Do you sell your photos?

[iamzip]

Very simple - do you have a method in place whereby you regularly offer photos for sale - onilne, exhibitions, etc. Not for if you happen to sell one to a friend, or something like that, but regularly. Whether or not you actually make any sales through that doesn't matter.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I earn most of my income selling my photos off of my website. I don't make much, but I have a place to live, and food, from my sales.

[thawkins]

No, I don't sell any of my photos. But I would sure like to.

Tom

[iamzip]

Originally Posted by leicasniper

I don't understand the question. You want to set something up to sell photos but it won't matter if you don't sell anything?

Yes, I do sell some photos. But, why would you want to turn a great hobby into a job?

*sigh* I agree it is poorly worded. It was hastily written. What I was trying to say is, do you make some sort of effort to sell your pics, whether by maintaining a website, using a third party website, or through exhibitions. What I am curious about is the intent / effort to sell, rather than how many photos you actually sell through such endeavors.

I am also not interested if you once sold a photo 5 years ago to your aunt who liked it.

Does that clear things up?

[Joe Brugger]

I thought it was the least ambiguous poll question ever posted here.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Well I think that it matters if you do or don't make sales. If you're putting stuff up and not making sales, it means that you're not marketing right, or your photography isn't good. A lot of good photographers are poor marketers. I was for a long time but I am getting better. My sales have gone up as my marketing has gotten better.

[wlewisiii]

I'd love to - anyone need to buy some really average prints????



William

[ClaremontPhoto]

I was tempted once or twice, but found that people paying thought they could suggest how to make the photo better. They also thought that because a photo 'costs' €10 at the lab that was what they ought to be paying me for it.

I bought some disposable cameras to give those people and said 'Go ahead and do it'. None of them did.

Nothing is for sale now, although friendly folks who feature in a photo get a (small) print and if they offer I take a coffee or beer from them.

I get a coffee or a beer most days.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Originally Posted by ClaremontPhoto

I was tempted once or twice, but found that people paying thought they could suggest how to make the photo better. They also thought that because a photo 'costs' €10 at the lab that was what they ought to be paying me for it.

I bought some disposable cameras to give those people and said 'Go ahead and do it'. None of them did.

Nothing is for sale now, although friendly folks who feature in a photo get a (small) print and if they offer I take a coffee or beer from them.

I get a coffee or a beer most days.

I never get that from people. I am known around where I live as a professional artist, and no one complains about my prices when I talk to them in person. Like I said in a previous post, it is about marketing. If you're marketing yourself as an amateur, your work has no value. If you're marketing yourself as a professional, it does. This has nothing to do with the quality of your work.....just how you personally are seen by potential buyers. You need business cards, a website with a good portfolio and prices, and you need to know how to talk to people so that they know right away that you're an artist, not just a guy who likes to take pictures.

[Chris101]

I have occasionally sold my photos, but I really hate to. I once watched a wedding photographer shoot the whole ceremony, then just turn the film cartridges over to the bride for $700 cash. That's probably the way to do it, so you never actually see them.

[lZr]

Originally Posted by Chriscrawfordphoto

Well I think that it matters if you do or don't make sales. If you're putting stuff up and not making sales, it means that you're not marketing right, or your photography isn't good. A lot of good photographers are poor marketers. I was for a long time but I am getting better. My sales have gone up as my marketing has gotten better.

Marketting must be good, I agree. I use (d) Acclaim images and sold one picture for $300. (1 of 100 shown). That's all for now. The client is inteligent enough and knows in advance what is appropriate for him. There is no good/bad picture. At most it is not suitable for the concept.

For example, take a new restaurant owner looking for suitable wall hangers in the restaurant. He can search the stock images data base for food, forks, tables with beautiful people sitting, or dim light with candles and wine on top of the table with flowers...
You may be great prized street photographer, but the client's mind is far away. So, you go very much digital for closeups and check you light condition promptly to be sure you are good for the concept. Then you can use RF camera for the intermidiate distances for people and finaly use your big zoom
to catch mood with singles near the table.

But you are not good if the one in the street can say "I can do it better". NO!
Your image must be stunning in performance. So simple and so on target, that any viewer will be impressed and not able to open his mouth.

The image can be sophisticated, but clear to the end

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Originally Posted by lZr

Marketting must be good, I agree. I use (d) Acclaim images and sold one picture for $300. (1 of 100 shown). That's all for now. The client is inteligent enough and knows in advance what is appropriate for him. There is no good/bad picture. At most it is not suitable for the concept.

For example, take a new restaurant owner looking for suitable wall hangers in the restaurant. He can search the stock images data base for food, forks, tables with beautiful people sitting, or dim light with candles and wine on top of the table with flowers...
You may be great prized street photographer, but the client's mind is far away. So, you go very much digital for closeups and check you light condition promptly to be sure you are good for the concept. Then you can use RF camera for the intermidiate distances for people and finaly use your big zoom
to catch mood with singles near the table.

But you are not good if the one in the street can say "I can do it better". NO!
Your image must be stunning in performance. So simple and so on target, that any viewer will be impressed and not able to open his mouth.

