Monday, November 17, 2014

from this perspective

with the thoughts of my last post in mind about most people if not everyone not having enough thankfulness or not being thankful enough for whatever it is that we have I would like to say that everything - *yes I am saying everything - is going really really really well for me - most of all - despite the 100,000 images of mine being lost in the servers of Imagekind about 1 and 1/2 years ago I have - with a great deal of concentration and perseverance re uploaded most of those images that were lost in addition to many new images as well and the collection that is up now is looking fine without so many empty holes and images that I was not able to see for such a long time - this above all else is a great comfort to me and I continue on finishing up with the re uploading and of course continue uploading many new and exciting images as well -

I have had some thoughts and done some reading about marketing - the way that different people and companies recommend people proceed in today's new social media environment - but in addition I continue on with my "Doubling Project" and also keep pondering how - if at all possible with or without the aid of others - whether individuals of companies - I can reach the broadest audience ever -

if anyone reading this has any ideas or suggestion I would love to hear about them - so either post your idea or suggestion here or send me an e-mail or contact me through one of the social medias platforms that you may find me on

the e-mail address is:

wprb1@yahoo.com

thank you!

 9-9-2013GABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJK by Walter Paul Bebirian

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

The Real Disparity in This Country -

From my perspective the real disparity in this country is not caused by unequal pay or this person getting too much and another person getting too little -

for me - I see it that there is just not enough thankfulness for what people have and thus no matter what most people have - no matter how much or how little - most of them don't seem to be satisfied with whatever they have -

so I would say then that it is not too little money or work that anyone has but too little thankfulness for what they do have no matter who they are -


Thursday, October 16, 2014

The New Rules for Marketing and PR

well - it is difficult to judge - know about the thinking of  or even begin to understand anything about anyone else in this world - I am listening to the New Rules of Marketing and PR -(by David Meerman Scott):

The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, News Releases, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly


 now and there are so many things that are possible to utilize to market and let people know about so many things - if only I would stop focusing on creating my images and spend time on tweeting and posting on Facebook and LinkedIn and if those same people who might be interested in one image or another would be right there monitoring these tools - but then how much and what type of art would I have to create in order to attract their attention -

I can only hope that there will be some person or group or people who will - eventually - or even right now - become interested enough in my art to take over some of this type of communication about any one or all of my images (as an entire collection) so that interested parties will become more aware of that which I have created - 

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

I do not remember -

I remember the very first photograph that I took with my very first camera - and how I felt about taking it and that I was wondering at that moment if anyone else in the world would ever get to see that image - but I do not remember what was the very first thought that I ever had about creating images or photographing - that has so far been lost to my memory


Wednesday, October 1, 2014

what works for you?

no matter who you are or what it is that you do - there are times that you need something - a book - an idea - a picture - to remind you or to jolt your thinking in a specific direction - something to remind you of something or someone or an idea that you need to keep yourself motivated in a specific desired direction -

there is no telling one that something is for any one person and it does not have to be something that makes any sense whatsoever to anyone else in the entire world - but if that something works for you - then it is your responsibility to yourself to find that something and to remember to look at it or get in touch with you so that you remain on track for yourself -

 3-30-2013B

Ebola question

It is commendable of course that Bill Gate's Foundation - which also receives money from Warren Buffett - is sending money  to eradicate Ebola from parts of Africa - but I am wondering if it would be easier to do this eradication if the people that are in these areas were better fed and healthier to start with - 

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

You Sell Yourself!

Many years ago (somewhere when I was working at ABC - American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. back in the 1970's) - when I was first creating my photography business (it all was starting in my mind back then) I began asking any and all of the salespeople that I could find - get a hold of or grab off the streets of Manhattan or wherever I had to be -
what is the secret to selling?
Time after time - no matter who it was that I asked and no matter what business they were in that they were a salesperson for the answer came back to precisely - exactly and always without change - the same exact three words -
You Sell Yourself!
After many many many many hours of thinking about these three words placed in that one unforgettable statement it hit me that after many years of thinking about what image I might place on a picture business card (I actually came from an era where plain words printed on a white card was the standard accepted business card) I made the bold choice to create a "Self Portrait" - (perhaps now one of the most widely personally distributed "selfies" in the world - and go for it - printing an entire batch of the minimum at the time of 3,000 full color business cards with my "Self Portrait" picture on the entire one side of a 2 1/4" X 3 1/2" picture business card which I immediately (but admittedly shyly) began one at a time to hand out in the streets of New York (Manhattan mostly) and to date I have now given out over 3.8 million of these business cards and I am certainly never ever ever going to stop doing this -
because do you know what?
these business cards are not only my main source of contacting and obtaining people who are interested in my work and who call me for what they want - when they wanted no matter how much time has passed from when I first gave them the card to that first point in time when they do call -
but these business cards with my "Self Portrait" on them - literally expressing those three words that I heard so many great sales people pass on to me when I asked the question of what is the secret to selling -
but each and every one of those cards - now sometimes post cards as well - and whatever sites that have this image on them now - each one is one of my salespeople doing what it use that they are supposed to be doing for me -
Selling me to everyone that see them!
So now I would like to take a moment to remember each and every one of those individuals who shared this knowledge powerfully packed in that most short - concise and unchanging statement with its greatest of all knowledge - to thank them from the bottom of my heart with the greatest of intensity and to pass on this greatest of all sales secrets to you right now -
You Sell Yourself!
take that and run with it for the rest of your life - no matter what job - work - business - position - non-profit - anything and everything that you are doing in life - apply this to whatever it is that you are doing in life - and you will never go wrong - you will never ever be without work -
just remember -
You Sell Yourself!
thank you!
Walter

