Grabbing the attention of a gallery owner or collector can often come down to the effectiveness of a single image that invites a person to explore more of your work. But how do photographers decide which image to choose for print and email promos, leave-behind cards, for the landing pages of their Web sites, and for other self-promotion efforts?

Recently PDNonline connected three photographers with industry experts in three categories—commercial/editorial, fine-art, wedding/portraiture—who reviewed a selection of the photographers’ images in the context of their career goals. The experts weighed in on what factors the photographers should consider when choosing an image to promote their work. Then they suggested which image they would pick as a “signature image” for the photographer.

Fine-art photographer Jesse Kalisher creates traditional black-and-white photography. His work is held in prominent museum collections, and yet exclusive gallery representation has eluded him.

Kalisher used to sell his work, ranging from high-end prints to inexpensive reproductions, through his Web site, which he says was “off-putting” to galleries. “The good news is that we no longer sell through our Web site,” Kalisher says.

He also believes that some gallerists may have struggled to make sense of his large collection of images shot around the world. “There were too many images to wade through and the organization of those images, by location, failed to tell a story,” he says.

More recently Kalisher has edited his archive into four tight collections for which he is seeking gallery representation. He mentions Howard Greenberg Gallery, Catherine Edelman Gallery, and Robert Koch Gallery as examples of the kind of galleries where his work might fit.

Kalisher submitted a statement and 10 images from one of the collections, Around the World In 89 Photographs (click on the photo gallery link above to review his submission), for review by gallery owner Michael Foley and book editor and consultant Darius Himes. Read what Foley and Himes had to say on the following pages.



Gallerist Michael Foley on Jesse Kalisher’s Signature Image

What most impresses me about Jesse’s career goals is that he clearly knows where he would like to be and has discovered the fundamental appeal that his work may have for his intended audience. Recognizing who he is as a photographer and who his audience may be will save him time in his gallery search and allow him to set realistic goals when he is pursuing opportunities to exhibit.  

Jesse works in black and white and has mostly targeted galleries that feature it. He is also what I would describe as a classic or traditional photographer. What I mean by that is he takes his camera with him and seeks out an image to be made, waiting patiently for the moment to unfold. He does not create it in the studio or direct it on the street. The galleries that he mentioned are filled with artists both modern and contemporary who do that as well.

Professionally, he recognizes the challenges that he may come up against when looking for gallery representation. He is off to a good start. He has eliminated the direct sales platform from his website and he has organized or rather curated his work so that the themes that he has followed are more apparent. What he may need to do now is to take a good look at his work and find some of the themes that bind everything together. I am not talking about arranging photographs by subject or content, I am talking more about the vision that glues this work together, that provides authorship. So that when I see one of his photographs out there in the world, out of context, something about it tells me that this might very well have been taken by Jesse Kalisher.

Jesse has what I would call a large vision in life. What distinguishes one photographer from the next and for that matter one gallery from the next is a vision of life, the way we creatively interpret the world so that it makes sense for us. Jesse has decided to cast a wide net and that is most apparent in his project Around the World in 89 Photographs. The very title tells us that we are in for an adventure, that each photograph will be a corner to turn, likely into an unfamiliar world. His vision is an ever-changing journey and is not nailed down to one style. As we ourselves would change and adapt to a new culture, so do these photographs change not only in content, but the way Jesse adapts to this place.  

From the ten photographs from his series, Around the World in 89 Photographs, the image that I would designate as his signature image would be his photograph at the Louvre with the Mona Lisa in the background. I was also quite taken with the boy doing a lively little jig armed with his floaties as the rest of the swimmers seem to be doing very little else but getting wet.  But the offhand portrait of the woman who is turned away from the painting looks strikingly like the subject of the Mona Lisa herself.  As most of the people swarming around in the room are looking toward the painting, she is seeking an escape either after getting her eyeful of the painting or simply becoming impatient, unwilling to wait to get close. But in that delicate moment, she is looking expressionless toward something, perhaps us. Unknowingly she draws the facial comparison between herself and the painting. Sensing this, Jesse frames the comparison for us to see this everyday Mona Lisa walking among us.



