Forum Takeover with Brooke Shaden

[Brooke Shaden]

8 hours ago, Jeremy said:

Hi Brooke,

 

any advice for shooting in places where it rains A LOT (Seattle)?

 

Jeremy

Jeremy, you're living my dream! Shoot in the rain! That's my honest advice. I only shoot in indirect sunlight: before sunrise, after sunset, or on cloudy days.

Which begs the question, why do I live in Arizona?! The weather is absolute 💩 for the type of lighting I like. My Sony A7RV is weatherproof. I've had it out in monsoons and it's been right as rain (pun intended). Just remember to jump in all the puddles and laugh while doing it.

[Brooke Shaden]

7 hours ago, TrekRover said:

Hi Brooke,

When you complete your art, what medium do you usually use for printing? is there a particular material you prefer? (ex: canvas, metal, glass, paper, wood, etc)

I print on paper almost always, because that is traditional and I find collectors often prefer that to different materials. The tendency is that the paper is more archival than some other processes, but not always! 

Location also matters. I exhibit with a gallery in Amsterdam and we always do Dibond prints, which is very popular in Europe. 

Here is the information for my regular prints:
Paper Company: Breathing Color
Paper: Elegance Velvet Fine Art Paper
Color: Bright White
Weight: 300gsm

Mine is a heavily textured, thick paper and I think my work looks good on a paper of that quality. It's also archival certified for 100+ years. They are called "archival pigment prints", otherwise known as "giclee" (meaning "to spray on", indicating an inkjet print method), though I've found that term is going out of style in recent years. 

[Brooke Shaden]

7 hours ago, DevilAlan said:

Hi Brooke,

Do u need to do anything or spend any $ on SEO to promote yourself on internet or social media?

Tks

Alan

I personally have never paid for advertising on social media, but these days, I'm not opposed to it given how difficult it is to reach your own audience. I'm actually considering hiring a marketing agency next year to do that kind of legwork for me when I launch new classes or print sales. It's something I'm not personally versed in, nor do I particularly want to be, so I might outsource.

My advice in this realm is to find an expert who has some content about paying for social media marketing and see what they say about pros/cons of paid promotions. Someone who might be great to check out is Alex Beadon.

[Brooke Shaden]

6 hours ago, DevilAlan said:

Hi Brooke!

Printing! I understand that u outsource your printing to the pros. May I ask what is your choice of papers to be use, and or any insight in your printing requirement/process. 

Thank you. Didn't know u are a Trekkie too! 

Indeed, I do! I use a printer in Los Angeles who I've been printing with since day one in my career. He actually taught me about limited editions, pricing, sizes, how to proof my work, etc. He's like my fairy godfather. 

Paper: 
Paper Company: Breathing Color
Paper: Elegance Velvet Fine Art Paper
Color: Bright White
Weight: 300gsm

When I go to print, I save the PSD or PSB file separately. Then, I flatten my layers, resize the image to the size I want to print at, and save as a .TIF file. In my experience, high end printers will want to print from a .TIF file.

If you're working with a new printer, they should want to do proofs with you. This is where you either go in or they'll send you prints of your work in small format so you can see if the colors, textures, and brightness are okay. After you agree on prints that look good, the printer should save those settings and be able to make future prints to those specifications.

Some printers do this on a per-image basis, but I've been printing with mine for so long we don't proof anymore.

🖖
- A Voyager girl

[Brooke Shaden]

6 hours ago, Jess said:

Hi Brooke! I love your view on art and the way you share your knowledge. 

I've been creating self-portraits for some time now and I haven't seen any improvement. I'm taking photography and photoshop courses but I feel like I've hit the wall. What would you recommend to get better, deeper and more emotional images? In your opinion, how much does that depend on the equipment used?

I feel very stuck and unsure about my next steps in pursuing this career. What would you advise to someone who is not new but haven't had any luck in turning this style of photography into a business? 

This is a great question that will apply to most people, myself included, because we're all out here hitting walls left and right then looking around dazed thinking what do I do next?!