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Grand Guiding Force

                                                   

                          5-2-2011BABCDEFGHIJ

But then some Divine Guiding Force puts it on a Path

Human Folly

                                4-25-2011FABCDE


And it is a queer human folly that drives us on this way

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Discussions about the Future in the Art World and in General

no matter what is said here or elsewhere in real life of virtual life here on LinkedIn or Facebook or twitter - nothing dictates what will be done by artists or the general public in the future and nothing can -

and what I mean by that is that no matter how much the artists of yesteryear bashed the photographer and what they were doing when they called the work - art - nothing changed the course of history actually incorporating photography into the world of art - and nothing will dictate what will be accepted art eventually in the future - 

my point is specifically that there will be surprising developments and experiments and people pushing boundaries all in the name of art and the concept of art will continue to expand -no matter what a purist wishes to happen to preserve the concept of this high art and that low art - 

writing with words is an art - and this is definitely a good arena to develop that art - "

Marketing - still nothing compares in power and value to my "Doubling Project" of handing out my Business Cards In the streets of Manhattan -

I did see an e-mail promotion which showed the results of a study that face to face is the most effective marketing still no matter what - even more effective than the e-mail marketing that they were promoting - so how could anyone go wrong until they try and make a success at what I am talking about - it is not easy - by no means - and although it sounds like - well a piece of cake for me to do - in the beginning I was - believe it or not - really really really shy - and although I had photographed people who had become famous and were in the acting and modeling profession - it was a totally different thing to go ahead - make such a business card back then (1992 was the start) go out in the streets of Manhattan and begin handing out those cards - and do you know what - in some ways it is still not easy and it takes me in a sense to pretty much force myself to do it - sort of like creates this over aggressiveness - but the things that I have learned - the people I have met - the connections that have come and the jobs that I have gotten - well they are all worth it - every last 1.2 cent card that I have handed out - in fact even people who have thrown the card right in the street have helped - since in one specific case another person picked up the card and hired me to photograph his son playing the viola - 

and then there was the lady who saw the card that was left on the edge of a public garbage container at Rockefeller Center - came running after me to ask me if I did weddings and who eventually hired me for her wedding - - and she was living in California at the time - just visiting her fiancé and well she was one of the body guards for the governor or California at the time - 

believe me - there is no other way that I could have possibly every connected with the people that I have connected with so I am sorry -but to me this is still the most powerful - effective and by far the most cost effective means of marketing anything - and I am still in business since 1976 to prove that - 

and in addition - in relation to my art images - the last count on my images in my galleries - when the counter was still available shows that I had received a total of over 10 million image views with sometimes over 36,000 image views in one single day - and that occurred on numerous days

Friday, May 16, 2014

A Story About the Coming Future of Art

now Anthony - I am wondering if you have that same exclamation when you hear of the latest and the greatest prices that some of the current auctions are giving up for the works that are coming to block -(or however it is referred to) :

http://news.artnet.com/art-world/art-world-report-card-thursday-may-15-2014-20195?utm_campaign=artnetnews&utm_source=051514daily&utm_medium=email

from one perspective I can certainly understand your response - like who does he think he is - (and I would like to mention Richard that I am not sure what are these reproductions of and what do the hand embellishments look like - two very important points) but from the perspective of the future (and this goes for all artists living today creating substantial bodies of work both in volume and in quality) there is something that I would like to address -

and that is -

each artist has a virtual monopoly on the pieces that they create given to them by the fact that they each own all of the copyrights to the work that they create -

great - now do we understand that part?

that means that I can - if I so choose to - create as many or as little in number of copies of that original as I so choose and charge whatever I want for that copy - *(this is moving into a commercial realm which is the way things have to go --- in this world to make any sense of this) - but whether I made only one of something or ten or one hundred or thousands or millions or even perhaps billions - there will most likely (this part is a little speculative) be someway for the folks of the future (FOF) to find some way right or wrong - to capitalize on what you - I all of is have created - (people keep getting smarter and smarter - this we know for a fact) plus new and better tools continue to be created to do one thing or other)

anyway - the person who intelligently (somewhere else on LinkedIn I posted a video about creating a theory of the brain where the intelligence of mankind is defined as being able to predict the future - keep that in your mind for future reference) looks at the past creators of art - and how much most of them were compensated for the works that they produced that are at the same time commanding millions of dollars at auction (this might very well be including Van Gogh as well) and say - is there a way for me to even gain a fraction of this grand scheme of bolstered worth while I am still here on this earth and scrambling around to pay the credit card bills and the debts that I have?

now enter the fact that there are a few folks with a few billions to splash or drop or throw or seep over towards his or her corner and well he makes a deal with them - in some very legal fashion - for them to take all of his current and future work off his hands for a modest sum and perhaps a few dollars flowing in constantly so that he or she does not have to concern themselves with how much a stick of butter costs or can I afford a drink of Coca Cola and so that no he or she can continue on creating and well not feel that they are being ripped off by the good FOF (folks of the future) when they do eventually figure out a way to capitalize and capitalize big on the work that is now being created with very meager means - 


now don't you think my fellow friends - that this type of story is a much better one for us to live with than the current - how can I possibly get some person to purchase one or two pieces at high enough prices so that I can live and sleep and well not wear too many rags out in the world? 

