Do I have what it takes or am I fooling myself

GraphyFotoz

I have sold a few of my works over the years.
Mostly to Elderly folks that really like a certain subject.
I know Photography is VERY competitive.

I'm mostly interested in Nature and Landscapes.

I know I'll never be a PRO but would like to sell enough to fund my Hobby!

This is one I sold last year taken with my Sony FD97



These are a couple I have taken in the past few months with my Sony 828





Still thinking on a name for this one!
Any ideas? :scratch

Shay Stephens

I have sold a few of my works over the years.
Mostly to Elderly folks that really like a certain subject.
I know Photography is VERY competitive.

I'm mostly interested in Nature and Landscapes.
So are millions of other photographers :-)

I know I'll never be a PRO but would like to sell enough to fund my Hobby!
Never say never, but hobby funding is probably within the grasp of anyone.

You have a good eye for composition and the photos look good too. The trick is finding buyers (of course). What you don't want to do is undervalue your work. Do some homework to find out what others in your area or market are selling their work for. This will give you a head start to determing what you will charge for your work.

You may not be a professional, but you will need to charge professional rates if you want to make enough hobby money (as opposed to only breaking even or worse yet, paying slightly less to shoot) . So you will have to determine your costs, all of them, planning, shooting, editing, materials, shipping, etc. Then when you have determined how much it cost you to produce the photo, you add on what you want to make per photo. Don't forget about taxes. Make sure the sale price makes you a profit or it's not even worth doing except for vanity, which can be enough of a motivation for some, but it doesn't last long before the photographer burns out.

If a photographer really wants to get excited about photography, have them make a *real* profit from selling their work, and watch the fireworks go off :-)

Moral of the story, if you sell, make a profit, not just money.

GraphyFotoz

Thanx for your kind words and input Shay
I value your opinion as it looks like you have been in the PRO biz for awhile.

As for my selling of my photo's.....I frame/matte them and sell them.
I hafta rethink my stratagy cuz I have made next to nothing after this expense.
I don't want to price myself out of a sale.
I generally go to AC Moore when they have some of thir best frames on sale.
Round $25-$30 for a Walnut or Mohogany frame. $4-$5 for a beveled matte then there is my photo. So far all I have done is 8x10's. (That's all I can print myself) After all that I generally get $50-$75 for a work. Leaves me with very close to nothing for a profit.

I have no clue what a PRO gets for such a work as most I don't believe even bother with 8x10's.

I have no clue what a "Pro" charges and whatever it is I'd want to charge 75% of that cuz I don't believe I fit "Pro" criteria YET. Not even close!
Maybe I'm being modest but that's how I feel.

Would be GREAT to make some profit to get some better equipment or maybe even a DSLR in the future!!

Shay Stephens

Karz wrote:

Would be GREAT to make some profit to get some better equipment or maybe even a DSLR in the future!!

You control how much you can make. If you don't charge prices that will make you profit, you will not make a profit no matter how many prints you sell or how professional you are.

Try this. Add up all the cost to make an 8x10 framed and matted print. Then multiply that by 3.5. That may give you a better idea of where to start.

Price them and see if they sell. Sometimes, you raise prices and the sales go up too because now your work is priced appropriate to the quality. If something is too cheap, people may pass it up thinking that there is some hidden flaw that makes the print not worth more (in the sellers mind). If you don't value your work, no one else will either. And forget about the 75% thing. Pros charge what they charge because they need to make a profit. So does anyone who sells their work.

If your prints are not selling, look for new markets, new ways to advertise them, new content, different frames, raise your prices more, anything that will help you guage what the market wants and what it will bear. The real work in photography is in the selling, not the taking of pictures ;-)

Sam

Karz wrote:

I value your opinion as it looks like you have been in the PRO biz for awhile.

As for my selling of my photo's.....I frame/matte them and sell them.
I hafta rethink my stratagy cuz I have made next to nothing after this expense.
I don't want to price myself out of a sale.
I generally go to AC Moore when they have some of thir best frames on sale.
Round $25-$30 for a Walnut or Mohogany frame. $4-$5 for a beveled matte then there is my photo. So far all I have done is 8x10's. (That's all I can print myself) After all that I generally get $50-$75 for a work. Leaves me with very close to nothing for a profit.

I have no clue what a PRO gets for such a work as most I don't believe even bother with 8x10's.

I have no clue what a "Pro" charges and whatever it is I'd want to charge 75% of that cuz I don't believe I fit "Pro" criteria YET. Not even close!
Maybe I'm being modest but that's how I feel.

Would be GREAT to make some profit to get some better equipment or maybe even a DSLR in the future!!

Interesting topic. I think we all would like to sell a few photos, and justify that next L lens.

I am actually investigating this very topic for myself!

I have business experience, and have owned my own business in the past. While it wasn't a photograpy business, all the basics apply.

Shay said: "The real work in photography is in the selling, not the taking of pictures ;-)"

There is a ton of truth in this statment! Your product is important, very important with our photos, but without clients or market, you is toast. IE: No money!

My plan of attack, not nessasaraly in order, is as follows:

1. Evaluate profesonal printing of photos. Paper type, size, quality, consistant results, reliable vendor, and of course cost. I want to offer the highest quality print with good archival properties..


