Finding Beauty

8×10 platinum print from 2010

From my trip to Scotland this past summer.

One of my new photographs from Scotland this past summer. 8×10 platinum print on special offer this week for 95.00.  Check it out here in my gallery store.

Be well,

Ray

Today is my birthday, 52 this time, hence the quote by my daughter.  So again this year I am offering prints from my catalog for $ 52.00 each for one day only, today! This is my birthday gift to all my friends and collectors.

If you have collected my work in the past, please think of this as an opportunity to add to your collection at a very good price. If you have been thinking about collecting my photographs, now is a good time to begin.

You can have a look at my work and the rules for the $52.00 sale here.

Be well,

Ray Bidegain

Last month I entered a juried exhibition by the Portland Photographer’s Forum. I was honored that Juror Julia Dolan of the Portland Art Museum selected my photograph ” Sauvie Island Trees” for the museum purchase award. My photograph will now be in the permanent collection of the Portland Art Museum!

Lately I have been thinking about things we as artists can do to help ourselves grow as artists and to find the passion needed to continue with our work. I think we all could use a plan to help us finalize our work and get whatever validation we need to keep going.  Print sales works for me, when a person pays me money for one of my photographs I know I have made a connection with that person and that they find beauty in my photograph. The problem with sales is that it is not really within our control; I think we need something we can rely on to help us through.  For me, I know that I continue to go out in the landscape, make negatives and come home and print them. Later I add them to the stack of prints I already have. With out any feedback I can run out of the energy needed to go back out and make more.

I know we are supposed to be doing this for ourselves and not care about the rest of humanity but that does not work for me.  The world is full of humans and I for one need interaction with them. Because I feel very connected to my work I feel like my prints are me personified in a strange way, so I need my prints to have relationships with other people and I need the feedback I get from showing them.  Gallery shows are nice but again they are not really within our control. The Internet can offer worldwide exposure, feedback and support that was previously un-heard of but somehow it does not feel as significant as face-to-face showings.

Edward Weston was an art school hero of mine. I read about him and his life, in the daybooks. He always had a stack of 50 finished prints around that he could, and would, show to visitors. Clearly he was trying to sell them, but I think he also benefited from showing them to as many people as possible. When you show your work to another person you not only get feedback, you have a chance to see your own work in a different way. I think a clearer and more critical way.

I wonder how many of you have these same feeling, and would be curious to here how you handle this need.

Be well,

Ray Bidegain

The response to my past offerings of the Collectors Editions has been truly wonderful and positive. I would like to say thank you to all of you for your continued support and interest in my work. My photography is very important to me, and you, my audience, play a critical role in my development as an artist.

The prints included in the Collectors Editions will be fresh new work that I will showcase directly to my collectors first. I will be offering them at a very favorable price for a short time on my website before listing them at my current regular pricing.

Each time I introduce a few new images, hand made platinum prints made by me from camera negatives. The prints will be signed and numbered and presented in 4-ply white rag mats. As always they will come with a satisfaction guarantee.

Please stop by my website and have a look at my new work for May 2011 and if you have a minute let me know what you think.

Be well,

Ray Bidegain

The other day I was looking at some of my photographs that I was preparing to ship, and my 9-year-old daughter Emogene came up and asked what I was looking at.  As she observed me, she commented, “You know dad, I think all of your work is really beautiful, but really, only the artist who made it knows if it’s good or not.”

I spent some time thinking about that. Artists often quote the mantra about making the work only for themselves and not caring what anyone else thinks of it. I don’t completely buy this. I do care what others think of my photographs, but others’ opinions do not necessarily shape my own. I think it is important to make work that you feel good about, and also to remain open to how the work is perceived by others. If no one else understands or responds to your work, I think you need to be curious about why that might be. Not that this will necessarily change the work that you do, but you should make sure you’re clear about why you are choosing to do that work. Feeling strongly about the work you are making is important. It is equally important to be able to communicate your feelings and ideas through your art in a way that resonates with others.