The one where I have a photography showcase
It’s 11:49 p.m on March 22nd, and I just had a few bites of a chicken caesar wrap I swore I wouldn’t eat. I shouldn’t eat this close to bed.
That wrap was bomb, though. Zeppe’s Tavern. You never disappoint me.
Anyway.
It’s been a full week since I had my first photography showcase. I suffered from a healthy mixture of anxiety and excitement in the days and weeks leading up to it–worrying about photo quality, figuring out print sizes, organizing a whole event, and driving all over Cleveland to find frames. And I had to pack for a work trip. It was a hectic time.
But the event went very well, and I was overwhelmed hearing everyone share such kind and supportive words about me and my work.
Mostly because…I didn’t expect this. I never planned for any of this to happen. I was just a woman who showed up to a few poetry shows with her camera. I didn’t know that I’d go from nervously shooting from my hip under the table to photographing poetry shows and getting paid to do it.
But I often find that when I just keep my head down and do the things I love, good things tend to find me. When I actively look for something, I rarely find it. Good things usually find me when I least expect it.
Like the opportunity to do a showcase event. I wasn’t looking for it at all.
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Two months ago, I attended a brunch celebrating the launch of Sophii’s production company, Black Widow Management Productions. Towards the end of the event, everyone stood up to say a few words, and one of those people was Vince Robinson. He shared some insightful words with us, and then mentioned that he was the owner of Larchmere Arts Gallery, and he was looking for artists to feature as early as February.
In the moment, I felt that I should run up there and ask to be featured in his gallery. But something told me to wait, not to rush into it. When I’m rushed, I usually stress myself out and deliver poor quality work. So instead, I kept quiet and decided that I would spend some time seriously thinking about what I’d like my first photography showcase to be about. Which portraits would I select? Would there be a theme?
I spent about a week and some change thinking about things before I reached out to Mr. Robinson, and let him know I was interested in the opportunity. We met a few days later, and I got to learn more about the gallery and his work. He’s also a performance photographer and had some beautiful performance portraits up in the gallery. Mr. Robinson suggested that we do a proper event combining poetry and photography. I would invite all of the poets who I photographed, and they could perform at the event. It was a brilliant idea.
By the time I left the gallery–slipping and sliding my way to the Subi–I had secured a date for my first photography showcase.
Now all I had to do was get the prints. This would be the hardest part.
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I chose 10 portraits to feature in my showcase. In retrospect, I wish I’d done fewer, because when I look at the numbers, I spent a small bag printing and framing the photos. But the gallery could hold 11 photos, so you might as well do 10 or 11.
After I’d selected my 10, I ordered some 5x7 test prints from a print shop. When I got the photos, I was wildly disappointed: the photos were soft all around and had tons of noise. Seeing those photos stressed me out: would the full-size prints look this bad?
Turns out the issue was that I didn’t prep the photos for printing. I’m so used to delivering my photos through a screen that I really didn’t sit down and prepare the photos to be sent to the printer. After doing some Googling, this is what I did to get the photos in better shape:
In the Export dialog, set Output sharpening to Screen, Standard.
In the Export dialog, set image quality to 100.
Went back and denoised all of the RAWs a little more than I normally do.
I also decided to try the print shop Jef recommended to me. Neo Pro Imaging did an excellent job with my prints and answered all of my many questions.
I don’t know if it was the print shop or the fact that I sat down and prepped the photos for printing, but when I got the new test prints, I celebrated a little. I literally remember doing a lil boogie in the parking lot after looking at them. The photos were sharp, the colors gorgeous, and I felt they were showcase-worthy. As soon as I got home, I ordered the full size prints. I picked 10x13: big enough to be big, but not too small.
(Also, I couldn’t afford bigger.)
Getting the photos framed was the worst part. 10x13 is an awkward size for prints, and most art stores didn’t have mats that fit them. I had to get some 11x14 frames with a 10x13 mat built-in instead. Michaels had them, but my local store didn’t have enough in stock, so I pretty much drove all over Cleveland for a week to get them.
The frames unfortunately didn’t have the right mechanism to allow me to hang them in the gallery. Mr. Robinson gave me some wire and told me to use that to hang them. I didn’t have any wire cutters, so I zipped over to Home Depot to get some. Mid-errand, Dewayne called me, and when I showed him what I was buying, gently advised me that I had pliers in my hands, not wire cutters.
I am not a handywoman.
About ten minutes after that conversation, he was on his way to the gallery to help me hang them. And hang them he did: he literally spent an hour and some change hanging my photos. Dewayne ended up using twine (the type escapes me) which was a bit easier to work with. By the time I left to go to an open mic down the street, all 10 photos were up on the walls.
(Dewayne, if you’re reading this: thank you. You might be the reason I still have 10 fingers.)
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The event itself went off without a hitch: we had a short open mic, hosted by Eric Odum, the host of One Mic Open. After a short artist chat with Mr. Robinson, the featured artists performed: JUST C.O.S., Spazzo, Miss Construed, Té, Jerrod, Q, Rainmaker, Kisha Nicole Foster, Rose Gold, and Plan B. Their poems were amazing as always. My family came out too, and they loved everyone’s performances. Check out their portraits here!
I, of course, shot the show, because duh. It’s a poetry show. It’s my show, but it’s a poetry show, which meant I had my camera out. I got some good candids of the crowd (the place was packed!) and of the performers. Alejandro and Asia, my fellow photographers, also came out to support (thank you!!!) and took some photos. Alejandro grabbed some great performance shots! I’m waiting for Asia to drop her photos.
I stumbled (because I was tired) into bed very late that night, later than I wanted to because I had to catch my flight the next day. But it was worth it. Everyone said they loved the event, which I’m glad about. I wanted everyone to have a good time and enjoy themselves.
After the event was over–and after a flurry of selfies with everyone–I took a moment to observe the room and realized that a lot of people were there for me. I feel very grateful to be part of such an amazing community.
I have more words to say, I think, but it’s 12:47 a.m., and I left an open mic tonight to tend to a headache and get some good sleep. I’m still recovering from my travels. So I might say more in another blog post. For now, here are pictures.
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