like to look at, gawd forbid, some one,would state a commitment as
to what is expected for a slide.
she also responded -Every one and their dog thinks they are a
jeweler these days.
should the collective management for a particular event not desire
beads & glass chicklets then the jurors should display the a fraction
of thought into the shows purpose and expected outcome by stating it
IN WRITING ! NO GLASS CHICkLETS ! or, somthing like this might work "
the 2008 bla bla bla show is an opportunity for metal crafts persons
working in the new highley acclaimed area of PMC afforded greatly by
astounding advances in new tecnology displaying fantastic techniques
and showing fantastic results in beautifull wearable art " then the
PMC people will respond and all the tradditional folks will toss YOUR
SLIDES into the TRASH and you will have less work. HEY, you may even
educate the public if you were to put somthing like that into your
show’s flyer. wow what a concept ! for a long time these art shows
have shown great success and the people in charge have enjoyed
fabulous status and become powerfull of influence and in most cases
gone to the collective head great power demands great responsibilty
and care and a person who wields power and displays it prominantly on
themselves is a slug. power is better used in service of others !
best regards
goo
Also on the Art Fair Source Book website (http://www.artfairsourcebook.com/) check out their "Virtual Jury." For a reasonable fee you can have an experienced juror look at your images and give you input about them. Money well spent considering the jury fees.
I spent the dough on this. I chose a guy who is not a jeweler, as
most jurors are not.
Be prepared to get a good hard kick in the ego! I think I’d have
been more OK with this if there had been more useful info…
basically, the guy said my work just wasn’t special enough and I’d
have to “push it” much farther. Quite possibly true, but…
His one real “suggestion” was, he took one of my images and
rearranged it in Photoshop, made the colors super-vivid, had fun
with effects-- turned it into an abstrct image that had nothing to
do with jewelry.
He didn’t really pay attention to my booth slide, he said, because I
had flowers in a vase in it, and that sent him into some kind of
tailspin, not sure why.
I do have a new booth slide now, very nice, clean, no flowers. I’m
proud of it, so here it is on my blog:
http://noelyovovich.blogspot.com
Did I get my money’s worth? Hard to say.
Noel
Sorry, this is not true.
We don’t look for the people we know, we look for fresh and
innovative work that speaks to the theme and is well photographed.
Sometimes when we have seen the work up front and personal, and it
shows up in a juried set of slides, I know the quality is there, but
then so is the photography.
The “photography” is not being juried, the piece is. How well the
piece is represented through the medium of photography is what we are
viewing. I have seen pieces which were beautifully photographed, but
the work was pedestrian and uninteresting. Sorry, no amount of
excellent photography will help a work that doesn’t have the charisma
to begin with.
k
M E T A L W E R X
School for Jewelry and the Metalarts
50 Guinan St.
Waltham, MA 02451
781 891 3854
www.metalwerx.com
Elaine said a mouthful about quality photography. Read it again.
Quality photography does say you are a professional. All professional
artists need good quality images for a variety of reasons. Elaine is
on target.
As to the images, I can now see them, thank you Beth.
Reshoot all the photos. Lose the slate background. It’s okay for a
catalog shot, not a jury photo. I suspect that a gradient background
would really pop your images. Try that.
Pendent with red stones. Take the earrings out. It confuses the
photo. Gold Necklace, use the bigger image, leave the earrings in,
you need them to fill the center of the photo.
The 2 bracelets are fine, they show the 2 metals-again use larger
image.
I see no problem w/ bracelets and necklaces in your set of images,
the work all “goes” together.
hth
Carla
Many aspects of photography and entering juried shows are covered by
the Professional Guidelines series of documents easily found on the
SNAG website. These docs are FREE and available in PDF or Word
format.
Go to snagmetalsmith.org look under publications and there they are.
Check out Top Ten Tips For Entering Juried Shows.
Andy Cooperman
Editor/Board Liaison, Professional Guidelines
One more image, for the sake of comparison. I’ve been trying to
learn some new masking software (Fluid Mask by Vertus) and I used one
of Jan’s images to practice on :-). It’s the last one on the page.
http://www.bethrosengard.com/Misc/JansPix.html
Really shows the difference between the slate background and a
gradient background with drop shadow!
