take a chance: beate dalbec

First of all I would like to thank Sabrina for inviting me to write a guest post on her blog. It is not easy for me to write about myself, but we thought sharing a few small success stories might encourage and motivate others. 

This year started with a wonderful safari to Kenya, where I happened to meet Sabrina. The safari was a great photo opportunity for all of us. Amazing wildlife, beautiful landscape and friendly people. After my return home, members of my local camera club informed me, that there was the chance to enter the Greater Lynn International Color slide competition. I am really not into competition, but I was encouraged by some club members, so I entered four images. To my big surprise, I had two acceptances, both images from my Kenya collection. I did not win anything, but just to get accepted was great and my images ended up in the showcase presentation . This and a win in the nature category of the NECCC interclub competition gave me a boost of confidence.

Friends of mine had pushed me for a while to try and get an exhibit together, but I always thought: Not me, I am not good enough, I still have so much to learn. So I finally gave myself a kick and walked into a local gallery which hosts rotating exhibits on a monthly basis and asked what the requirements are. I was given an application form to fill out which included questions regarding past exhibits (none), photographic education (self-taught, except participating in two workshops with Art Wolfe) and a brief biography. I had to submit 5 to 10 images that I would like to display and provide a website address. Also, I had to agree to pay 10% of any sales I made to the gallery–which is a very reasonable amount. I had a tough time deciding on which images to submit. I wanted to include images of different categories I am planning to exhibit–landscapes, people, wildlife. Five weeks after I dropped of my application I received a letter in the mail: “It is with great pleasure that we accept your application.” I was jumping up and down! It is not until March 2011, but I am glad I have that much time to prepare. Now the real work will start. Decide on images, print, mat and frame them, write descriptions for all of them, design invitations etc…

If someone would have told me not too long ago that I would have an solo exhibition of my images, I probably would have told them that they are crazy. I think we are all very critical of our own images and think that they might not be good enough.  I am glad friends gave me a push and I finally gave it a shot. This is just a start. I know that in the future there will certainly be plenty of times when I will get turned down. Perseverance will prevail in the long-run, I hope. Photography is such an ever evolving process. You constantly keep learning, the way you see things keeps changing. That is what I absolutely enjoy about it. Small success stories like this are just the icing on the cake. So, if you happen to find yourself in a similar situation, give yourself a push. Take a chance. Some small galleries will actually give preference to local artists (as it was in my case). Nobody likes to get rejected, but if you do not risk it, you might be missing out on a nice opportunity.

Beate Dalbec
http://dalbecphoto.zenfolio.com/