Lesson Learned #51 - Consider The Context

Context is a big subject, perhaps more suited to an MFA thesis than to commercial photography, but understanding how context affects the way your pictures are received is essential for moving ahead. By context I’m referring to, ‘the circumstances, background, or setting surrounding an image that clarifies its meaning’. No matter how good your photograph is, if the context in which it appears isn’t in sync with your overall intention, you can’t get the most out of your work.

When you’re lucky enough to have your pictures featured in good magazines and clever advertising campaigns, the context is sorted out for you. If, however, you’re trying to get noticed so you can get those advertising gigs, then it’s incumbent upon you to figure out how best to showcase your work. A handful of nice pictures on an otherwise anemic website won’t help.

One of the frustrating things about social media is how quickly a new, clever way of presenting work becomes inundated. By the time you get to the party, the food’s gone and there’s only a half bottle of flat seltzer left. This is why we have to carefully consider, adapt and work hard to develop our own idiosyncratic context that’s appropriate for our work.

Here’s something I found remarkably telling: Almost every photograph I had hanging in my recent show has been on Instagram or on my website for a while, yet somehow, a few of my closest friends, who know my work well and who have seen and liked these photographs before, thought they were seeing them for the first time. This highlighted just how dubious Instagram and websites can be as a context for getting your message across, it’s just too crowded. While we can enlist social media platforms as part of a wider effort, don’t rely on them exclusively.

Developing and cultivating a context that creates relevance and understanding for your pictures is an ever shifting challenge. In my case, having a social media platform (Context 1) to announce a gallery exhibit (Context 2) where people could see my work in person, was the combination I needed to have my pictures recognized in the way I intended.

The truth is, you always need to have context in mind when presenting your work, but it’s a powerful tool that cuts both ways. It can resurrect an archived favorite or bury it. People see what they expect to see and remember what they understand. Being able to orchestrate a context that helps your audience recognize, remember and appreciate your photographs, is a crucial aspect in moving your career forward.