My Photo Booth @ a Boutique Flea Market

Since moving to San Francisco, I’ve dreamed of having a photography booth at a street fair. 

Two years later, I realized that dream in Booth 304 at the Treasure Island Flea Boutique Pop-Up Show.

Three-Booths in One

Over the last weekend in February, I curated a photo exhibition of my own work in a 10’x10′ space. It featured:

The Symmetry Project:
Part of my booth was dedicated to presenting my latest work: The Symmetry Project – A photographic exploration of the differences within civilizations.

They are the large collage-esque pieces you see to your right.

New Photos Every Hour:
Rather than overwhelm visitors with all of my photographic series at once, I debuted a new one every hour.

Build Your Own Photo Wall:
Choose two 5×7’s, one 8×10 and one 11×14” and form your own mini-series. Frames optional.

An Exhibition, Not a Sale

Before the show, I received some valuable advice: don’t be disappointed. So with that in mind, I went into the weekend with the intention of putting on a solo photography exhibition. If someone wanted to buy something: great. If not, I just wanted people to enjoy the work and leave with a smile.

That attitude was the perfect one to have, as I only made a few sales but had the best time talking photography and travel with people and putting myself out there. I honestly couldn’t be happier with how the weekend went and am excited to take my show to an art fair in the future.

Step 1: Making the Prints

Making the prints turned out to be the easy part. During my time in San Francisco, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to work at Dickerman Prints Photo Lab and learn the art of digital photographic printing from two darkroom masters.

It also helped that the lab has the world’s best photographic printer, capable of making darkroom-style C-prints from digital files at sizes up to 30×49”.

As I honed my selective editing skills in Photoshop, I was able to see that work directly translated to a print I could hold in my hand: quite a special feeling.

A Very Shaky Plan to Present my Work

Thanks to the support of Seth at Dickerman Prints, I had a collection of photographic C-prints in all sizes ready to go.

Frames were plentiful after spending two years using my living room as a constantly evolving photo wall.

But how was I going to present it all?

// I ordered a magazine rack, greeting card rack and triangular metal wall online.

// As an alternative to framing, I had dozen prints professionally mounted on Dibond with a polycarbonate laminate and cleated back frame.

Done by the amazing Ian Green at Stick Pony Mounting, each photo looked like a work of art and was completely durable and scratch-resistant.

These mounted prints would lean up against a wall, or a post, or something, I guess…and people could flip through them.

// For a back wall, I was going to borrow a photo shoot backdrop from my friend Susette at The Blackwell Files and tape some prints up on white paper.

// And, to get all of this to the show, I planned to use my little 4-door hatchback.

Thank Goodness for Audrey Heller!

Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Audrey Heller: an incredibly creative photographer who also specializes in having booths at art fairs.

After previously picking her mind on how to do set mine up, Audrey came into the photo lab 10 days before my show and I told her my plans.

She replied by asking, “do you have this? What about that? No? Do you want to borrow them?”So thank you, Audrey, for the black backdrop, lights, display racks, tables, odds, ends and bounty of helpful advice and support.

The Final Push

One week out I was running around town with Ned Dishman picking up all sorts of last-minute backing boards, archival bags, frames and other supplies.

Three days out I was finishing up my final prints.

Two days out I set up a mock booth in my  living room and started defining different photographic series.

One day out I actually decided how the booth was going to function.

The night before I rented a U-Haul van, drove to Audrey’s studio to get her stuff, drove to Stick Pony to collect my mounted pieces, finished a million last-minute things including printing all the signage and finally went to bed at 1am.

Four hours later I woke up, packed the van, drove to Treasure Island, unloaded everything and began to set it all up.

The show started at 10am. At 11:30, my booth was finally ready for visitors.

What’s Your Name? Greg. Me Too!

You couldn’t ask for a better person to have a booth next to than Greg Wooton.

For a first-timer like me, it was great to hear his stories about all the other flea markets and shows that he has presented his work in. Crafter of exquisite glass, fossil and fine stone boxes, Greg’s positive energy was contagious.

By the end of the show on a pretty empty Oscar Sunday, we were entertaining ourselves by finding hidden images in his macro photographs of his pieces. I truly hope I have the opportunity to show next to him again.

When is the Next Booth?

I currently have a one-way ticket to India, where my wife is studying yoga.

After we reunite and do some traveling, I hope to find myself back in the Bay and would love to give it another go.

In the meantime, the my booth lives on through Adventures of a GoodMan. Enjoy.