Artist Bios - First or Third Person?

[blakemcguire]

So I need to write a bio for my website. I think I would prefer to write it in first person (I think it feels a bit more personal since this is my way of connecting to people interested in my work) but I see that most are in third person.

Is third person really necessary? Would a first person bio be detrimental to my website? What are your opinions as working photographers or as clients?

[Manfred M]

Third person, no question. If you write it in first person, your bio will sound like your opinion about yourself. If you write it in the third person, it will come across as being fact.

[NorthernFocus]

I agree with Manfred. It's all about perception. There's a reason people do it that way.

[William W]

So I need to write a bio for my website. . .

1. What is the exact PURPOSE of your Website.
2. What is the exact PURPOSE of the ‘Biography’ – HINT: Is the ‘Biography’ literally a “Biography” or is it an “About Me” page?


WW

[blakemcguire]

I want the site to be a place that I can show my best work for personal satisfaction and to generate business.

[Loose Canon]

Blake, write it in third person for sure.

If you want to say something personal, simply quote yourself.

Something like this: Blake Mcguire has been specializing in landscape photography for over 150 years and has been published in National Geographic, Life Magazine, Outdoor Life, Backpacker Magazine, yada, blah, blah. Blake says: “I have always had a love for the great outdoors and there’s nothing more enjoyable to me than hiking in to a destination in the dark in the pouring rain with nothing but a dying flashlight, a burnt match, half a Snickers bar and 300 pounds of camera gear to wait for just the right light to capture that special moment in time.”

Well, hopefully you get the idea! You can do more than one quote throughout the bio with a thought (quote) on any particular topic your “third” person is talking about, and it will come off as much more professional.

Write one in first and one in third and you’ll see what I mean!

[William W]

I want the site to be a place that I can show my best work for personal satisfaction and to generate business.

Thanks for answering.

I am still unclear about the answer to the second question I asked: but if it is a "Biography" and definitely not NOT an "About Me" page on what is essentially a business's website then I would also suggest using the third person.

If you are uncomfortable writing in the third person, then write it in the first person and get a close friend or relative suitably skilled in grammar and literature, to re-write it, for you.

WW

[tomdinning]

Like this, bill.

Tom Dinning (°1947, Sydney, Australia) is an artist who mainly works with photography. By applying abstraction, Dinning creates with daily, recognizable elements, an unprecedented situation in which the viewer is confronted with the conditioning of his own perception and has to reconsider his biased position.
His work urge us to renegotiate photography as being part of a reactive or – at times – autistic medium, commenting on oppressing themes in our contemporary society. By rejecting an objective truth and global cultural narratives, he creates intense personal moments masterfully created by means of rules and omissions, acceptance and refusal, luring the viewer round and round in circles.
His works doesn’t reference recognisable form. The results are deconstructed to the extent that meaning is shifted and possible interpretation becomes multifaceted. With a conceptual approach, he tries to approach a wide scale of subjects in a multi-layered way, likes to involve the viewer in a way that is sometimes physical and believes in the idea of function following form in a work.
His works directly respond to the surrounding environment and uses everyday experiences from the artist as a starting point. Often these are framed instances that would go unnoticed in their original context. Tom Dinning currently lives and works in Darwin.

There's enough bull**** there to fertilize any Chardoney sipping, pseudo artistic, pretentious BMW driver. You'll have them flocking to your doorstep in herds.

Available at: http://500letters.org/form_15.php

[blakemcguire]

Thanks a lot guys, very thorough feedback.