Antony - how true is what I am rambling on about here?

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Why I created the different Color Series in my art collection -

Hi Angel -

well I created the series concept because I could not choose one color after seeing all of the possibilities and I thought also that - well there just might be some people who like one color over another or the old couch story - their couch is one color and a different color would better match their couch so I thought - why not help them along

it appears to me that the entire concept of the POD systems and Imagekind more specifically is actually (whether we realize it or not or whether it is intentional or not I am not quite sure) to let the customer become part of the creative process - we on the other hand are giving the customer the right to adjust out images by deciding what paper or canvas type to have the image printed on and in what size - this is not that much of a deal but it is enough to actually claim that each person purchasing has in a sense made that print customer to their own personal tastes and requirements and to allow them to choose a hue for any of the images that we create in addition to everything else gives the purchaser even that more control and input into what the final product is - which is cool especially if it helps them make the choices to actually take the step and make a purchase - :-)

now - that you  have chosen a particular image and told me about it -that is interesting -do you know why you like that particular version of the image? how do you actually feel about the others that you have in a sense rejected (by choosing this one) and if this one did not exist could you live with any of the other possibilities?

Walter :-)

Human Failure


4-17-2010LABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRTUV

It is through basic human failure that we think we know anything

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

the Mathematics of Giving my Business Cards Out to People in the Streets of Manhattan

This is an excerpt from a post on LinkedIn:

Katherine - yes there are many people like yourself and I often think how much they are missing when they do the avoidance thing - I have to try and give a card to about 10 to 100 people sometimes before a person takes one but sometimes everyone takes one it is really an interesting sort of test or experiment sometimes - I remember after September 11 and then there was a heightened alert where Bin Laden claimed that he was going to ruin the financial system of the U.S. and so the police with helmets and machine guns were posted near the CitiCorp building at 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue - well that had been one of a number of spots that I spent a great deal of time at since the subway to and from Queens has an entrance/exit right there so I was there on one of those days and with a few of those guys and their helmets and their machine guns right there about 4 feet away - every single person no matter whether or not they would normally take a card ----- took a card - why? probably they felt compelled to do so with the authority of the police right there! - no one wanted to dare get out of line - ------during the same period it was extra difficult to give out cards because everyone was otherwise afraid!

Irena - I understand how difficult it would be for most people - when I first met my wife who was a teacher in High School here in New York - she was interested in creating a gift basket business and together with her and a special gift basket that she had designed -we did a beautiful post card and she would give it to some of the teachers and she got some business - but one day we were going into a specific neighborhood and I asked - since it was close to home - if she was interested in handing out he post cards with me on a corner under an elevated train stop - and well she came with me to meet the challenge - but after I started to give out my cards pretty quickly I looked up and saw that my wife (Antonia) was not able to even give out one card - It turns out that this young lady who had stood in front of countless college and then high school classes for many year now - with many of the students towering over her to say the least - was actually frozen with some type of fear - which I till this day still do not understand -

any way - back to where the question of money comes in -

for my very first ever colored picture business card I paid in 1992 a whopping $250.00 for a total of 3,000 business cards - that comes to $.083333333 per card

from that point on I have produced them in 50,000 quantities and the prices hovers around 1.2 cents each -

but at $.49 each (at today's current first class mail rate) that comes to $1,862,000.00 in today's postal environment - saved - not counting an envelope and letter paper for each of 3.8 million cards and then the typing and mailing list costs -

no sir re bob ---- nothing beats the direct hand it to them method - even the internet - and finding a niche - that is definitely easy - I hand my cards out to people who will take them - people who are open and most often kind and generous enough to extend their hand and say thank you for whatever it is that I am giving them - that is the niche market that I am focused on - :-)

Friday, May 9, 2014

The Most Important Lesson that I learned in High School!

Will you be looking back after 10 - 20 30 or 40 years and thinking - 
why did I do that on social media - 
why did I work so hard- 
why did I try so much - 
what made me turn so many people away 
when there was definitely an easier way - 
will you be sorry that you have not learned this very powerful lesson 
that I learned 50 years ago in high school? 
if you do not know this already - 
learn it immediately !!! 
Let the tools do the work - 
tools make us superior as beings on the planet 
use them!

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Online seems like the only way to go unless some gallery takes an interest in what I am doing and purchases some work -

After attempting to contact a number of galleries and really thinking about the responses I have gotten to the questions that I have asked without anyone knowing who I am or what my work looks like - it is becoming very clear to me that everything is headed towards the Internet - online - no questions  asked - 

this morning I called on gallery and they - like so many others  - do not look at artists work - because they have too many artists as well - and  - because they would get too many submissions if they did look at new work - simply suggested that I go online and create a presence there - meaning simply that they are looking for people - if they did need any new artists - for people who could thrive - and succeed on line and then perhaps if they did need to bolster their own group of artists - well then you might have a chance of them being interested in your work  - 

so my suggestion to myself if to focus with my online presence (which by the way does not mean that I cannot or should not to will not advertise and market offline only keep the presence of my art and availability for purchase online and work that as much with as many tools as possible   - and of course a reminder to myself is always - let the tools do the work 

letter to a friend about his repetitive quotes from the writings of ancient Greece - without any meaningful discussion about what he is writing -

the imperative is still -


let the tools do the work - no matter what you are doing -


that is what makes the human being far superior in ability to just about any animal on the planet -


we have the ability to create and then - if we remember - to use these tools in a certain way that allows them to do just about most of the work for us -


and remember - this simple fact -


that money is a tool and one of the greatest of the tools amongst all of the tools that has been created by human beings -


try in all your dealings not to forget that fact!


