Dining With Friends, Bittersweet Success

Two of my images were framed, donated and displayed at one of the best attended fundraisers in the Tennessee Valley last Saturday. The AIDS Action Coalition's annual grand soiree, Dining With Friends, was buzzing with excitement and energy as local artists were able to step out of their studios and mingle with guests as they place silent bids on must-have pieces. While neither of my pictures sold, I had a fantastic time, and took home some great tips to keep in mind for future events. My husband, on the other hand, was the big winner of two pieces.

The evening was filled with fantastic art, decadent dessert bites, and tasty tonics to sip on. In the beginning, bidders were casually walking around the room taking in the visual appeal. As the night went on, however, bidders would post up near the piece they couldn't live without and make conversation with friends while watching the bid sheet to see if anybody bumped up the price. Guests interested in more than one piece would make their rounds between the pieces they couldn't live without. As I was studying the colors in an acrylic on canvas piece, a bidder walked up to put her price down. I stepped a little bit closer to the piece to inspect a portion of the canvas that caught my eye. This made the bidder nervous. "Are you planning on bidding?" I wasn't, but her question intrigued me. "I'm not sure," I replied. She stood about three paces away from me, and watched my every move until I moved on to another piece to inspect.

I was at this event for more than just donating my photographs to a great cause. Denise Onwere was the subject of my final project in my Photojournalism class at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh - Online Division. I had two days left until deadline, and I still didn't have any images of her work being sold. This was the perfect event to take pictures of how the local population appreciates her art. I followed her around for most of the evening, taking pictures of her checking out the bid sheets for the 10 pieces she donated. Every now and then, she would call me over to a framed photograph and we would study the differences in their presentation and mine. The biggest thing we noticed was that the photographs with small frames were being bid on. The photographs with large, chunky frames weren't. To test this theory, I may just submit the same two photographs next time, but with much smaller frames and see how they fare.

The program with a sampling of the tasty treats.

One piece of art was prominently displayed for all bidders to look at while filling their plates.

One of my two framed pictures on display. This picture is called "Providence At Night".

My second donation, "Tree Swing."

Denise Onwere's art was a hit among bidders. Two of her pieces are shown in this image; top right, and top center.

Denise's painted step stool was featured on the Dining With Friends Facebook page, and brought several bids.

Two men study Denise's three-piece acrylic on canvas painting. The photograph just below it taught me a lot on how to present my images in the future.

There were several professional photographers from various newspapers, magazines, and web publications. I took the time to study their actions, how they interacted with the guests, and the ways they manipulated their gear.