Got a free booth at a festival and need ideas...

contaminatedlens

I have agreed to do some photography work for a upcoming tatoo/biker converntion. As part of the payment I get a free booth.

Besides having samples of my work, I was thinking of other ways to utilize the booth.

Bring a backdrop and offer people portraits on cd? I don't want to lug a printer with, but it's not a big deal to burn a disc.

Can you think of any other way of making money doing on-site photography?

emeraldrose

contaminatedlens wrote:

I have agreed to do some photography work for a upcoming tatoo/biker converntion. As part of the payment I get a free booth.

Besides having samples of my work, I was thinking of other ways to utilize the booth.

Bring a backdrop and offer people portraits on cd? I don't want to lug a printer with, but it's not a big deal to burn a disc.

Can you think of any other way of making money doing on-site photography?

Well you don't want to give away high-res files, but what about instead to help build the long-term relationship aspect you do the photograph, collect their name and contact info and then send them a card or a print to thank them with the gallery info so they can purchase prints send out cards will let you send out cards with your image and handwriting. without you having to actually mail it.

Photog4Christ

contaminatedlens wrote:

Can you think of any other way of making money doing on-site photography?

Keep in mind that (depending on the local city, county, state code) you will be required to have a license from the local Dept. of Revenue and also have a retail State Tax and Use License. You will be required to collect sales tax on anything you sell from the booth and report your revenue. Of course, note the part where I said "depending on local code". You should contact the local business office for information before deciding if it is worth going forward with your booth.

Having said that, IMHO, you're not going to make any money just doing on the spot portrait sittings. I'm not saying that people wouldn't be interested, I'm just saying it isn't going to make it worth your time and investment.

contaminatedlens

emeraldrose wrote:

Well you don't want to give away high-res files, but what about instead to help build the long-term relationship aspect you do the photograph, collect their name and contact info and then send them a card or a print to thank them with the gallery info so they can purchase prints send out cards will let you send out cards with your image and handwriting. without you having to actually mail it.

That sounds like a good idea, take pictures there, but have them use a web interface to view/purchase prints.

contaminatedlens

Photog4Christ wrote:

Having said that, IMHO, you're not going to make any money just doing on the spot portrait sittings. I'm not saying that people wouldn't be interested, I'm just saying it isn't going to make it worth your time and investment.

Any suggestions on how to make the most of this time besides advertising/self promotion?

Cygnus Studios

Depending on the convention you can certainly make good money offering portraits. On site printing will help considerably. The key is to have good help during the event. Yes it is a pain in the butt, but most people are point of sale buyers. When they can see it and hold it in their hands, they are more likely to make a spot purchase.
Offering a promotional package to vendors and visitors is a good deal. Throw in a few different prints that aren't normally a part of your package that looks like they are getting a special deal.

Snowgirl

I'm doing something similar at a horse show this week-end. Got a booth free in exchange for providing photos of the prize presentations that the show organizers can give to sponsors as a thank-you.

I never print on-site; not equipped and can't afford the staff. The way I'm doing it this week-end is:

• Every competitor will get a notice and order form in their registration information kit including a special offer for an on-site portrait of them and their horse while they're already "spit polished" for the show ring;
• The announcer will have a blurb (written by me) to remind people that I'm on-site, shooting and where my booth is;
• My booth will be set up to promote existing work. I'll have my laptop there and as I download my photos into (previously organized) file folders (by competitor), they'll be able to view the unedited proofs. For this occasion I'll be shooting jpegs because it's action and there'll be thousands of them;
• I've hired a friend for 4 hours a day to "woman" the booth while I'm out shooting. There's a known period of time when people are most likely to come by and want to see photos. Hopefully she'll be a good sales person for me.

This is an experiment. I'll let y'all know how it went next week.

contaminatedlens

Any ideas on what kind of shots I could offer in a package at a location like this? Not sure how to put together a photo package where everyone will be in a 10x10 booth?

Cygnus Studios

My first event I gave everyone a card and directed them to the website. I took a total of 45 portraits, and sold 25.

The next time (same event) I printed on site and took 275 portraits, with payment on site.

I printed 8x10 on site with 2 helpers doing the printing. I shot and passed memory cards back and forth throughout the event, and it actually went pretty smoothly.

I also offered wallets and enlargements through the website and got an additional 12 orders.

This event is coming up again, and this time I am going to bundle extra packages to entice more backend orders.

Package A
(1) 16x20
(4) 5x7
(8) Wallets

Package B
(2) 8x10
(4) 5x7
(8) Wallets

This will be available for anyone who purchases the onsite portraits. I am also going to set up 2 different backdrops within the area to offer more options.

Snowgirl

The experiment continues

Snowgirl wrote:

I'm doing something similar at a horse show this week-end. Got a booth free in exchange for providing photos of the prize presentations that the show organizers can give to sponsors as a thank-you.

I never print on-site; not equipped and can't afford the staff. The way I'm doing it this week-end is:

• Every competitor will get a notice and order form in their registration information kit including a special offer for an on-site portrait of them and their horse while they're already "spit polished" for the show ring;
• The announcer will have a blurb (written by me) to remind people that I'm on-site, shooting and where my booth is;
• My booth will be set up to promote existing work. I'll have my laptop there and as I download my photos into (previously organized) file folders (by competitor), they'll be able to view the unedited proofs. For this occasion I'll be shooting jpegs because it's action and there'll be thousands of them;
• I've hired a friend for 4 hours a day to "woman" the booth while I'm out shooting. There's a known period of time when people are most likely to come by and want to see photos. Hopefully she'll be a good sales person for me.

This is an experiment. I'll let y'all know how it went next week.

It was an interesting (and expensive) week-end. I shot 2575 images in two 15-hour days. You should SEE the bicep in my left arm from lifting that camera and long lens up and down.

Anyway - I had some viewers during the week-end. Actual sales: 2

Anticipated other sales off website - more I hope!

Lessons learned:

1. Need a bigger monitor and larger external HD to handle that volume of photos.
2. Need a person in the booth for at least 8 hours to capture those folks who come by at other times.
3. Need WIFI access to Smugmug galleries so photos can be uploaded and viewed ASAP that way.

Will re-evaluate after 30 days when i know total sales from the event to determine if I'll do anything similar again.