At times, art can be transactional: a family pays a photographer for portraits, a muse is paid to allow a class to paint her, a singer pays an engineer for studio and mixing time, a potter sells a couple of bowels at a trade show, or a poet publishes their latest book for the masses to buy. However, the transactional side of photography has many unique aspects to it.
With the advent of social media over the past two decades, a barter-like system grew within the world of photography called TFP or “Time For Prints.” It is a mutually beneficial system where both photographer and muse agree to a professional photoshoot without having to pay each other for their time and skills. The photographer is able to capture an idea they had and build their portfolio, and the muse is able to get high-end photos in return and build their portfolio.
My time behind the camera has been strictly TFP. For me, it felt wrong to sully my art with the grime that can come along with money. I’ve lived by the old adage of “work to fund your hobbies. Don’t let your hobbies become your work.” And I’m grateful to have had a full-time job that allowed me to do that. Because of that freedom, I have been able to create with hundreds of people over my artistic journey. However, I recently realized that I have missed a critical aspect of this journey, I didn’t have anything tangible to show for my hard work.
Social media has lulled many artists into a sense of finality and accomplishment. Since most people consume art on the internet, it can be easy for an artist to post a picture, stream a song, or list an item for sale and think that the journey is complete. While the move to digital media has become the norm, there is a reason why people still buy vinyl albums, hardcover books, or large-print photos: tangible art uses the five senses to connect to the soul.
I had amassed thousands of photos, but they existed only in the digital universe. Many consumed those photos in the form of likes and shares, but I was disconnected from my own art. Therefore, if I was disconnected from my art, then what about the people who have helped me the most along this journey? We invested so many hours together, and what did we have to show for it?
Something You Can Feel
Purchasing individual prints in the past, I knew that printing hundreds of photos could become very expensive. So, I had to find an alternative way. That’s when I remembered that I have experience publishing two community magazines in the past. Magazines can be an inexpensive alternative to printing large-size individual photos. Being able to bind hundreds of photos into a book format was the tangible thing that I needed.
I was able to dust off my InDesign skills and organize all of my work into three large volumes. Each magazine contained 250 pages of full-size photos spanning the first few years of my work. After hours of formatting by trial and error and about two weeks of waiting for shipping, my art finally became tangible!
Don’t Be Selfish
While these three very large magazines were cheaper than individual prints, they still carried a price tag that I could never comfortably ask anyone to pay, especially the core group of people who created or inspired me the most. So, using the same magazine concept, I was able to create individual magazines for the people I shot with the most. This allowed me to truly tell the story of the artistic journey I shared with each person. Adding context to the photos through storytelling truly brought each photo to life. But more importantly, it has been a way to show my appreciation to these select few who have built with me. It’s a dopamine rush for both parties. Their excitement at seeing themselves highlighted in such a way gets me excited and becomes another mutually beneficial aspect of TFP.
But my journey to having tangible art is not complete. While I have been able to create individual pieces for those I’ve shot with the most, there are a few people that I’ve only shot with once or twice who deserve just as much appreciation. They have been the biggest behind the scene supporters of my work. Therefore, in the same spirit in which they gave me their time to help, I plan to gift them a printed version of my portfolio as a way to say thanks.
These tangible projects have now become a staple in my journey. While the number of shoots have went down over the past two years, I am currently working on the 4th volume of my printed portfolio. It is a little over half way complete but I have a feeling that 2025 will see a new shift in my journey and allow volume IV to be completed very soon.
