Suggestions on getting exposure, selling pictures, and copyright information?

[digital flower]

KissingTheDark I didn't or don't want to discourage you. markc posted some good advice.

If you do go to a gallery here are some of things I have learned:

Have your focused portfolio ready for their review. Have it looking good when you hand it over. They generally don't want to see anything smaller than 8x10". Important: only bring your BEST images. Go when they are not too busy or call for an appointment. I have had several gallery owners sit down with me and give me advice that was really good, which they would not have done if the gallery was busy (remember some of these people are artist, too). Be prepared to go several times as the person who buys the art is often not the person working (especially on weekends). If you don't want to keep going back have a Powerpoint Slideshow on a CD (I generally don't go back but if your worried about theft , ask for it back). Be ready as far as how much money you want, how you could deliver them, model releases etc. Many of the peole will want to know your artist philosophy: what you are trying to get across with your images. Have it thought out and ready to say. If you have been in any local shows, have photography education or have sold anything else, let them know that. Remember to act like an Artist. These people are professionals and they want to deal with professionals.

This is just what I have observed and learned on my own. Your experience maybe totally different. Hey you may sell everything the first day, but more than likely it will be a bit of a grind. Thats when you have to dig a little deeper and keep going.

 

[afghanjohn]

Regarding the copyright, royalty free, and fair use issues of selling photographs, I found a good book online last month when I was doing some research before launching the Kabul Film and Media library of Afghanistan stock photographs.

Here is the link to this guys site. I don't know him and have no business relationship with him but I did buy his pdf book and found it helpful.

http://pdimages.com/

He is coming at the issue from a different perspective in that he is looking for photographic content that is no longer covered by copyrights and explaining the issues in making sure a photograph is not copyrighted before using it. Nevertheless, it was helpful information.

 

[ort]

There's no money getting pics in galleries. The gallery gets so much and charges too much. It'll sit forever or until the gallery tells you to come get it. If it does sell you feel great but it's always to late to help for rent. I would think, 'Stock.' Pick all the photos have negitive space where someone can insert font and contact one of the smaller stock agencys that carry animals.

I started by buying a camera and then anything else I needed had to come from the money I make from photography. I framed my pics, got a vendors permit and set up a table in front to the tourest hotels and made $300 in the first week. Beyond that, I made so many contacts that I never had to renew the pirmit.

 

[KissingTheDark]

Wow, thanks for all the great input guys, I really appreciate it! ort, that is an interesting idea... On the topic of adding in fonts and things, actually I'm really into making cards on the computer. I just have little cheapie programs that I use, but I make personalized birthday cards for people I know, and my Grandparents pay me to make their Christmas cards every year. If I were to get into that seriously, obviously I'd have to buy some good programs and probably another printer, but does anyone know if there's much of a market for cards like that? Or maybe I should skip the part that involves me making them, and just take my pictures straight to a card company? Any thoughts?

Thanks again everyone!

~ KissingTheDark

 

[afghanjohn]

If I were to get into that seriously, obviously I'd have to buy some good programs and probably another printer, but does anyone know if there's much of a market for cards like that? Or maybe I should skip the part that involves me making them, and just take my pictures straight to a card company? Any thoughts?

I'd like to see some samples of your cards. I'm just curious what they look like now.

Regarding selling them, it all depends on the marketing. If you can promote and market and produce and ship them yourself, that might be a great way to get started. Otherwise you can see if an existing company would like to add them to their stock.

 

[David A Sercel]

Hi, I just started trying to sell my photography a little over a year ago. A few things that have worked for me:

I haven’t gone the gallery route yet (aside from one exhibit last year), but what I have done is to sell over the internet and at art shows, which seems to be working pretty well. It might be easier to let a gallery do the marketing and handle the sales and everything, but they also get a pretty large chunk of the selling price. From what I have seen at art shows, both with my own work and the work of others, photography sells pretty well; but you need to have a good selection of prints, spread out over several bins so that as many people can look through them at a time as possible, and you need to have a few large framed prints (your best pieces) that sell occasionally, but mainly serve as billboards that draw people in to your booth.

I also hand out lots and lots of business cards, which have my website address on them. People can then go to my website and purchase any of my photographs from there. I also have my show schedule posted on my website so that anyone who would rather buy my work in person can know where to find me.

I also do note cards featuring my photography, and they do sell very well. I print my own and package them in thematic six-packs (six scenics, six florals, six butterflies, etc.). At shows I just put out a rack with a large selection of cards and also have them available on my website. I have found that note cards are very popular. I also do bookmarks, which sell OK.

David