I chose this image because I think it does best in turning a rather ordinary situation in to one that draws more insight and inference from a combination of visual cues presented.  It is this comparative nature that makes this picture memorable.  If you take either the painting or the woman out, you do not have such an interesting picture.  The inclusion of both and their framing in relationship to one another draws an unintended comparison that is a bit humorous and sweet at the same time.  I believe this was Jesse’s intention.

A signature image for me is one that asks more questions than it has answers for.  Somehow it engages and connects with us by not only dazzling us to some degree with its aesthetics and composition, but how it lingers with us, leaving us in the middle of a story that we might choose to start and finish ourselves.

Michael Foley opened Foley Gallery in the fall of 2004 after several years of working with notable photography galleries including Fraenkel Gallery, Howard Greenberg Gallery and Yancey Richardson Gallery. He is on the faculty of Parsons School of Design and the School of Visual Arts where he teaches and lectures on issues in contemporary photography.



Book editor and consultant Darius Himes on Jesse Kalisher’s Signature Image

For me, the 3rd, 4th and 5th images are the strongest. They have a consistent ambience that conveys the ethos of the traveler, made by someone who is aware of and able to capture the emotional grandness that comes with visiting new places. What I'm getting at is that they have an emotional consistency.



In image #3 we are placed almost literally in the shadow of the pyramid, one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient world. The overwhelming power and presence of that archetypal monument is duly conveyed through the choice of vantage point and time of day of the photograph. The scale of the pyramid is heightened by the tininess of the men on their donkeys below. Because of the backlit exposure, the photographer gains several strong elements: the pyramid shimmers and glows on the left side of the frame, casting strong shadows throughout the image and a hazy quality to the air suffuses the photograph.
 
A signature image needs to convey a sense of style and story, but be clear about what that story is, and what you, as the artist and author of that story, are trying to say. Work hard at creating a group of images that are cohesive and have a powerful, coherent message. And by powerful, I don't mean "socially relevant"; I mean that your voice must be articulate, strong and the message honed, even if that message is about mystery and obscurity, or love and loss, or what have you.

Thinking in terms of bodies of work is crucial for a photographer, in my opinion. Obviously, I'm a book guy, so I immediately start to think of how the work fits in a book. A helpful metaphor is that of the writer: a good sentence here or there is a fine thing, but if those good sentences aren't strung together into a larger piece, they remain just that‹singular, unrelated pieces of an undefined and unknown larger work. That "larger work" may be a short story, a memoir, a travel essay, or a novel. That's up to you. But defining and refining the concept for the body of work will move you in the right direction.

About Jesse’s career goals: Black-and-white street photography is not the norm as it once was. Outlining which galleries may be appropriate for your work is more difficult than it seems. The overall goal with finding a gallery or dealer is that you work with someone that truly loves your work and that together, you can work on building your career. Ask dealers for their thoughts. Gallery owners and dealers are individuals with tastes, opinions, personalities; be open to hearing all of a prospective dealer’s input about your work. It can be immensely useful to hear how they would "position" you and your images.

Darius Himes is an acquiring editor at Radius Books, a non-profit publisher of books on photography and the visual arts he founded with three colleagues in 2007. Prior to that he was the founding editor of photo-eye Booklist, a quarterly magazine devoted to photography books, from 2002–2007. He is also a lecturer, educator and writer, having contributed to Aperture, Blind Spot, Bookforum, BOMB, PDN, and American Photo. He earned his BFA in Photography from Arizona State University and a Master of Arts in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College. In 2008, he was named by PDN as one of fifteen of the most influential people in photo book publishing. His forthcoming book, Publish Your Photography Book, co-authored with Mary Virginia Swanson, will be released by Princeton Architectural Press in the Fall of 2010.

View parts one and three of the three-part series:

The Signature Image: A Photojournalist After Commercial Clients

The Signature Image: A Wedding and Portrait Team Seeking High-End Clients