Sofie Dittmann's Photography Blog

http://www.akronartmuseum.org/

Another regional exhibition to put on your calendar: Edward Weston at the Akron Art Museum in Akron/OH.

From the museum’s website on the exhibition: “Edward Weston: Life Work, on view at the Akron Art Museum January 31 – April 26, 2009, surveys the five-decade career of this American master through an outstanding grouping of over 100 vintage photographs. Astonishingly, all the works are from the collection of one couple, New York photography collectors Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg. Weston, who was one of the greatest photographic printers of the 20th century, often reserved his choicest prints for family and close friends. Mattis and Hochberg managed to acquire many works – in fact, most of the prints in this exhibition – directly from members of the Weston family.”

Sofie Dittmann Photo Event, Photography General akron art museum, edward weston, photo exhibit, photography

http://www.carollmichels.com

A year or so ago I bought “How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist” by Caroll Michels. The author is a sculptor, but also an artist career coach living in East Hampton, NY. The book talks about establishing prices for your work, attracting attention to your work and building immunity to rejection (there’ll be another post about that one soon…!).

I was prepared for a book that wouldn’t sugar-coat anything. However, not only does it do away with the notion that art is only art when you’re starving, it has some REALLY good advice on how to market yourself as an artist.

Especially helpful to me was the section about non-gallery spaces like bank lobbies or coffee shops. While that may sound like it’s for people that aren’t serious about their art or the losers that can’t get in with a dealer or a gallery, I would seriously dispute that.

What good is visual art if nobody sees it? Is it better to have a rotating exhibition at your house or to have some of that hanging at – yes – a coffee shop? I came to photography outside of art school, and I’m proud to say that what I have I have worked hard for and primarily taught myself. Yes, I lack the connections I would have forged had I taken another route. It’s not an issue for me, though. DIY photography, if that’s a word for it, is nothing to be ashamed of.

Neither am I ashamed that I’m looking at non-gallery spaces first and foremost. Will that help me sell stuff? Maybe not, b/c people tend to get sticker shock (another post in the making!) or want the photograph including the frame for half the price or are simply not there to buy anything. Yet, I’ve had more people talk to me about the stuff I’ve had hanging at public places like that than I would have thought.

I’m not saying galleries are not important, and I’ll definitely be working on establishing relationships there, too. What I’m saying is that the most important thing for me is that people get to see my photos, no matter where they hang. Portraits, still life, street photography alike.

Sofie Dittmann Check this out!, Photography General, Resource art marketing, caroll michels, gallery, non-gallery spaces, photo, photography

http://cma.org/exhibitions/Friedlander.aspx

I’ve got this one on my calendar!

From CMA’s (Cleveland Museum of Art) website:

“While Lee Friedlander’s name may not be a household word, his photographs are widely familiar as iconic representations of common American experience. Born in 1934, he gained fame in the early 1960s with off-balance street photographs that evoke the complexity the modern world. Explore Friedlander’s witty and unblinking view of everyday American life in this expansive exhibition that gathers some 375 photographs plus special edition books and portfolios to trace a five-decade career.

Always working in series, Friedlander mines what he calls “the American social landscape,” beginning with a layered view of city streets—shop fronts, ads, televisions, and cars. This central theme is supplemented by subjects including portraits, self-portraits, landscapes, still lifes, nudes, and studies of people at work. This body of work stands as one of the major achievements in 20th-century art, combining astute observation and graphic verve to present a compelling vision of contemporary America.

This exhibition is organized by The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Made possible by Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell, Agnes Gund, Toby Devan Lewis, and Mark Schwartz and Bettina Katz. The Cleveland Museum of Art is generously funded by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this exhibition with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence, and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.”

Sofie Dittmann Check this out!, Photo Event, Photography General cleveland museum of art, cma, lee friedlander, photography

Alright, so here’s actually the solution to a problem that was driving me ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY NUTS (see previous post). And there wasn’t a solution to be found – until I figured it out today.

So, here it goes.

I have Gallery 2 embedded w/in a Joomla 1.5 site. Check it out at http://sdittmann.com (click on the Photographs link). What I couldn’t understand is that even though I have Joomla NOT override Gallery’s style sheet, as soon as I flushed out the cache on Gallery, the entire layout was screwed up. And I mean SCREWED UP. I diagnosed it left and right, Firebug and what not, but couldn’t figure it out. It was like Gallery’s style sheet was either not loaded in or overwritten by default or something.

Until it hit me: that must be the issue. So I copied the content from theme.css in its entirety into the css for my Joomla template (at the bottom). AND LO’ AND BEHOLD, IT WORKS. Why didn’t I think of this earlier? And why couldn’t I find the solution to this issue anywhere? Anyway, and be that as it may, if somebody else has had this issue, this worked for me.

Good luck!

Sofie Dittmann Check this out!, Photography General freeware, gallery 2.3, joomla 1.5, online photo gallery, photo gallery

Am I the only one who’s having issues w/ this? I’ve been trying literally for WEEKS to get Gallery to work 100% w/ in the Joomla 1.5 site I’m building. However, when I call the page Gallery is embedded in, first I get a script error, then it seems to load correctly. Yet, Gallery’s layout is messed up and continues to be so no matter what I do – it’s like Joomla by default either overrides or doesn’t even load the respective style sheet when embedding Gallery.

AND I CAN’T SEEM TO FIND A SOLUTION.

I’ve tried other gallery modules, but I don’t think they are as good. (How helpful is it to me if I have a subalbum, and the main album lists “0″ content b/c the content of the main album is another album?) Anyway, I’m STILL trying to get to the bottom of this, but THIS IS FRICKING ANNOYING. I know I wouldn’t have these issues if I caved in and bought into something else. But I happen to BELIEVE in Open Source, Freeware etc., and the philosophy of which Joomla and Gallery are a part.

SO PLEASE, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY. I’m about to cave in and get something that actually works!

Sofie Dittmann OMG!, Photography General freeware, gallery 2.3, joomla 1.5, online photo gallery, photo gallery