Beginner's Guide to Photographic Salons

[davidc]

The exhibition/salon "scene" is pretty well established in the UK now but only really has 5 or 6 regular contributors over here. Not sure why, I think it's partly cultural to be seen to exceed so people don't necessarily try if they can't be sure of success. Regardless, I wrote this beginner's guide to try and help people who might be interested in dipping their toes into salons.

Not sure anyone in the club is doing this so though you might be interested also!

http://davidcandlish.photography/news/2 ... phy-salons

Let me know if you have any feedback/questions etc., happy to help!

[Peter Boughton]

Though you will need to enter print competitions eventually

Should that be qualified with if you care about getting letters, or is there some other reason for entering prints?

[davidc]

To get the letters you need a certain percentage as print - 10% for FIAP for the entry level accreditation, not sure off the top of my head for PSA. So you are correct in saying prints are important if you care about letters OR you really love exhibiting prints. Otherwise PDI is the way to go.

Until last week I'd only entered one print exhibition, Southampton, and that's because I was taking my uncle who also likes photography to view the exhibition in person Now because I'm quite close to the first FIAP award, I've decided to continue entering to get it then I'll pause and reconsider.

One of the Singaporean guys who I'm part of a group with entered 660 exhibitions last year... that's nearly two a week! He's almost reached his PSA Grandmaster title.

[Mike Farley]

Do all these salons actually hold exhibitions of all the accepted entries? I seem to recall reading somewhere that on occasion only a catalogue is produced. If this is the case, is the catalogue printed or just sent electronically to entrants?

Since my details were published in the PAGB handbook where I am listed as a lecturer, I have received the occasional invitation from people purporting to be in Macedonia or Egypt, claiming PSA and/or FIAP accreditation. Usually there is an extension of the entry deadline as well. I have never been sure whether they have been genuine or a scam, not that has been an issue as I have always ignored them.

[davidc]

Many do hold exhibitions but not all. Most of the bigger named ones do have real world exhibitions.

Catalogues are mandatory, although I'm not sure if the rule stipulates printed or electronic. I have received many more printed catalogues than electronic and the electronic ones are all sent on CD so my suspicion is that the format is irrelevant and only that some hard-format (be it CD or print) is sent out. I'm not 100% sure but I know that salons which don't send it are usually refused future patronage.

The email spamming and salon location are two different things. The salons understandably want to make sure they reach a wide audience and many use the same software to run exhibitions - this allows sharing of emails which is in theory not bad. Problem is, with certain locations like you mention, that leads to spam. The rules allow no more than 6 emails per salon which in itself sounds reasonable. Multiply that by all the salons and it's a problem.

The location issue is quite new. Without wanting to sound too finger-pointing or dare I say racist, I've been told that Serbia & India had 300 salons between them last year, a significant chunk. Often with many of the same people & clubs running them. Its hard to look at that and think it's all about photographic integrity, especially when many of them are the 1st in a new lineage of salon - this is important because you can't submit an image to a salon more than once, so it's better to have many salons in their inaugral year than have long, successful established salons. You get more money SORRY entrants if you have many brand new salons.

Hence the rising level of annoyance and discomfort among those who value quality over quantity and who earned accreditations in a vastly different landscape. And why it can be confusing to beginners to see tons and tons of "1st xxxx salon".

Personally I think many of the salons are out to make a fast buck but there are a solid core that are worthwhile and where I would enter. As for the accreditations, they are a useful tool to drive my photography and let me see what others are doing to inspire creativity. I doubt I will bother chasing the higher levels because after the first few stages it simply because a race to get as many acceptances as possible. One of the guys over here is on for making GRAND MASTER PLATINUM PSA - very impressive sounding. To get it he needs 11,000 acceptances. My highest acceptances in one salon is 17, lowest is 4 so assuming 10 on average that's 1,100 salons... each salon averages £20 entrance... £22,000

"You pays your money... "

[Mike Farley]

Personally I think many of the salons are out to make a fast buck but there are a solid core that are worthwhile and where I would enter.

Thanks for the response. Do you have a list of salons which you would recommend?

One of the guys over here is on for making GRAND MASTER PLATINUM PSA - very impressive sounding. To get it he needs 11,000 acceptances. My highest acceptances in one salon is 17, lowest is 4 so assuming 10 on average that's 1,100 salons... each salon averages £20 entrance... £22,000

£22k? Good grief. I think that I'll stick to the RPS and possibly PAGB qualifications.

[davidc]

I can give a list of what I've entered - the ones I'd recommend might reflect those that I did well in Having said that, some of them - especially UK ones I've found - have a huge preference for the creative/experimental style of photography. I'm not a fan of those at all so would probably filter those out of any recommendations. I'll have a look at those which seem to be well balanced and maybe closer to the club photography style.

That £22k is likely to be lower because circuits can lead to 4x the acceptances for the price of one salon but there aren't THAT many circuits going around! It's also back of the envelope and not sure how close to reality. Maybe I will ask him how much he has spent

On the subject of the PAGB distinctions, it's the same guys looking to go after those too. Despite a vaguely worded email suggesting it wasn't OK for foreigners to apply, I'm still waiting back on a clarification from them on that question!

[Mike Farley]

That £22k is likely to be lower because circuits can lead to 4x the acceptances for the price of one salon but there aren't THAT many circuits going around!

I did not see any mention of circuits in your article. That might be a useful inclusion.

On the subject of the PAGB distinctions, it's the same guys looking to go after those too. Despite a vaguely worded email suggesting it wasn't OK for foreigners to apply, I'm still waiting back on a clarification from them on that question!

So far as I am aware, there is nothing in the PAGB rules stating that the qualifications are only eligible to UK residents, but I suspect that they have not really considered the option. Besides, someone who is a member of a UK club will not necessarily be a UK citizen, neither will someone who is a member of a UK club automatically be resident in the UK even if they do hold a British passport. We ourselves have two members who fall into that category. It's something of a minefield for the PAGB, I would have thought. It will be interesting to see what they come up with, if anything.

[davidc]

For circuits, I thought it was a bit confusing for newbies because although the main concept is simple (you send the same photos to 3 or more salons for simultaneous judging), when it comes to their impact on your accreditation it's a little more complex. I am converting the blog post into an article so it's not lost, and so it's downloadable, and will be flesh it out a bit then with circuits, an FAQ etc. That's why the feedback is so useful, I'm intending to improve the guide further still based on feedback.

So far we've had one new person join our little group of exhibitors here so I'm counting that as a success

[Paul Heester]

Definite thumbs up from me on explaining the idea behind salons. Its sounds a good idea, albeit a time-consuming one to achieve accreditation.