Dear Friend -


Above I have given you one of the most powerful facts that I know about the human being and his existence in the world today -


and while much of what you have written to me in the enclosed copy of the letter I received the other day - is of littel use to me - since in some ways there is only one tool that I have that may perhaps make use of such information and the tool that I might make use of with that information is a tool which in some ways been with the human race from a long time ago and the part of that tool that is being used to interpret or even simply recount what it is that was written has not changed nor is developed much in any way from the point in time when the concepts - ideas and thoughts that you have written down - were developed -


now what does this mean?


It means simply that unless the tools that were created such a long time ago (in ancient Greece - a place you are forever quoting from and spouting information from) have been updated and adjusted with the main tool that was utilized to create them (that tool being the mind in this particular case) then the information - ideas - thoughts and concepts that were made or created back in ancient Greece - may and most probably do not in most cases - actually apply to the mind that has since developed into what it is that we are using today (a much different - whether better or worse tool - but definitely different tool) -


this means - that when you write about things conceived of and created from such a long time ago - there may perhaps be noone or only a few rare individuals who in fact speak the language of which you are referring to and which you are attempting to communicate with - and therefore may - at least during a great part of the time - find yourself not necessarily being understood - honestly -


instead - you may (or may not depending on your perception of what is going on in the universe within which you are functioning) find yourself very often misundersood or not even remotely understood - or you may find yourself only slightly understood with only slight interest by different individuals with you whom you have constantly kept in contact with for many many years and with whom you have spent so many years attempting to introduce not new and ingenious concepts with which to dazzle or amaze or in any way shape or form improve or enhance or even remotely suggest a better way to live - but rather  - your introduction or injection or just plain forcing such thoughts that you tend to deal with into the mind of a person functioning in today’s world seem in some way simply to cause a disruption - a throwing some debris into the workings of a perfectly good engine  -


now this does not mean to say that there is no value in the intention that you have behind your reasoning for introducing the thoughts that you consistantly harp on and which you decidedly insist are so important for people to know


but - there is a lack of effort on your part - it would seem - to make cohesive what thoughts you have within that you wish to express to the person living in the world today such that you can make your concepts understandable to the person fuctioning in the world today -


IN A LANGUAGE THAT HE OR SHE CAN UNDERSTAND -


in order to do this - to make your thoughts of how what you are discussing relates to today’s world and how the person of today may in some way shape or form utilize the information which you are imparting to him or her in any type of productive way - you must first learn the language - the values and the very many concepts which the individuals living in today’s world are utilizing on a consistent basis in order to function today - and then in a skilled and artistic many describe to them in a way that is totally comprehensible to at least a much larger portion of the population that which you have a desire to make them understand - if at all possible -



without a great deal of effort on your part to do this learning of the worlds or universes that many people live in today (and not just the few individuals that you have come in contact during your short stay at the Indian River County jurisdiction where a great many people seem only to be high on one drug or another) your writings - your expressions - your being understood by many individuals at all will remain - rather obscure to most people that you make any attempt to share them with -


I do not mean to imply that I myself am any better at communicating with individuals functioning in the general population of today’s world any better than you do - since my focus is more directed towards communication in a different era than yours - since while you focus on ancient Greece and the folks who lived in the past - I tend to focus on the future and interstellar  - no more understandable to the folks of today unless or until I am able to remain constant with a fellow travelers who may - in the way of the disciples of yesterday spread throughout the populations of today and tomorrow - that which I have shared - explained and made understood by them today - with great and painstaking efforts -




Sincerely,


Walter


Sunday, May 4, 2014

a few thoughts on advertising of art

well then - there used to be at one time a specific advertising agency in Manhattan that was dedicated specifically to the advertising art - and whether your work was in a gallery or not you were able to advertise in the Gallery Guide - since I have not ventured into any galleries for quite some time I do not know if such a Gallery Guide publication still exists - but might that still be a viable means of advertising for artists now as it was back in the 1970's?

