So...what now...?

[Artograph]

I'm just wondering what you guys do with all the photos that you take....if you are a hobbiest/semi-professional. For example, I now have lots of photos, great for building a portfolio...and hanging a few in the house...but what else??

What I mean is, do you just take the photos and then tuck them away??? Are you actively selling them....on a web site.....or somewhere else?

Where are the opportunities? Have you ever hung them up at a coffee shop or up-scale restaurant...?? Any luck with that?? Any other ideas??

Also, what kind of consignment agreements do you have?? Anyone care to share experiences??

Thanks!!

 

[wildmaven]

Co-op galleries are great ways to get your work out there. You pay a small monthly fee and a commission but the rest is yours. Most co-ops require the artist to staff the gallery, usually one day a month, but some don't.

I have NEVER heard of someone doing well by selling in coffee shops.

If there are any national parks or wildlife refuges near you, you could try getting some nature themed work in their gift shops.

If you're in a tourist area, those usually have tons of little stores catering to the tourist traffic, and they love to offer greeting cards with images of the local landscape/wildlife. They can also sell prints of your work.

If you photograph pets, you can get your work hung in veterinarian offices.

Libraries love to put on art shows, so you could perhaps convince them to do one featuring your work. They also have blank walls just waiting for art.

Very few people do well selling art through a website, especially if they are not a well-known artist.

Get to know some of the local real estate agents. People who are buying homes also need art. Give the agents some of your business cards that they can include in the "thank you for buying from us" gift that they usually give the buyer.

Try doing some art/craft shows. Or, rather than being just another artist in a packed art show, try some of the other kinds of shows. Take pictures of elk, turkeys, etc? Try selling at a gun show. Take pictures of flowers? Try a gardening show. Chances are you will be the ONLY artist there.

You can also try your hand at selling on a stock photo site.

Hope some of these give you a few ideas.

Marian

 

[Artograph]

Marian...you have come through once again!! Great ideas...thanks so much!!!

:O)

 

[schuylercat]

How ironic - I went into the attic and dragged down box after box of shots I've taken and forgot about. I haven't been paid for photography for a long time - more than 10 years I think - and digital photography was an infant with I quit. I shot everything on chrome, because some magazines bought the whole slide back in the day, if they bought all rights.

So I started sorting through them. There's pics of Christmases in there, my ex and her son, family, flowers, portraits (oh...my...GOD are they awful), and about 10,000 shots, mounted and unmounted, of race cars and drivers.

Found an interview shot of Earnhardt I'd taken years ago - I could eBay that one, possibly.

But I'm reminded that these were news shots. There's a lot of history there, and there's Andrettis and Unsers and Villeneuves and such. There are quite a few who died in the act as well. And the value of these shots is, I suspect, roughly zero.

I wonder if I will ever do anything with them, try to look for a way to sell them, maybe build a pictorial site of “Indy Car Racing from 1989 through 1996” with photos for sale.

And you know, even if they are completely valueless, the idea of throwing them out is physically abhorrent.

I wonder about the legality of it as well. I was an accredited photojournalist with permission to shoot pictures of the events I attended for the purpose of sales to publications. A lot of those guys had extracurricular sales, too.

Bears looking into. Niche market, to be sure.

And Marian - Great ideas! I wonder...?

 

[Artograph]

Wow...that is sooo cool!!! ;O)

Sounds like you have enough great stuff for your own photo exhibit!!! ...Ummm....er....the race cars/drivers I mean!!

:O)

 

[Oblivious]

Once an image is done, I'm done with it. I put them up on the web so friends and family can look at them, but they're no more than a curiosity to me at this point. I used to sell paintings from art galleries, but I walked away from that. All my paintings began to look the same and remarkably like the paintings people tended to buy. I figured all those compliments were ruining my creativity.