The image can be sophisticated, but clear to the end

Street photography is a poor seller. I don't do much of it because it isn't my usual interest, but occasionally I get the itch and I get out my 35mm camera and shoot some candid stuff on the streets. I usually go to carnivals for this kind of stuff, but when I lived in Santa Fe I did a lot of regular street photography too in the downtown historic area...lots of tourists, hippies, and other interesting types. I'm in my hometown in Indiana now, a much larger city, but it has no street 'life'...just sprawl. I'm looking forward to the big festival next month that they have downtown every year, I always get a lot of good shots there. They don't sell though. Ever. People buy my landscapes and architectural photos (facncy term for photos of old buildings). Those sell well.

http://chriscrawfordphoto.com/fine_a...niversary4.jpg
A cool street photo, it will never sell.

http://chriscrawfordphoto.com/fine_a.../long-pier.jpg
One of my best sellers. It is also the style I am well known here for...that helps sales. But even if I was unknown, this would sell better than the street photo.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Originally Posted by Chris101

I have occasionally sold my photos, but I really hate to. I once watched a wedding photographer shoot the whole ceremony, then just turn the film cartridges over to the bride for $700 cash. That's probably the way to do it, so you never actually see them.

I'd be scared to do a commercial job of any kind that way. What if they don't turn out? I'm good and have never screwed up a job, but it can happen to anyone and if it did I'd want to see them first so I could call the client to apologize. Also, there are ALWAYS reject pics from a wedding, no matter how good you are. Its best to edit them out before the client sees them.

[iamzip]

OF course, ultimately it matters whether or not you are selling. And you can get into an indepth discussion on marketing etc. But for the purposes of this poll question, I have defined "yes" as intent, or effort to sell. This leaves room for those who don't make a living off of their photos, as well as those early on in their efforts.

Posts are hard to word at 5:00 in the morning, I don't know what time it is in Indiana but I don't know how you do it.

[Matt White]

No, because photography is what I do for pleasure when I'm not earning money. I sometimes give away prints to people who like my photos enough to ask.

[ClaremontPhoto]

Originally Posted by Matt White

No, because photography is what I do for pleasure when I'm not earning money. I sometimes give away prints to people who like my photos enough to ask.

Exactly right.

[ClaremontPhoto]

Originally Posted by Chriscrawfordphoto

I never get that from people. I am known around where I live as a professional artist.

Thank you.

I'll maybe get there one day. But right now I follow my own path, and don't sell.

One day I could be like yourself.

[lZr]

Damn good shot, Cristopher, really good mood also. I think people of your nighbourhood will like it very much, if it is one taken close to you. Here is mine
I think it is a good idea to be internationally in mind for Landscapes

[Keith]

I said yes but in reallity I've only been paid for digital files ... does that count?

[payasam]

In the 1970s and 1980s it was trudging from office to office carrying prints and slides. Today it's sending CDs to agencies and possible buyers.

[pesphoto]

ive sold a few from my website, even one to a publisher for a book cover. BUt its not really a goal for me...selling my photos.

[oscroft]

Hi Memphis,

if I go down with 100 copies @ $20 --- I'll be sold out in a few hours- -- if I raise the price to $30 , it might be pushing my market thin

I've just been looking at your other thread and at the site for your book, and if it's as good as people are saying it is I think $20 is way too cheap.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Originally Posted by iamzip

OF course, ultimately it matters whether or not you are selling. And you can get into an indepth discussion on marketing etc. But for the purposes of this poll question, I have defined "yes" as intent, or effort to sell. This leaves room for those who don't make a living off of their photos, as well as those early on in their efforts.

Posts are hard to word at 5:00 in the morning, I don't know what time it is in Indiana but I don't know how you do it.

It was 5am when I wrote. I was up late editing one of my photos in Photoshop! I do that pretty regularly. I get deeply involved in work and forget that I have stayed up all night. I just got out of bed...it is noon now. I can do that since I don't have a 'real job'. I don't make much money yet, I'm actually rather poor, but I am free. This weekend my son is coming to stay with me, I'll be on a more conventional schedule then because he likes to get up EARLY!

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Originally Posted by Keith

I said yes but in reallity I've only been paid for digital files ... does that count?

Yes. I sell more of those than prints; I sell them as 'stock photos' to people who are going to use them for things like CD covers and for ads. Those buyers need files, not prints, since everything today is laid out in InDesign or Quark on a computer. They don't want prints cause they'd have to scan them to make a usable file.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Originally Posted by nikonhswebmaster

Do you get model releases on all your stock photos, so they can be used for ads or CD covers?

You have some really nice images, no wonder you sell them.

Fred,

Thanks for the compliment. I don't have any releases since I never sell any of my people photos as stock, just the landscapes and old buildings, old cars, etc. I can sell people photos as art in a gallery without releases, and I have exhibited my portraits and street photos several times though no one has ever bought one of them. I suppose if someone wanted to use a photo of my son or my grandfather I would sell it, if I liked what it was going to be used for, but if anyone asked about stock use of any other people stuff i'd tell them I can't sell it.