1. Find someone you trust to give an in-depth portfolio review, as long as you want to hear hard truths. I'm not talking about hard truths in your work specifically - I don't care if you're the most famous artist in the world, a portfolio reviewer will always have critiques. It's what they do. Portfolio reviews are extremely helpful for quickly identifying areas to improve on. 

I find just learning photography and photoshop doesn't prepare us all that well for pushing past a certain level in our craft. I find honest feedback does.

That said, do be careful in selecting reviews. Some are harsh for the sake of being harsh, and I'm absolutely not about the ridiculously mean reviewers who have nothing better to do than put other artists down.

2. If an artist you admire is offering mentorships, take it, if you can. Getting 1-1 feedback from someone doing what you'd like to do is invaluable. 

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how much does that depend on the equipment used?

On one hand, it matters very little, especially in the beginning. You should use gear you feel connected to and that works intuitively for you. However, as you progress into your career, being able to compete with professional gear becomes necessary. There's a good reason why I shoot with the A7RV and 24-70mm GM II lens - It's 61 megapixels, shoots brilliantly in very low light, and I can print huge files. These are all necessities with the type of work I do. 

Last year I did an album shoot for Doja Cat, and I can say without a doubt that if I had shown up with lesser gear, where the images were soft, or grainy, or just weren't able to blow the images up huge, it would have been an instant issue on set. I once was commissioned to create an image that would be printed 14 feet tall and 25 feet wide for the lobby of a building in North Carolina 😵 So the more you scale the scope of your work, the better your gear should be.

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What would you recommend to get better, deeper and more emotional images?

As for creating emotional images, I don't know that gear matters as much unless you're looking to try a specific technique. Again, gear usually matters for what you do with the images after, which does factor in to how someone will interact with the work later, especially in print.

As for going deeper with your images, I recommend this exercise:

Think of an idea that you could focus on for one year. In that year, you aren't allowed to think about any other ideas. You must only create work based on that idea. You will go so much deeper than you ever thought possible if you give your mind the space to sit with it, subconsciously go deeper, and then intentionally go deeper. How many ways can you express that idea visually? What opinions or beliefs do you hold about that idea? How can this idea change others?

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What would you advise to someone who is not new but haven't had any luck in turning this style of photography into a business? 

There's the age-old trick: Figure out where there is a problem and provide a solution. If you want to turn your art into a business, ask yourself what niche you need to fill. Who does it help, and how, and why? Work toward filling that gap, wherever you see one.

On an artistry level, back to those reviews. Peer review groups, portfolio reviews, anyone who will be honest about what they connect with and don't connect with in your work, and people who will also share where they could see technical improvement.

Diversify. Figure out how you can create more income streams for yourself. Personally, I have 10 different sources where my income comes from.

And especially...you got this. Find your cheerleaders. Find people who will support you, lift you up, and make you believe you can keep going. We all need community to do this art thing.

[Brooke Shaden]

3 hours ago, Sharketti Creative said:

How many pieces of work would you recommend having before you try to begin selling?

 

At minimum 10, but probably about 30. It's always good to build trust by showing you have hit a stride professionally and creatively where your work has cohesion, and they aren't flukes.

[Brooke Shaden]

2 hours ago, Jac Moonbeam said:

How does AI fit into all this for you as an artist, your  artistry, artist identity and your possible sales? How do you feel about it? 

I'm pretty agnostic in the AI space. I don't feel particularly threatened by it, but I also don't feel particularly moved to incorporate it into my work. I love my process and I don't find fulfillment in using AI, so I haven't yet. I certainly reserve the right to change my mind, because my primary goal in my career and craft is to follow my curiosity.

I don't know how it has or will effect sales, but I know I'm just going to keep doing what I've always done: lead with the story. 

I feel confident that we creators are more than the product we produce. Otherwise, we'd be no different than machines. There's always the why behind what we do. That is a story no one can take from us, and to me, it makes the art so much more than the product. So, whether AI is being used or not, it's the story that connects us to each other.

[alpha-jessica-a]

Thank you Brooke for such an insightful Forum Takeover!