Thank you for sharing your experience (and frustration) on the net. I think maybe is a problem of target. You can get a lot of hits from the average public, mainly amateur interested solely in technique. But how is possible to reach the right audience? All those gallerists and curators that potentially can transform online appreciation in real business? I think Aline Smithson suggestion is really the key: make a certain selection. Chose the blogs, contests, portfolio lectures, places, etc that really matter (or maybe that you really like). Hope this can help all of us!

It was great to read this interview because I have been thinking much lately about the myth that photography/artistry is all about the work. Just putting it online is not enough, it’s about getting it into the right places online. About being clever, mixing physically with the right people and places, waving that ‘flag’ tactfully so that people will look over at something wild you’ve done, and then they will look at the next possibly more subtle thing you do, gaining a foothold into people’s short attention spans. It’s about making a ‘story’ out of yourself, almost as if we’re news commodities. And then there is the issue of safe boundaries in this current climate that does not want to take the risk of anything too risky or new – everyone loves to throw around the lie that they want unique and original creativity, for example in fashion photography. But really, innovation or ‘originality’ must always lay within the boundaries of accepted commercial trends. It’s about successfully pulling off the illusion of ‘difference’ whilst really being the same. Whilst self-marketing, and commercial vs. self expression have always been sticking points for creatives, it’s fair to say that the internet has brought along some new implications, primarily increasing the amount of material out there, and reducing the attention spans to absorb it.

The issue of being noticed also makes us consider how good our work looks onscreen. The ‘cultural consumerism’ Aline describes, of people’s short attention spans on the internet, has made me consider and critique how pretty my work is to look at, how good it looks at thumbnail-size, how immediate and arresting it is – how many Facebook ‘likes’ a certain picture or series will get. And then, one of the main frustrations to my own internet-spawned career is having all these ‘hits’ on one website and another, but those hits not translating into anything ostensible or lucrative per say, and most of the interest that does come to my work being from people who want to know how to grab some of those seemingly desirable ‘hits’ to try replicate the life and success they think I’ve got.

The internet creates a big illusion. Artists make work and share it, and their work might have lots of popularity online. In that popularity they accrue a mass following of inspired people, some of whom are fixated on winning the same label of artist – they want a shortcut to get what the artist apparently has (which may be little more than just internet hits) without realising that first they need – and should want to – make a body of work that, without years of dedication and marketing, might never make them any money at all.

My head has been full of these topics recently, especially being caught up in trying to target opportunities/contacts etc in both the ‘fine art’ and ‘fashion’ worlds… and other things in between. Whilst this diversity of approach stems from not wanting to be labelled, I also fear lacking focus.

Whilst I am learning all the time how important self-promotion, marketing etc is, I definitely agree that more time needs to be spent on making the work. And I like the idea of ‘rebooting’ as Aline recommended… from all the accumulated distractions and open browser windows. I think I will do that now – figuratively and literally!