Last week, Kate Chase and I from Brite Productions headed out to Los Angeles for a week of joint portfolio shows. Kate and I have known each other for years so it is no surprise that collaborating comes natural to us.
We first tried it a few years ago in Minneapolis when Kate was representing retouching artists. There we learned how much the agencies loved that there were more than one agent in attendance. They felt like their time was well spent seeing more rather than less and the fact that it was photography AND post production made it that much more interesting for them. From there we combined forces with Marianne Campbell and created an innovative way to tackle the NY market, hosted parties together and eventually created The Community Table, the ultimate in our collaboration.
Recognizing that portfolio show attendance continues to drop and excitement around the events harder to encourage, we attempted once again to be unique in our approach to the portfolio show,. Our idea was to once again combine forces, but this time to bring only our Agency Portfolios, agency promo and iPads. The thinking behind this was that if we shook it up some, provided some great treats and offered a very simple and quick approach to the portfolio show, maybe more people would come and engage. Our idea was “Two Agents, Two Portfolios, Two Promos, That’s It.”
Well, we were right. Not only did people come to the shows, but they did so enthusiastically. Many looked at just the Agency Books and others dug deeper into the individual photographer’s work on the iPads. Most took promos. But all, yes, every one of them, were very appreciative of only having to review two portfolios. Anything else, was extra. No obligation.
By no means is this going to replace our traditional way of showing portfolios. It is of course important to continue to show off the individual photographers work. However, being innovative and creative are equally as important. And, so is listening when we hear art producers share that attendance is low.
Thank you Kate Chase and Brite Productions for being such the perfect collaborator and for our friends in Los Angeles for being so open and enthusiastic about the idea. Our next stops are San Francisco and Minneapolis this spring so we will be sure to report back on how we evolve the shows to make them even more exciting!