2. Learn about framing, and matting. Product presentation. The areas I am looking into are related to archival properties as well as viusual appearance. There are many types of glass for instance. The top of the line museum glass costs (from local shop) about $55 for an 11 X 14. There is some glass that provides UV protection for less, but still costs more then with a ready made frame. Then you do want to use acid free tape and mounting boards. Acid free back boards will add cost. Not sure of how much yet. Again I have just started this, but I think this will seal the print from air, and increase the longevity. The idea here is to get this area down to a set method with repeatable material and costs.

Start visiting photo gallery, art shows etc. see where the market appears to be, and the quality being offered.

Work on photo and PS skills.

Again I will quote Shay: "Moral of the story, if you sell, make a profit, not just money."

This is just a start.

As an example this is my first go at a potential product. Discalimer: photo was a quickie so I could send this to a friend. WB is off alittle but it is a fair representation.

GREAPER

Karz wrote:

I generally go to AC Moore when they have some of thir best frames on sale.
Round $25-$30 for a Walnut or Mohogany frame.

Consider metal framing. It is often far less expensiv, comes in a lot of interesting styles and has a "museum feel" to it.

Take a look HERE

Karz wrote:

$4-$5 for a beveled matte then there is my photo.

I suggest you cut your own mattes 100 bucks for a logun matt cutter and buying the matt board in full size sheets will cut your matting cost to under a buck a print. A full size sheet is 6 bucks and is 32" x 40" You can cut a lot of matts out of that with a little planning. Remember, the cut out for an 11x14 matted print can again be cut out for an 8x10 print.

Karz wrote:

So far all I have done is 8x10's. (That's all I can print myself) After all that I generally get $50-$75 for a work. Leaves me with very close to nothing for a profit.

I have no clue what a PRO gets for such a work as most I don't believe even bother with 8x10's.

Many people I know that are doing art fairs and such selling prints of their work sell many 8x10s and even some 5x7s. Yes they also sell larger prints, but I think you will find that 8x10s sell just fine.

LiquidOps

I, as well, have business skills/knowledge and have been pondering this venture for quite some time now. I started by going through my photos and put aside those that I think are worthy.

While I am not around PS, I will do my business research. When I am around PS, I will be working on my PS skills and see which photos stay "Worthy"

Keep this thread going. This is awesome.

Steven

gus

Sam wrote:

Interesting topic.

As an example this is my first go at a potential product. Discalimer: photo was a quickie so I could send this to a friend. WB is off alittle but it is a fair representation.

I would love to see that photo larger sam...it looks very interesting. I assume its layers etc ?

Oh hell...now sam knows how little i really know about all this !!

gus

Karz.. Re; the competitive side of things...i really am new to this but i will offer an observation.

I have always had an interest in photography ... just some of the more famous australian wildlife photographers.

These guys all shot with large format or 35mm. With this 'new' influx of digital SLR cameras being so easy to use & shoot in high speed frames/bracketing/ etc etc i have seen a lot of good stuff that is equal to or better than these pro's in the past 2-3 years coming from people that have only been handling a DSLR for a few months.

With my old 35mm AE-1, i would take maybe a roll or 2 on a day out...now i shoot 400 in 4 hours...so its a lot easier to snag half a dozen good ones when its free to shoot.

dugmar

I've been doing this for about 2 years now. It started at the racetrack, shooting racecars. I've learned, if you photograph someone doing something they are passionate about, the photos sometimes sell themselves.

I work on a well known race team, so getting restricted area photo credentials for some tracks was a little easier for me. Anyway, I go, shoot a million shots, and I end up selling the odd one or two prints. I print up business cards before I go, hand them to everyone I see at the track, no pressure, I just tell them, "Hey, I got some great shots of you out there, go to my site to check it out..." and if I'm lucky I'll sell enough to turn a small profit.

Also, there is a woman in town here that I am friends with that owns a restaurant. She hangs local work on her walls and I asked if I could put my stuff up. She agreed and next month she is going to have a little opening show for my stuff! In trade I am going to shoot some photos of her place and some dishes for her website.

I also joined the local art association and enter work whenever there is a call for pieces for photography. My work has only been accepted for one 2004 show so far, but it was three pieces of mine!

So get out there, try to get people to recognize you and your work and you'd be surprised how much stuff you sell, even on an amateur level.

Just my 2 cents...

Doug

Sam

Humungus wrote:

I would love to see that photo larger sam...it looks very interesting. I assume its layers etc ?

Oh hell...now sam knows how little i really know about all this !!

Humungus

Thanks,

I can't send it any bigger, the dgrin limit seems to be 800 on the long side and 120K I think.

Now you do know the definition of assume, don't you ?

It is a photo of a display window in a store, When I first opened it I thought it was worthless. But after a second look I saw how I could crop it and wala there it was. There are no layers. This is a single photo. It is the display and reflections from the glass.

Sam

Sam

Shay
Shay,

It seems as though a few of us have an interest in trying to investigate the possibility of selling a few photos in order to supliment our equipment costs. Some may even be more serious.

I wonder if you think it would be benificial to have a place / thread where people with business related question, and / or expertise could post?

I know I have some tax related questions.

Thanks,

Sam