also - Katherine - there seems to be a very fine line moving south for the distinction between high value art (your term) and cheap reproduction art - not only because of the term reproduction art being applied to actual reproduction but also because the same method of production is utilized for creating original digital art - if my last statement is too much into a cul de sac as you refer to it - fine - but then why not simply head on over to an advertising agency and let them proceed with advertising your work or anyone's work - the real questions that you ask in the beginning of the discussion get lost somewhere in the entire discussion because - unlike the production of normal products by any of the companies producing the products - the artist is an individual producing a products (perhaps sometimes as a collaboration with one or a few other people as well ) unless he or she is Damien Hirst who has set up a team or company to produce his dots and whatever else is produced - (even he admits the name of the one person on the team producing the best dots paintings out of all of his workers) so in a sense he has formed a team of his friends and discovered a was to market THEIR work under his name where everyone benefits as does Coca Cola forms much larger teams to produce the soda syrup and the distributors throughout the world market the finished product and produce it and distribute it in their own designated areas - the parallels between art being marketed and general products become closer and closer as time goes on and social media becomes a way of life and yet they are there - the social media platforms to make money they cost money - but that does not mean that they are as effective as other means of advertising especially if many of the people attempting to utilize them actually ignore much of the knowledge about advertising and creating effective ads. 
this simply means that a great ad is comprised of either a short statement describing and boasting about a product or a long and detailed story about the benefits of a particular product - of course an image depicting someone utilizing the product is important - thus so many paid ads in the fashion magazines of people actually wearing clothing in environments where the type of garment might be worn - but in addition to that - now with the social media - can the environments be closer to the members of the general public wearing the same clothing as say a high net worth lady? 
In other words - create some ads with your art on the walls with people in them - not viewing the art in the museums (for that is where that art will stay) but on the walls of the potential customers in their homes in their own environments - like this: 
http://575488trillion.blogspot.com/2012/12/2-10-2010d.html 
or this: http://575488trillion.blogspot.com/2012/12/2-9-2010c.html so this all becomes very interesting when we look at the reversal of the role of the model in her outfit and the art on the wall - the problem of course that to create and then pay for the advertising through the different print media and now through social media then takes a great deal of money to get the word out - and if instead of thousands of the fashion outfit being sold there is only one piece of art? - well the cost for that piece becomes exorbitant and - who is going to absorb that cost - ---- the artist? no - so the prices of what people call unappealing art becomes exorbitant simply because of the costs to get the word out about this art is-

Saturday, May 3, 2014

viewers and purchasers vs traffic -

It makes a lot of sense to me to write my own posts on this and other blogs that I have started myself - why - because I would prefer to get viewers and purchasers - even only one - once in a while - than to get a zillion people passing by in traffic -

let me tell you where this happens - right there on Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street in Manhattan where I hand out my business cards -


you see there are a number of very exclusive stores right there on Fifth that only get a few people in to purchase - and all of the heavy traffic passes them by - but they don't need all of that traffic - they only need a few people to purchase the items that they are selling -


of course they might with time get more and more viewers and purchasers into their stores - but it is not traffic that they focus on but their quality merchandise -


so I hope that I - over time will be doing the same providing you with interesting and valuable information at least for a few viewers and purchasers rather than simply being one of the many people who are simply doing whatever they are doing to get -  well as much traffic as they can get and to then claim that they are doing well because of this traffic hunting or attracting that they are doing -



Friday, May 2, 2014

About Potential Clients for Purchasing Art

perhaps there is some other information that can be added to alleviate any misunderstandings at this point in time -

can we remain aware that many great artists have been or art collectors of other artists' work as well - ?

and that being collectors of other artists' work they also can be considered potential clients -

so this being the case it might actually be possible to consider every other artist (whether they do become a collector of your work) a potential client as well?

with this type of thinking there is no need to exclude or segment anyone out of any group at all -

the real question might actually be - how can we all work in harmony (perhaps everyone here in this group) to maximize our understanding of both sides of the equation -

one thing that I can add to the equation (whether or not any individual here accepts my work as art that we are talking about or not) is that the system upon which I am more or less reliant on for expanding the awareness of my collection and which has the greatest possibility of helping me spread the word about my collection and perhaps stimulate sales (other than my own personal "Doubling Project" which I place here for anyone to read about in case you have any questions as to what that is:

http://575488trillion.com/files/38880100.pdf

is an affiliate program run by the company that hosts my art - which is run through a general affiliate company - share a sale which runs affiliate programs for many companies throughout the Internet -

my only seemingly responsibility in order to make this system work for me - seems to be to encourage - guide and assist different individuals throughout the world who might not otherwise know about this affiliate program and to after introducing this program to potential affiliates - make them aware that they have to potential of not only representing or sharing my collection of so far 175,000 images to the people that they market to and earning monies from any sales that are made of my work - but that they have the potential of earning monies also from the representation and sharing the works of the other over 55,000 artists who have placed their work on the same exact system -

this - quite amazingly is a very powerful networking effect that is able when utilized properly to take place and that leaves pretty much any individual artist with an entire support system that could not exist or be created without many many individuals working in harmony (knowingly or unknowingly) towards the exact same ends - *more or less like the affiliate program that works for the Amazon company - which has experience great strides of growth and expansion with a similar affiliate marketing program -

___________________________________________________________________________________________


Irena - 


I am sorry for the misunderstanding - 

The "Doubling Project" to which I have given you a link to is my own personal marketing project which I have bee working steadily since 1992 and during which I have given out over 3.8 million business cards and which has along with that brought me many unbelievably wonderful clients for my photography business and which until only recently has grown to include also my art collection (available now online) as well as marketing tools and business opportunities - 

my posting it here was not a proposal - as you called it - for anyone else to do the same - this I do myself only and usually am in Manhattan at Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street or at various other strategic locations in Manhattan where there is such a heavy foot traffic that I can and do give out the thousands of business cards each day - or when I am not in Manhattan - I give my cards out to just about anyone anywhere - and I know for a fact that this brings me clients which in turn brings in money and - potential purchasers for my art collection prints and canvases - 

if you or anyone here is willing to sell prints and canvases of your work (and perhaps even retain ownership of your originals) then you can if you would like join the Imagekind System where my art is hosted and get three free galleries and avail yourself of the networking effect that exists their to gain viewership from some of the visitors that come to that system from all over the world as well as potential purchasers from the affiliates that already exist and work to bring in new viewers all of the time - 

