Eye on the Prize

Image Credit: Eye by Winter Edition Hot Shot Mickey Smith

Photographer and Winter Edition Hot Shot Mickey Smith came by the gallery this week to show us more of her gorgeous prints in person. Since she was on my mind, I used the photo above on the deadline reminder I sent out for Hey, Hot Shot!. (It’s Monday, but you knew that already.)

Anyhow, Ms. Smith, she’s got her shit together. She’s professional without being uptight, her prints are gorgeous and at the end of our visit she left me with an impeccably put together package that contained:

- a heavyweight folder customized with one of her images and a label with her name

- a clearly labeled cd, in a case

- a checklist for the cd, a resume, a pricing guide and her artist statement, all printed on letterhead

- two postcards

- press clips and a press release from a group show she participated in

- an inkjet print of one of her photos, on heavy stock paper, with the image information at the bottom

- her business card

All of these items were enclosed in a hand addressed, labeled envelope (color-coordinated, of course!) All the materials were flawless – no typos, no rough edges, she spelled my name right. I resist accepting packets whenever possible. My gallery is teeny tiny, I am not an organized person, I am perpetually drowning in paper. This was not a package I could say no to however.

This all leads back to the “How to Approach Galleries?” question I get asked again and again. Mickey has the right idea, not just because of her presentation, but because she was pleasantly persistent about setting up our meeting in advance and had a clear plan of what she wanted to show me and how. And of course it helps that I love the work.

One other thing – Mickey was recently featured on NYC design blog Apartment Therapy. She emailed me a nice note to let me know about it and mentioned that she’d found them through my blog, and thanked me for the referral. Did I mention that she has her shit together? Because she does.