How Do They Do That !

mark day · Jun 8, 2006

Any advice on selling a image or going about it

Do you guys use image banks ? or badger a buyer to use your image ?

Or some kind of agency.

tehbuffalo · Jun 8, 2006

If theres a flee market close by you can frame them and sell your pictures. The problem is with flee markets is that no matter how nice the picture people expect things cheap.

Another way is to go to a store that sells art and just ask them up front if they would like to sell your photos. I'm sure if your confident that your art is quality then they wouldn't say no. And if worse comes to worse don't take no for an awnser!

mark day · Jun 8, 2006

cool and I take it most freelancers out there working as professionals are selling their work through word of mouth or have worked up a good client base over the years ..

DocFrankenstein · Jun 8, 2006

The key to selling images is that people need to want to buy them.

Think about what kind of images people usually want to buy and work from there.

Your avator is horrifyingly distracting BTW

digital flower · Jun 8, 2006

DocFrankenstein said:
Your avator is horrifyingly distracting BTW

Yeah, slow that thing down, please.

danalec99 · Jun 8, 2006

DocFrankenstein said:
Think about what kind of images people usually want to buy and work from there.

Or think about what kind of images you would love to shoot and then start from there.

DocFrankenstein · Jun 8, 2006

danalec99 said:
Or think about what kind of images you would love to shoot and then start from there.

How is that going to help him sell?

zedin · Jun 9, 2006

While to some extent others have to love your work you tend to make better shots (at least I do) if you are shooting something you love. That is why my nature or macro shots always seem to turn out better then others. Plus if you love it your more then likely to go out and get the shots.

danalec99 · Jun 9, 2006

DocFrankenstein said:
How is that going to help him sell?

Good question.

For me, sales/profit should not be the primary motivating factor while involved in a creative endeavour. If you are open-minded and work/push hard, it will come. Those are merely the bi-products. Wouldn't it be nice if you are making money off of something you love doing, rather than thanking God for Friday, week after week?

I really like Rodney Smith's view on this:

"Never choose to be a photographer for the money or for the glamour or for the romance of it all. I think it may have all of those things but that is not the reason why you choose to be a photographer. You choose to be a photographer because there is something about this translation of feeling onto film that drives you to really want to do this, and it's a really wonderful gift for you to do that. All the other stuff is sort of peripheral to it and if you seek that out, you're going to lose it. If you seek out just to do really good work, to be the best you possibly can, maybe that will come to you."

Then again, there aren't any 'right' ways.

DocFrankenstein · Jun 9, 2006

I agree with Rodney Smith, but it doesn't really answer the OP's question.

I like shooting landscapes and naked girls. I don't beleive I'll be able to sell many of those.

danalec99 · Jun 9, 2006

DocFrankenstein said:
I agree with Rodney Smith, but it doesn't really answer the OP's question.

I know; I was responding to you.

--
As for the original question, it depends on the type of images that you are planning to sell.

If you are looking to sell your images to the editorial market these two books may help you:
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1582973954/sr=1-1/qid=1138760857/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-9737138-8690363?%5Fencoding=UTF8"]2006 Photographer's Market[/ame]
Writers' and Artists' Yearbook 2006

If you are interested in selling stock images, there are some leads in the 2006 Photographers Book mentioned above. Apart from the ones listed in the book, you can submit your work to Corbis, GettyImages, Comstock, IPNStock.com, IstockPro.com etc.
Then there are places like istockphoto.com where you will be able to sell your images for dirt low prices.

danalec99 · Jun 9, 2006

DocFrankenstein said:
I like shooting landscapes and naked girls. I don't beleive I'll be able to sell many of those.

I can't help you there, but the top notch photographers that we see around weren't born with all the skills, marketing etc.

Tony · Jun 12, 2006

danalec99 said:
I know; I was responding to you.

--
As for the original question, it depends on the type of images that you are planning to sell.

If you are looking to sell your images to the editorial market these two books may help you:
2006 Photographer's Market
Writers' and Artists' Yearbook 2006

If you are interested in selling stock images, there are some leads in the 2006 Photographers Book mentioned above. Apart from the ones listed in the book, you can submit your work to Corbis, GettyImages, Comstock, IPNStock.com, IstockPro.com etc.
Then there are places like istockphoto.com where you will be able to sell your images for dirt low prices.