Photography selling help needed!

[GABEtheBABE]

Hello...I am wondering how to sell some photographs that I have taken, and I thought getting an account here would be a good way of figuring that out, so...I did.

My girlfriend and I are both amateur photographers, and have become enraptured with the art as a hobby. She has done senior pictures for a friend, and I have done a good deal of scenery photography (up in good ol' Minnesota). We both also do a lot of abstract-ish photography.

So...to get back to the question...how could we go about making some money off these? Doing so would make it more easy to spend more time doing it and obtain more equipment (right now we both share a digital camera, a Canon Powershot S3IS). We're not quite sure where to start... I thought about contacting some businesses and such things who may buy my work (i.e. the Minnesota magazine) but I am not quite sure how to do it.

The question of how to sell the abstract photography is even more difficult, because I have no idea who to market them toward.

Since we are both just amateurs, we are not looking to make it into a business-like situation, at least not yet. So, I would like to know who I should contact or what I should do to sell, without spending much money on advertising or anything.

Oh, and I can post some of our work later, if it helps.

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[Moxi]

Hi Gabe,
What I did was to make cards with stock from http://www.photographersedge.com/ . I also set up a website so folks could order prints. And there are also quite a few small (and reasonably priced) companies that will print your photos into a book. What size and how many are up to you.
Another idea would be a place like cafepress.com that will provide you products with whatever photo/graphic/text you want on them.
Good luck!

[rabidzoomer]

well first off i would create an account from the website in my signature. you can upload all of your photos there and it will give you the option of selling them and all you have to do is just sit back and wait if they do sell.

Another way would be to print off a sheet with them some of your pictures on there and people could choose and you could print out a photo with a photo printer or go to a photo developing center and print one off and use matte board around it for a frame.

Im sure people will post many places to matte board it in the future or you can search for websites in the forum (click on search on the forum toolbar) or google it.

I hope i helped!

-Mark

[craig]

Post your shots all over the net. Here, Deviant Art, JPG, Flickr, whatever. There are millions of free sites. Contacting local magazines and rags is never a bad idea. The idea is to first figure out how much interest your work generates. Then you will have a better idea of the markets you should target. As always the number one rule is to hit 'em hard and hit 'em good.

Of course this subject runs very deep. It will take time and money and a serious game plan. At this point I would concentrate on making good images as opposed to money. Photography is expensive for sure, but that can be taken care of in a variety of ways. I should also mention that I have been hanging my work for years and have made little money off of it. I just love to show people my photographs. My commercial work is the bread and butter of the operation.

Love and Bass

[GABEtheBABE]

Cool, cool...thanks for the help, guys! I can't upload pictures with this computer right now ( I don't have access to the comp with all of my files on it right now) but as soon as I can I'll upload them onto some sites. I have a lot of them right now on facebook, which, I guess is less likely to generate anything than deviantart. I'll also try to contact some possible buyers.

Craig, I can relate to what you said, too--My girlfriend and I are more into just taking pictures for the fun of it than selling them, so if I can make any money then awesome, and if not then we still very much enjoy photography anyway.

Thanks again for the help, but keep it coming if you have any more ideas!