We displayed our photography in our first art festival on September 21 at the Tremont Art and Cultural Festival. It was an amazing experience. This was the first time we had displayed our photographs for others. I have to admit to being nervous at first, but once I started talking to people I realized I was having a lot of fun. We spent several weeks getting ready for the festival–the truth is most of the preparation was done just days before the festival. There was so much work and money involved in the preparation–details to come later. This was a two day event and of course the first morning was windy and rainy. Luckily it cleared up by early afternoon and all was well. Our friends helped us set up the tent in the morning. Our main concern was that the tent might collapse if it got too windy, but we were lucky and it withstood the winds.
We had quite a few people browsing and commenting on our photos and a few were interested enough to buy one. The first sale was thrilling!! Here is Jerry proudly standing at our booth after making his first sale.
Our Tent
Our main interest in displaying our photos in the art show was to get an idea of what people thought about our work–we were not as concerned about sales.
I would encourage anyone interested in photography to display their work at an outdoor art festival. You will get a good idea of what people think of your work and you also get to meet a lot of other photographers. It can be quite expensive in the beginning. You have to think about printing–will you print your own photographs or send them out. Then there is the question of whether or not to mat and frame the pictures. Next, you need a way to display your photographs either on walls, easels, or in bins. There is the registration and booth fees for the festival and of course do you rent, borrow, or buy a tent. Can you take credit cards or just cash and checks? You must think of business cards or brochures as well as pricing. Regardless of the work, expense, and stress we are happy that we entered our photography into the art festival and cannot wait to do it again.