I agree with you that many times the most unlikely people will appreciate art - original or otherwise - and that leaves a great many people in the category of potential purchasers - 

I am not able to discuss original or not about my art since that type of discussion usually ends up in heated debate - but I can only say since every image that I create is totally digital - that prints and canvases for me means that they are original while I at the same time do understand that a print or canvas of an original painting is not an original in that case -

__________________________________________________________________________________________


Glad you understand my thinking Arthur - I never ever want to stop giving out my cards - there are so many things to learn being out there amongst the people


of course there are some days that are better and sometimes things are just simply unbelievable - and the most difficult times are say - in 8 degree temperatures when it is windy - I can only stay our for about a half an hour on days like that - and the hot sunny days pretty much never ever bother me - I just imagine that I am on the beach - technically Manhattan is an island - and it is my island - no matter what anyone else says - I can go anywhere I want and give out my cards - there - and just think - there are say 20 million people living on the island and it's surrounding areas - but there are over 47 million visitors here every single year who all come to get one of my business cards - and go home and view my art -

I sometimes tell people that they do not have to pay the air fare or the hotel room fees next time - just simply sit at home and enjoy my art -

today I was headed to Manhattan and the subway got derailed so there was no service in or out - so I simply stayed in my neighborhood - Forest Hills and gave out cards there - there were plenty of people who were turned away from the subways and so they had not much to do but to come by and take a cards - :-)

where I stand in Manhattan - there is no selling of anything but I think of it as being much more productive simply giving out the cards and letting people find whatever they want at my sites -

here is my giving talking about giving out the cards a few years ago in the area where I mostly stay :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMqlMQZldxo

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Descriptions of Art - my feelings about them given by the artists

Commented in a discussion with Brian Sherwin about  Art Marketing and Words:

Yes Brian - there are many people who take the time to read the little descriptive writings by different paintings - but there are many more details never told on these writings that are told by both the tour guides as well as the descriptive tapes that museum goers are given to learn about the art that they are viewing - 

however - I don't believe that any of this information is as informative as it might be if - as you suggest - each artist were to write about the works in these museums as they might on their websites - 

for me - I would find this pretty much impossible (I think) since I first would not know what would interest anyone else about my work (what questions would they have) and then the thoughts - feelings and ideas are so wide spread for each and every one of the images in my collection that I would literally have to write volumes upon volumes for each series or even many of the individual images in order to give a complete account of everything that has gone into each one - 

this type of exhaustive explanation or description would be fine for the viewers to have - more and more information is of course what we are saying that individuals seek more and more of as time goes on and knowledge helps them learn about both the artists as well as their works - but at the same time - for myself at least - this would be both such an exhaustive process as well as extremely time consuming such that is would greatly impair the path that I am on to creating more and more of my images and uploading them to my online galleries - 

unless or until there is some change in the climate and pace of my creating as well as the re uploading of the 100,000 of my images that were lost from my galleries on the site that my collection is housed on - the lack of words and descriptions will both have to inspire and encourage some introspection on the part of the viewers where they may perhaps be forced to come up with their own conclusions as to what is going on in the individual pieces as well as the entire series that I have been creating as well as perhaps encourage one or a number of individuals who may perhaps value what I am creating and want to see this material to be found out and shared - to step forward and take charge with at least a minimal effort if not as exhaustive a project as I foresee is possible in order to begin the process of descriptive writing about the images in my collection as you might imagine will be beneficial to the viewing public - 

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Apple

Apple colored my world -

so that I could color yours -

think about what life was like before Apple computer -

Artists were limited to the materials - colors - shapes styles and dimensions of the world of existing mediums -

today there is the entire world of creating -

with pure energy -

and that leaves me with a whole bunch of universes to draw from and

to create for -

:-)

4-24-2014DABCDEFGHIJKLMNO by Walter Paul Bebirian

Monday, April 14, 2014

my response to the question posed - what do you think a creative person's mind is like?

spongy





many Universes all present at the same time - same place and same person all at once -






this has to be an evolutionary process - I don't believe that we can expect to jump right to a subscription process - although I could be wrong - people have to begin to even appreciate - get used to - accept the idea of actually having real art in their homes as they did with actually believing that they could watch movies in their own homes - first with television (where advertising sponsors were paying for this privilege that they had ) then owning the video tapes and then cd - which they still can do and along with the ownership the subscriptions for viewing it has almost been parallel systems that we have watched evolve - together with the improvements of the systems and quality - higher quality and viewership for everyone -spongy






