Examples of my artwork photography and before and after examples of jury images I’ve improved. This featured image will change monthly with new artwork as I photograph it. Continue to scroll down to read new articles on the web site.    Read More…>>

Our winter holiday card. Each year (actually most major holidays) we do a picture with our puppies.      Read More…>>

1 – Choosing which shows to apply to
Research shows before you apply. Find out if it’s a good fit for your style or price range. Too often basic questions about shows are asked on the forums after the artist has applied and been accepted. Continue reading the rest of the tips.    Read More…>>

The lighting set up is nothing out of ordinary. I shoot with two studio strobes bounced into oversize white umbrellas for diffused light. The lighting from the lamp comes through due to a slower shutter speed.    Read More…>>

On Tuesday November 11th at 5:00PM, Connie Mettler will interview Bruce Baker and myself on Art fair Insiders.    Read More…>>

My recent article about how to photograph your booth has made a great many artists more aware of their booth picture, and now many of those artists are looking to up their game and improve their jury presentation. I’ve put together some examples of booth pictures that I’ve done some editing on in the past […]    Read More…>>

We’ve all seen (and maybe admired) this type of photograph. Jewelry laid out on a shiny black surface with a reflection underneath. And sometimes with a circular spot surrounding the piece. A few years ago when I was first practicing photographing jewelry, I ordered a few pieces of black plexiglass to experiment with. Thinking the […]    Read More…>>

How important is the booth photo? Besides the artwork images, the booth image can easily make or break an artist’s career doing art shows by keeping you out of even the shows that are considered easy to get into.     Read More…>>

Jewelry is known to be one of the most difficult art forms to photograph. At art shows, aside from it being the most populated and competitive medium to jury in, the small size of most pieces makes it very difficult to photograph, especially trying to keep the entire piece in focus. Usually any angle except […]    Read More…>>

I received a sales call telling me my web site could be marketed better. But what could have been better was that they could have actually tried to sell me marketing on one of my web sites.    Read More…>>

A few pictures from Ann Arbor Wednesday 7/16 when I was there taking booth pictures.     Read More…>>

Does getting feedback from the jury benefit us? Or more important, does getting feedback in a mock jury improve our chances of getting into top shows? Any artist with experience doing art shows understands how random jurying is. Some jurors will like your work and some won’t. Some jurors will understand what you’re doing and […]    Read More…>>

I love shooting black and white with my Fuji X100S and I try to carry it everywhere. I feel that if I’m carrying a camera all the time, I have a responsibility to take pictures when they throw themselves at me. But the other day turned out to be a color day    Read More…>>

If you’re reading this, it’s because you’ve looked for an art show to apply to and my name and phone number are listed on the show’s web site for artists that need help with their application or their images. Among the art and craft shows that list me as a resource are Howard Alan Events […]    Read More…>>

The easiest way to get started photographing your own artwork.
1 – Decide on a background
2 – Control the lighting
3 – Set the camera properly    Read More…>>

The most asked question by photographers just starting out is how much inventory to bring to their first art show. I have three rules to go by. First – understand that what you may think your most popular images are may not be public opinion. Choosing a body of proven sellers comes from experience, doing […]    Read More…>>

To condense the various web sites that I list my photographs for sale on, and hopefully sell more, I set up an account with Zenfolio and created galleries of all my different styles of work    Read More…>>

Our latest cute puppy holiday picture    Read More…>>

For years I’ve been complaining about the image quality in compact cameras, wondering if the manufacturer’s would finally add a larger sensor so us aging photographers could travel light and still capture high quality images. It finally happened    Read More…>>

How many booths are too many at an art show? There was a recent uproar from artists when Bayou City went from 300 booths to 450 booths after everyone had applied and the application was closed. When they were late in sending out the space assignments, it was because they were busy calling wait listed […]    Read More…>>

In case you haven’t been following social media, particularly the Art Fair Review or NAIA Facebook forums (which you should join if you you haven’t already), you’ll find this difficult to believe. Bayou City spring show in Houston’s Memorial Park raised the number of exhibitor booths from 300 to 450, AFTER their application closed and […]    Read More…>>

A commonly asked question from artists who create a lot of different work is whether it’s appropriate to include multiple items in a single jury image. I’ve even had artists who don’t create similar items want to put a few pieces in each image as a way of showing the jurors that they make a […]    Read More…>>

We’ve always though that images were viewed by jurors based on the date and time you submit your application. But a show I applied to recently and attended the open jury for (Columbus) chose random as the order they projected the images for the jurors. I received notice that I was on the waiting list […]    Read More…>>

Columbus open jury. Not more than about a dozen artists attended the first day. No matter how much we stress how important it is to attend an open jury to see both your presentation and what you are competing against, artists are just not taking advantage of this. The second day about 20 artists attended, probably to see if they made the second round.    Read More…>>

Jury deadlines are coming up and for most art shows, artists need to submit a picture of their booth apply, even for deadlines in the middle of winter when it’s snowing.    Read More…>>

Doing double duty. A customizable mounting system for iphones and ipads that works in your vehicle and can double as an iphone camera mount.    Read More…>>