Mike Moats

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1. Hi Mike,I am on your mailing list and received your workshop classes offered for 2008. I have been doing art fairs, art festivals, gallery shows, for the last 15 years, however, a lot of the shows are being completely swamped with a mass overload of “newbie” photographers that have entered the art show circuit. Most are not that good, but it does seem that everyone who has a digital camera these days thinks of themselves as “pro photographers”….it is so maddening to me!! I shoot film cameras, Pentax 6/7, Nikon 35mm and now I have a point/shoot Canon digital camera, BUT the art fairs throughout Michigan and the rest of the country are complaining that there are TOO MANY photographers, as there are also too many jewelry artists. My point is, it is tough enough to get into shows these days, unless you have something totally unique and different, because everyone is a photographer now….and I see you will be having a workshop, Art Show Boot Camp…to now teach more photographers how to get into all the shows. That is bad news for the artists doing shows especially in Michigan. Larry Berman, as you know by now, does have a fabulous site wherein there are over 5000 NEW members joining the art fair world, thus now everyone in the country with a digital camera, now wants to be in the art show world, the market is over saturated, and photography is losing its respect and losing merits with art juries because it is just too over saturated with too many people wanting to be photographers. I am happy for you Mike, your work is outstanding and unique and different, BUT be prepared for the fact you will have your work copied, everyone will steal your ideas, and your work will soon be imitated….are you okay with that? Just some thoughts,
   it’s tough being an artist, and I have been a photographer for over 25 years, starting in highschool, and it’s frustrating in Michigan as it is, and now everyone - (250,000,000) new digital cameras sold means everyone who has one, thinks they are photographers.
   Thanks for letting me pass my thoughts on to you. I hope to meet you one day. I admire your work.
   Thanks, Kathy Fornal Write back and let me know your thoughts.
   Sincerely, Kathy

   Comment by Kathy Fornal | January 30, 2008

2. Hey Kathy, Thanks for your comment as I respect your opinon. The art show boot camp for photographers will be a once a year workshop that will probably draw about twenty people, Most are totally unaware of the cost (booth,tent,jury fees, booth fees,inventory,etc.) time, and the quailty of work it takes to make it in this business. Many that will sign up are just curious to see what it takes to do an art show. When people hear the facts they, a)realize it take to much money to get the business off the ground, b) they can’t get the time off work, or time away from the family (Kids) to particatpate in any of the decent shows. c)the risk factor that if their work isn’t good enough to get in the shows, the’ve just spent a ton of money, which most can’t afford to lose in these tough times. So if twenty people show up at my workshop, and two or three decide to go for it, I won’t lose any sleep over a few more photographers entering the art show world. Those that have talent and are interested in doing the shows don’t need a boot camp to insprire them into doing shows, they will find thier own way as I did. I was told the same thing when I started the macro workshops. Your teaching these people how to do what you do, and they will compete with you. I’ve been in contact with many of my students from these workshops and I’ve yet to talk to one that has actually taken this serious to the point of competing with me. I talk to many that after the’ve taken one of my workshops, that they haven’t even gone out to shoot two month after my workshop!! As far as copy cats it goes on in all business. There isn’t a product in any marketplace that sells well and doesn’t have someone trying to copy it. Its just part of the business world. My style and images were being copied before I started doing workshops, so if people want to copy me I might as will make money teaching them how to copy me. Workshops for professinal nature photographers are big business. Most of the professinal nature photographers that used to earn a good living from their stock photography business are finding it tough to make it because of the royalty free websites that offer images to adveristers for a dollar each. This has totally change the way they do business, and as you look in the back of a nature photog mags you’ll find all these guys offering workshops to make a living. Some are very successfull with these businesses as more and more people are interested in taking these workshops. Whatever is working for you now, may not work for you five years down the road as the world changes to quickly. You have to be forever reinventing and adapting to the marketplace. I was in the custom woodworking business for seven years and had make changes in that time, and then went into the painting contracting business for fifteen years and was always making changes as more and more came into the business, and now the photography business and am still making changes. Yes the photogrpahy world is changing big time, and are we going to be able to make the adjustments needed to survive, or move on to something else. A good friend of mine is a commercial photographer that made an excellent living shooting cars for the big three. In the last few years car companies are just starting to use CGI (computer generated images) for their ads and brochres. Now instead of hiring a photographer to shoot the cars they get computer whizzes to create the image at a cheaper cost. This will eventually cut out most of the car shooters and they will have to find another way to make up for those dollars lost. Whenever I run into a wall in business, I don’t worry about how, or who put it there, I figure out how I’m going to go over, under, around, or through it. If it can’t be done than I move onto something else. So I guess you have to decide how you will continue being successfull in this business with that wall of newbies and there digital cameras (which will continue to grow each year) because its not going to stop. The few more I bring in through my workshop won’t even be noticed in the masses that will come. Thanks for speaking your thoughts.

   Comment by Mike Moats | January 30, 2008

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