Friday, April 11, 2014

some thoughts on art marketing and marketing in general

as far as marketing is concerned both in the art world as well as in all other businesses - it seems as if no one really knows or understands what is going to work tomorrow or even what (if anything) is working today -


when things are first introduced - (I mean by that - one person trying something absolutely new- never done before) there is sometimes great results that can be gotten - but most often - when other people have heard about one program or another that has been successful they are often led to believe that this same program or approach or strategy will most likely work for them as well - and so they amongst a whole group of like minded folks jump on the bandwagon and try the same thing that worked for one person in the beginning of its inception -


and then - well - that one thing that did work - does not work anymore - and then - well people begin trying even harder - with more effort in the same direction - not realizing that - well - this is just not going to work -


and then someone comes up with a totally new way of presenting the products or services and then that works - but only for a while until a whole lot of people begin doing the same things and well someone else has to move away from the entire group and try something different -


and this has been going on for years with marketing in the brick and mortar world -


and the same thing happens on the internet -


but now the original idea may actually create an even greater results - but then there are so many more people who may find out about that new idea so much quicker or in a shorter period of time and then ------ well it stops working even faster than before -


so another point is that it is a curious point that all of these artists (or it at least seems this way) have no interest in being creative with this very important field of endeavor that might (if they did apply themselves and perhaps came up with the next big idea - that worked because it was ever so slightly different but different non the less - or the next big idea that worked because it was actually very different than anything every done before - be a really significant thing to utilize for marketing their art - and perhaps ---- well for some other very big companies that may just pay a great deal of money for this idea - (whether it is big or small) -


here is something to consider -


an article for advertising agencies on how to obtain referral business -


the interesting point stressed here is that content marketing (and I have heard this in many arenas) is key to gaining inbound marketing (which is the main type of marketing that is preferred today since outbound marketing in today's environment is worthless even counter productive in many instances -


and with this concept I begin to wonder -


who best to create or have content marketing than the artists that we are -


so here we are spending our lives or most of our lives creating content and - then we turn around and can't utilize this content for this inbound marketing that advertising agencies are begging for?


something is amiss here -


but then the other point made in this article is about a thing called social proof -


meaning a large number of outside people considering a person or company expert at something which means not just one person recommending another since that recommendation is often questionable until the social proof of everyone or many people reinforcing what the recommendation says about a person or company -


so how can this be related to the art marketing that you are doing?




at this point in time this is the type of thinking that might do us the most good to focus on - yet how to gain such social proof - as it is referred to - is that a big challenge -


I believe that is what the Facebook fan pages are for - no?


perhaps twitter as well - but I am not sure of that -


what do you think?


does anyone who is in this discussion have a Facebook fan page for their art with a substantial number of likes? doesn't that constitute --- what was that? social proof - that at least - if no one or only a few people have purchased your art - that at least some people have seen and liked what you have to offer?


so what happens next?


after that - then you want some reinforcement from individuals who have seen or purchased you work - this you might gain just by being here on LinkedIn -


and well then all of these different sites and pieces of the puzzle begin (I believe) to start to fit together and make sense as to why some people are doing their best to utilize these tools and create a large number of fans or written recommendations - it all plays some psychological reinforcement strategy in the potential purchasers mind -


like gee -


a lot of people like his or her work - then there are the few or many written recommendations - they may be just personal friends but put together with the social proof of the entire number of Facebook fan page likes and I like the work and what I see as well -


so that just may be enough for me to at least go ahead and make a purchase and well there is the 30 day money back guarantee that allows me to have the art in my own personal environment and if it is just not right image wise or just not the right size or perhaps I may discover that I might want a canvas as opposed to a paper print framed or unframed
and so the customer or client gets to work these details out gradually for themselves -
but then what specifically can you as an individual go ahead and do to make your particular offer even more special?


any thoughts on that in this group of people?


well of course - the one thing that you have that is unique to you - and this will always be the case just about unless you begin too much to copy the style of someone else -


is your work -


so develop that style -


create enough of a body of work to be able to show consistency and development over time


and there you have the content necessary for that inbound marketing -


build on the other necessary elements with the tools offered to us with social media systems - over time


and then everything will magically fall into place -


it just has to -


without any real effort at all -


but you have to focus on creating your art first!!!


so from that perspective - every single one of us has a big big big advantage over any advertising agency or other type of business that exists in the world


because


we just naturally are set up to be


creating content! :-)


the key with social media is not think selling at this point in time but to draw people win with your content (your art and perhaps other things that you have to say or show people about it) that will "draw" people in as opposed to messages that you want to send out -


one person sees your work (and that is ALL that you want them to do at this point) likes the page and their friends are able to see that they likes your page and then they have a chance to view it with a click on the link that is on your page and perhaps they like your work and like your page as well - this part of the equation has nothing whatsoever to do with having Facebook and your page sell anything it is a viral referral system -


leave it alone at that and it will grow at its own pace - place some content there and perhaps some interesting points along the way and there will be some growth over time -


but whoever comes to your page in the future sees very well that there are a sufficient number of people who are saying they like your art - (by the number of likes) and then that may both influence them to like your Facebook fan page (increasing your - what was that? - "social proof" and then look or delve into your content on your online galleries to a greater degree -


now Coke does not have to go through this -


first we know that Coke (Coca Cola) has been around - what - 100 years and so they have billions of followers and or at least millions - a lot more than you or me - but basically what it wants a Facebook fan page for is to perhaps introduce some of its newer products - to answer any social issues and to engage with the customers that it has -


you and I on the other hand are in the developing stage so it is a totally different approach that we need to take -


as far as the article being great or not - it somehow came up in google (it had a high ranking) such that I chose to read it and use it for my example of ----- what was that that I was looking for?


not content marketing but referral marketing - how the information and how you place it in the different mediums - and how it is perceived - leads to people's perceptions such that they are guided to not nay learn about things from their friends and the influence of others but also how once they are influenced they are then driven to share their own experience with others -


first Coca Colas latest experience that they want people to experience and to share (what they are using in today's social media environment:




and an image (content) that they were utilizing in the past:




( I would consider this last one a targeted market indeed)


as is this:




and perhaps millions of other images that they have used over the years -


this one being their most aggressive season:




but as I said - we are not Coca Cola -
so how to we develop -


in what manner - and style -


and how can we touch the hearts minds - bodies and souls of our various markets in a way that outshines what Coca Cola has done and even great effect or can we utilize their customers attachment to the Coca Cola product (if we are so inclined to do so) so that our content becomes desirable for even Coca Cola to want to utilize to touch people - ?


