Get Out There: Exhibiting Your Photos

The photo above was chosen to appear on exhibit at a Denver restaurant. I can't tell you how exciting it is to have your work shown to the public like this. Somehow it seems different than having my photos available online. The people that come to this restaurant are a captive audience that might not have come in contact with my photos any other way. It's a great opportunity, and I encourage all my readers to take advantage of similar ways to display your work. Just don't let your insecurities cause you to miss out like mine almost did.

The Denver Darkroom created this opportunity for its students to exhibit and sell their work in participating venues throughout the community. It's a great way for the school and its talented students to promote themselves. For this first exhibit, students could enter up to 20 photos that would be judged and then put on display at Carmine's Cucina, an Italian and Mexican restaurant. I made the mistake of peeking at what other students had turned in. Their work was incredible, and I started to feel my work didn't measure up. I dragged my butt, waiting until the last possible minute to submit my images because I kept arguing with myself about how fruitless this would be and how terrible I would feel when none of my pieces were chosen to go on display. Sometimes it's hard for even me to believe how far I've come in less than a year...from knowing nothing, not even understanding what aperture meant to being able to shoot and edit my images, manipulating layers and quick masks on Photoshop CS3.

But we have to have faith in our own eye, in our own abilities. Someone told me it doesn't matter how long you've been shooting, especially if you can do the work as well as or even better than someone who has been shooting for years. One of the three images I submitted was not only chosen to go on display, but the restaurant owner himself picked my image as a personal favorite. He told me that if no one else buys it, he intends too and will always have the image hanging in his restaurant because he loves it that much. He loves how the slow shutter speed transforms the water from a photo into something that looks like a painting.

Don't let your fears stop you from succeeding. Acknowledge your insecurities so they don't have power over you anymore; do the work you need to make yourself feel more competent and GET OUT THERE! You will never know who will connect with your work if you keep it hidden.