Capturing the "Pop" for Athena & Petra Designs

January, 2008

Quick -- you have ten seconds to present your best image. Can you do it?

That was the challenge faced by jewelry handcrafters Sharon Jeter and Melanie Updegraff of Athena & Petra Designs.

Seasoned in the local art show circuit, Sharon and Melanie were ready to take their sterling and fine silver jewelry to the next level by applying to nationally-known juried art shows. Participation in more competitive shows brings the opportunity to be seen by new people and exhibit in a higher playing field among well-known artisans.

Shows by the Chautauqua Craft Alliance, SoNo Arts Celebration, Kenan Center and Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen draw thousands of applicants each year and accept as few as 67 applicants. With judges spending only about ten seconds viewing each submitted photograph during the selection process, image presentation becomes as important as the work itself.

Sharon and Melanie had always taken pictures of their jewelry themselves. But for these higher-level submissions, hiring pixelwave to produce professional images took some of the jitters out of the arduous application process that also includes an application form, written image descriptions and multiple fees.

"A good photograph has to capture the judges' attention immediately," Sharon explained. "The image has to have a strong presentation and represent the physical qualities of the metal and stones. It has to be sharp and clear, and it has to 'pop' from the industry standard backdrop."

Not every photographer can capture that "pop," which comes from a combination of arrangement, lighting and the photographer"s artistic eye. Sharon and Melanie credit Tim and pixelwave with finding the "pop" factor in their work.

Such a result begins with understanding the customers' needs.

"Tim listened to us," Sharon said. "He researched artists who had been admitted to these shows and showed us how their images had been photographed. He was honest and upfront about providing images in the exact size we needed without having to have them resized at an additional cost."

"Working with a local photographer also saved us the costs and fear of shipping our jewelry out of the area," Melanie said. And it gave the artisans the chance to be at the photo shoot to position the jewelry the way it was designed to be worn.

We wish Athena & Petra Designs the best in completing their round of applications and look forward to hearing the results! You can see their work at www.athenaandpetra.com.

To see how pixelwave can make your image "pop," contact Tim Fuss today.