I was thinking about the same thing - about Coca Cola being out of the league of any of the artists perhaps except Damien Hirst if he so chose to tackle them - but as far as budget and that end of things - Coca Cola has to pay for the art that it uses while we (at least from what I understand) own everything to start with as far as the content that we would put in a campaign or use on social media-


instead there is also a possibility of partnering or joint venture with different companies -


I remember years ago an appropriate image placed in an ad and posters of the image were offered for sale in addition to the product being for sale - just a thought - how can that be done today - ?


if not - this is perfectly alright -


there are no mistakes or failures - get rid of those terms in your vocabulary and think that whatever idea you come up with will definitely be appropriate and workable in some situation in your present or future -


rehash - tweak - adjust and keep on thinking -


and perhaps instead of attempting to blow holes in what I or anyone else says on one of these discussion - see how - if it might not quite work at this point in time - it can be changed so that it will work -


there is always a way to make things work and work really really really big!!!!


I would say that marketing for anyone not only artists today involves a great deal of thinking - research - knowledge of what has worked historically in the brick and mortar world - what has been used by different companies in the past during the upwards endeavor of development - *which I believe Coke is still in the stage of doing especially in light of the new developments which means discovery that consumption of soda which is their main product throughout their history seems to be on the decline in the US -


and experimentation such that we as individual marketers of our work actually do our best to attempt to try as many different ideas as possible and that none of these ideas are in any way considered failures but must - if not exactly successful at this very moment - ideas whose time will be right at a certain point down the line -


the links that I gave are to different historical images used by Coke - as well as a link to their current marketing strategy - a very important perspective indeed no matter where you are in your development - since whether this will be successful or not is very critical to Coke and there strategy and there are things there to learn as to what they are trying to evoke in their fan base as well as in their new or future customers - nothing to disregard at all -


and no I am not referring to commercial art versus fine art but I would like to say that these two field of endeavors very often blend together or in a sense step into each other's arenas - which is one of my thoughts when giving the links to the Coke ads above -


I am not interested in creating another thread - but I would like to point out again that there is no one who really knows what will and will not work in today's world no matter how they might present themselves as an expert in whatever field they are in - everything is up for grabs and --as Steve Jobs is known to have said to Steve Wozniak - how is anyone going to know what they want until we show them -


so the main objective is to capture any person's attention and get them to see what you have (in this case referring to your art) such that they discover what you have to show them and then if this showing happens to be in the right context (atmosphere where the art and how the art is being presented) that they then feel that it is something that they would definitely want to have in their own personal environment - (sometimes not an easy transition to make especially for a general public who is not yet used to the idea of owning fine art - but yet an endeavor worthwhile if the entire market for fine art is to be expanded to its greatest potential -


one thing to consider is that the product of Coke is a consumable whereas a work or art is - well something that does not nor can it be consumed on a daily basis except that the ideas - feelings and moods that it conveys can be absorbed by the viewer on a daily basis - from that perspective there has to be a great deal of thinking as to just how to present your or my work to touch the viewer in that very special way -


any thoughts ideas or ahas in this thread coming up soon?


there are an extremely large number of coke merchandising products that have become collectables -


butt putting that aside -


the first fine art piece that our friend Andy Warhol did was his Coke bottle -


well one dies not have to go in this direction - but just as Andy Warhol did Mona Lisa in his own style and technique -




I have done Andy's Coke Bottle:




in my own style and technique:




and then built a number of series with this image in it - and continue to do so as time goes on:




as far as art under the bed turning into mulch - idea can turn into a number of different alternatives - perhaps the bed can have a small window to see through to under the bed and view the art while on that bed or perhaps


the art can be something that can be on a board with rollers on it and pulled out and up and viewed when the owner wants to see it - sort of like those beds that used to be hidden in a wall and then the doors were pulled open and the bed dropped down to be slept on but still attached to the wall -


something for those who are short on space -


of course you will perceive what I have done in the manner that you see things -


but have you ever seen the ads that Metropolitan Life Insurance did utilizing Van Gogh's self portrait -


the question about marketing - which is what is the most important thing that artists (but in fact anyone needs to know) is that it must capture a person's attention - without capturing attention in a world where the most important commodity is a person's attention - where it is even more important that any money you may hold in your hand - sine without the attention being gotten - the saying of Steve Jobs to Steve Wpzniak cannot be carried out -


we cannot show anything to anyone to let them know what they want - unless they will have first been enticed to look at what we have to show them - that is the very first step -


that is the reason so many artists go to art fairs - want to gain entry into shows - knock on doors to galleries and endure great hardships sometimes to enter the minds of the people who they believe may want to see what they have -


tell me when you asked in the introduction question - how have you learned about marketing - in general and specifically in relation to art?


did you or do you really want to know?


I think that it would be really interesting to know how you might have presented an answer to that if you were me -


here is Rauchenberg's story:



but since you are so interested in getting rid of me from this particular thread - I will certainly happy to leave -