i dont know where to start

[iPhoto17]

i have an SLR camera, and a regular digital camera, i prefer the SLR but since highschool ended for me about 3 years ago i havnt had a darkroom to work in, i would love a DSLR eventually because of all the options you have, but i guess i can get my pictures done at a 1 hour place, so heres the thing.

im a terrific photographer and i want to get into selling my work and ihave no idea where to start, do i shoot, develope them and put them online for sale?

with my digital camera, can i upload pictures taken from it and put them up for show and if someone wants to order prints can i do that too? i eventually want to get into my own business with just amateur photography for now until i get money for some bigger and better equipment.

 

[Dylan-Fishman]

Well what type of photography? Can you post some examples of your art?

 

[Jim Gratiot]

First, welcome to the forum.

If you're serious about jumping in with both feet, then 1) take gillions of pictures and get better at your craft, 2) figure out what types of photography you are interested in, and 3) read a handful of business and marketing books.

It's been said here a million times... many people who aspire to run a photography business are great at photography but not so great at business.

Oh, and spend some time researching this forum. There are a lot of gems floating around in the muck.

Good luck!

 

[KmH]

First you have to figure out who would buy your images. That's your market. Then you need to let those people know that you have images for sale.

So, if it you make terrific landscape images your market will be much, much smaller than if you make portraits of people, or shoot weddings.

That's why Dylan asked what kind of photography you do. How you market your stuff is totally dependent on your genre. You may well sell more landscape images by setting up at art fairs than having a web site, as an example.

If you tend more to commercial type work you may want to check out some of the stock photography agencies.

At any rate like Jim said, get some business and marketing background if you're looking to make money from your photography.

Good luck and keep shooting.

 

[iPhoto17]

i mainly shoot abstract and landscape, i dont have any experience with portraits or family get together kind of stuff

 

[Christie Photo]

im a terrific photographer and i want to get into selling my work and ihave no idea where to start, ...

Humility. Start there. Work on humility.

-Pete

 

[iPhoto17]

humility i have, the only good thing goin in my life is my photography, everything else is just falling apart in my life

 

[Dylan-Fishman]

So you shoot film... This is getting harder & harder these days. Not to mention a lot more expensive. So get a website and if you think your stuff is good enough, try to get in some art fairs. I would highly recommend saving up for a semi-pro DSLR

 

[smn_xps]

you might also check around where you live to see if they have a co-op art gallery that you can get into. i would think that would provide a market for landscape and abstract. it would also do a couple of other things: cause you to have to work to improve your shots. OK so they are good now, but they will have to become better to out compete the other works being shown. and it will give you a chance to go meet some artistic people since most of these galleries require that you work some amount of hours in the gallery each month. and it will also possibly provide you some income to save toward better gear.

you could also look for a coffee shop, beauty parlor or whatever that will hang your work for sale on a consignment basis.

good luck
jerry

 

[KmH]

i mainly shoot abstract and landscape, i dont have any experience with portraits or family get together kind of stuff

Abstract and landscape aren't real big for retail. Plus it's more difficult to make a lot of sellable images in a short time like you can on a 1 hour portrait shoot.

Ok, you've got art fairs, the local art co-op and online for print sales.

• Art Fairs. You'll need at least a 10x10 foot pop up canopy with a white top and removable sides. Wal-Mart carries such for about $100. A really good one will run you about $500. Most of your images will need to be matted and bagged in variuos sizes. You'll need at least 10 of your best images printed big (at least 11x14) and quality framed to hang inside your pop up tent. A couple of easels to put a couple just outside your canopy for draw works pretty good. You'll need to be able to do credit card transactions so people can impulse buy (your best friend at an art fair). If money is tight you'll have to improvise and improve your set up as you go.
• Local Art co-ops. A lot a variation here and some co-ops don't consider photography as art.
• Online. Online is a digital world. For online sales your images have to be digitized to a high quality. You'll find most stock agencies won't accept your scans. Most magazines no longer accept film based images like slides and color negatives. They switched over to digital long ago. About the last hold out was Arizona highways. Besides, stock agencies are inundated with abstract and landscape images. Check out www.art.com

If you get your own web sitre or someplace like Zenfolio you still have to figure out how to get people to look at your website and buy your images and that's where some business knowledge comes in.

Well that should give you some more ideas. You just need to know that it won't just fall in your lap. You have to make it happen, and it's something you'll have to work at 7 days a week, but there are people out there that make it happen everyday.

Good luck to ya.

 

[iPhoto17]

So you shoot film... This is getting harder & harder these days. Not to mention a lot more expensive. So get a website and if you think your stuff is good enough, try to get in some art fairs. I would highly recommend saving up for a semi-pro DSLR

thats what im going to do, i really want a semi-pro DSLR so i can have my love for the manual side and the digital sides of me in one, do you know a good place to go for these? ive seen some at target and walmart but i cant help but to think they are ripping you off with the prices, i think 600 dollars wast he cheapest i have seen from target for a DSLR

 

[JCleveland]

The Nikon D60 retails here where I am (Canada) for close to $500.00 now. Even the D90's are around $1000. (Ps $500-600 IS cheap for a dSLR if you ask me...although the D60 isn't as good as a D300 and so forth..)
Do yourself a favor and go to a REAL camera shop. They'll be A LOT more helpful than the sales associates at Walmart. (trust me, I've worked both lol)

 

[KmH]

So you shoot film... This is getting harder & harder these days. Not to mention a lot more expensive. So get a website and if you think your stuff is good enough, try to get in some art fairs. I would highly recommend saving up for a semi-pro DSLR

thats what im going to do, i really want a semi-pro DSLR so i can have my love for the manual side and the digital sides of me in one, do you know a good place to go for these? ive seen some at target and walmart but i cant help but to think they are ripping you off with the prices, i think 600 dollars wast he cheapest i have seen from target for a DSLR

Your really going to love the prices for 'semi-pro' cameras, because what your looking at that Wal-Mart and Target carry are DSLR entry-level amateur cameras.

In the Nikon line 'semi-pro' starts with the D300, $1800 without a lens. The Nikon 'semi-pro' camera that has an image sensor the same size as your 35 mm film cameras is the D700, $3000 without a lens.