know your audience

In any art form, it is important for you the artist to know who it is that you are performing for. This fact is just as important for photographers as it is for singers, dancers and comedians. These are the people that will be consuming your art and these are the people that you need to please.

Pleasing your audience becomes all the more difficult when the art itself is personal to you the artist. Therein lies the delima. Which audience do you ultimately need to please? Is it more important to please yourself or those consuming your work?

If your livelihood depends on selling your work, then you have no choice but to please your consumers. You need to make an income and consumers won't buy something that they don't like. However, you need to be aware that tastes change over time and that your audience may change as well. Are you willing to change with your audience or, on the flip side, are you willing to remain stagnant as an artist because your market demands that you do?

Our ultimate audience has to be ourselves. We have to take joy in the work that we create with our hands, bodies and voices. If our creations do not allow us to grow or do not bring us joy, everybody will suffer… including our audience.

If you feel the need to grow as an artist, then allow yourself to do so. If necessary, start a side project as an outlet for your new form. Just don't sit still as an artist because you fear your consumer may not change with you. Grow! Try out new techniques, explore new avenues for your work. You just might discover a new audience is out there waiting for you.