Money or Hobby

Slipadaro

I signed up for a SmugMug Pro account a few months ago. The purpose for opening the account was having a place to store and display images for personal and business use. I'm more or less semi-retired but thought I could make a little cash shooting photo's for real estate online listings. I plan on using UNLISTED galleries and providing direct links to specific galleries for realty photo's.

While setting up my SmugMug site for this real estate project I thought maybe I could sell some other photographs. I don't shoot events, portraits or weddings, nor do I have any inclination to pursue those areas. I like landscapes, and abstract subjects. I have a feeling that is a tough place to be but I enjoy the subject so I thought why not.

I welcome any comments from you Smuggers about trying to sell landscape and abstract pics. I think my Smug site is clean and I'm basically happy with it but welcome any suggestions. The URL is http://englishbayphoto.smugmug.com/

I have a few pics in various galleries and will probably clean up, or re-process a few of them shortly, but it will give you and idea of where my photographic mind lives.

I have no idea about pricing but did manage to gather from various threads that there are a few things one should avoid, one being restricting download access to original size files. That comment seemed to be a very good point.

Looking forward to comments and suggestions.

Pupator

I've read your post and understand where you're coming from and what you hope to accomplish. I don't understand what your question is.

Slipadaro

Pupator wrote: »

I've read your post and understand where you're coming from and what you hope to accomplish. I don't understand what your question is.

I guess I was asking whether or not, trying to sell landscape/abstract photo's is something I could make a little money pursuing or am I just a microbe in a huge universe of amateur photographers with the same hopes?

Second part of the question was to get some comment on whether or not my Smug site is appealing, because the front door is the first impression people have of you and your work. This might be the wrong place for that query so I'll post a message in another thread I saw earlier.

Mitchell

Slipadaro wrote: »

I guess I was asking whether or not, trying to sell landscape/abstract photo's is something I could make a little money pursuing or am I just a microbe in a huge universe of amateur photographers with the same hopes?

I'd say this sentiment sums up your chances of passively selling your photos on Smugmug.

Nobody is going to wander into your galleries and spend hundreds of dollars on your landscapes. Smugmug can facillitate your sales of photos when you have directed potential customers to your site. If you are truly interested in sales, you have to put in the effort to get folks intereted in the purchase.

SamirD

Slipadaro wrote: »

...am I just a microbe in a huge universe of amateur photographers with the same hopes?

This is what we all are now with every man, woman, and child with a camera in their hands. Demand is the same while supply is increasing exponentially. And with a lot of people giving their work away for 'free' in the name of 'just a hobby', the supply of free photos is very, very large. There's been cases of major corporations using images off of facebook versus getting proper commercial stock prints.

Ohiohiker

Selling prints may be hard to do without a way to drive traffic to your site. I rented a booth in a local art and craft mall. I pay a small monthly booth rental fee and small commission. This allows me to sell framed landscape photos of local landmarks. When I frame a piece I attach my business card to the back of the piece. Though I do not sell these prints through my Smugmug site, having a display in a store has allowed me to sell 2-3 framed prints a month. This has driven traffic to my site and resulted in sales of other images I do not have in the store. Sales of local landmarks has been working for me whether locals buy them or tourist visiting town.

Hope this helps.