Beth
My experience is the jury wanted actual slides, and further instructions discussed where the artist's name should be placed and whether the slide frames should be plastic or cardboard. Amazingly this jury was for an well-established, university art museum show.
These are not unusual directions for a show using slides. The
digital images have their own set of problems that many shows do not
want to deal with. They are use to dealing with the issues of slides,
so they stay with slides…for now.
Shows have artists label slides in a standard way so they can tell
when the image is right side up in the tray, who the artist & medium
is etc. The name is so the slide gets back to the correct artist, or
if a tray gets dumped, the slides can be picked up and replaced
correctly. The more standard the labeling the easier the task for
the jury staff.
If a show gets 800 entries x 4 or 5 slides that is 3200-4000
individual slides that must be handled, put in a slide carousel,
removed, returned to the artist. If one of those slides gets jammed
because it is a fat cardboard slide it can be a big delay for a
tight jury schedule. If several hundred get stuck…you get the
picture. The slide trays that hold large numbers of slides have very
narrowl opening. I suspect this show wanted plastic slide sleeves. A
reasonable request. Its not Kansas, its real.
The current jury system has “issues” but labeling is not one of
them.
hth
Carla
http://www.bethrosengard.com/Misc/JansPix.html
Beth, what feature from Photoshop Elements did you use to get that
last picture (uniform background with shadows and highlights)?
Linda Savineau
the guy said my work just wasn't special enough and I'd have to "push it" much farther. he turned it into an abstract image that had nothing to do with jewelry.
noel - flowers sent me into a tailspin? this is exactly my complaint
about the current jewelry system those of us out here working for a
living have to deal with all these jurors basing thier choices on
thier emotional interperetations of what looks good to them. if we
could find one show that would make a commitment set a standard of
some sort on how to lay out a jewelry shot then i think the field
would be level (old cliche’) i would like to know #1 a background
that we could all use #2 colors of background for different metals
#3 colors for back ground of stone and metal combinations etc… and
so forth for cryin in the night, as a juror dont you want the pride
of KNOWING everyone out there spending energy for your attentions is
getting an even break? listen up all you show jurors when the good
jewelry artists get fed up up with the healey feely method of
choosing artsy fartsy photo’s you and your shows will suffer - best
regards goo
http://www.bethrosengard.com/Misc/JansPix.html
Wow! That’s amazing Beth. The work really pops. It would look even
better if it were actually shot on a gradient gray background.
You can buy one for $9.99 at Setshop.com.
Just a reminder, a summary of books, light tents, etc. is in my
Squidoo lens on Jewelry Photography. It’s at:
http://www.Squidoo.com/jewelryphotography
Thanks again for taking the time to alter those photos Beth, it’s a
real eye opener. It’s great to see the before and after.
Elaine
http://www.CreativeTextureTools.com ™
Hard to Find Tools for Metal Clay
http://www.bethrosengard.com/Misc/JansPix.html
Wow! Beth, that’s terrific. The difference is really impressive. Now
I can actually tell what those red things are.
Elaine
Quality photography does say you are a professional. All professional artists need good quality images for a variety of reasons. Elaine is on target.
Nonsense. It’s necessary ONLY if you are for some reason driven to
sell through “shows” or galleries. Like I said, in two plus decades
I have sold millions of dollars worth of jewelry, without the need
for professional photography, a gallery ripping me off, or show
administrators so stuck in their artsy world they think slides are
the “cat’s meow” and that digital imagery is somehow lacking.
If you choose to sell via the Internet, then professional quality
photography is a must…and not that hard, I wrote a book on it.
If you market yourself in print or via post-cards or magazines, yes,
pro level photography is a must.
But slides are STILL archaic and are the MOST difficult form of
photography to do well because of inherent contrast problems in the
film and the fact that the cost is monstrous compared to good
digital. Monstrous.
But some will keep pushing this stone-age medium. I wonder why? It’s
2007, folks!
Wayne