Out of My League (part one)

I was looking through the paper and found an interesting ad. All it said wasLooking for Black and White photos of all kinds I figured, I'd see if the person would be interested in my prints. Maybe I could sell a couple.

(For those of you who don't know, I love photography and have a small collection of 8x10 B&W prints I affectionately call my portfolio. The love has always been there, but the money for this expensive hobby has not. Not to mention finding darkrooms to work in. It wasn't a problem while going to Kean cause I took my photo classes their, and I knew the teachers. They let me come and go as I please. NJCU is a different story. Not only was it significantly harder to gain access to the darkrooms, the projects I had to work on for my major were very time consuming. Now that I'm out of school I'd let to get back in the game.)

So the lady from the ad calls back, and the story begins. Turns out she owns an art gallery here in Miami, and she wanted me to bring in my portfolio. Some how through our conversation on the phone she got the impression that I was an artist. I mean, I am an artist to a degree, but she thought I was a real artist, not someone who's trying to get back into photography as art. The second I hung up the phone the anxiety began. I dug up my prints that were stored away and dusted off my portfolio ready for this Monday meeting. I show up, and I kid you not, the first thing she says is "So your the artist." I almost tipped over from the lump in my throat when she said that. So I sat down, and she began to review my photos. The old familiar feelings came back: clamy hand, rush of blood. I felt like I was in school again getting my work reviewed. She told me I had some good stuff in the portfolio, and to keep on taking photos. She wasn't very specific which leads me to think she was blowing hot air up my ass, and the portfolio sucked. While she was looking at it all she said were things like "Thats good, Nice, I like that one" She didn't get into any specifics about the photos. Now I have doubts about the quality of the work. But whats worse is that I didn't ask specific questions while she did the review. I could have had the answers already, but like always I left and in the car, thought about questions I should have asked. On the other hand though, the gallery didn't feature any photos in my style, and maybe thats not what she was looking for. Her gallery was mostly full of photos like: close up of flowers, canyons, furniture, vase on table etc.. Nice stuff, but not my style. I'll definitely like to shoot landscapes, but furniture, fruit plate on table, bed in corner, are not my cup of tea. My stuff is mostly urban with some landscape, and a splash of the strange. So now the dilemma is, does my stuff suck or is it just not whats she's looking for. I'll probably never know, cause I'll most likely never ask. So rather then let the feelings of anxiety over take me, I am going to put it to good use. I'm gonna take this experience and use it as motivation to further grow as an artist. Now all I need is a darkroom and some money for prints.