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Photo Sales
Sam
Registered Users Posts: 7,419 Major grins
Recently cwphoto posted a thread about setting a booth up at a local fair and not selling any photos. I have been contemplating, and who hasn’t? a side business to include selling prints at Art & Wine festivals, and to that end have been going to local events and talking to the exhibiting photographers.
Saturday I went to an art in the park festival in Burlingame Ca. I spoke with 4 photographers. One local had some very nice nature shots, and two; I would say outstanding abstract shots. (Both won some type of annual photo award). When I asked him about sales I was stunned to hear he had never sold ether of the abstracts and would average only two frames photos per show, barley breaking even. Note: I thought his pricing was a bit high. For a simple metal frame about 12”X16” he was asking $175.00.
Two of the photographers had larger double booths; large landscape prints (up to 30” X 40” approximately, nicely framed), and shot with medium format cameras. Their pricing ranged from about $195.00 to $1000.00. Quality was excellent, and both of these photographers seemed to be selling well.
One lady had photos from Italy, wonderful local subjects, very colorful, high saturation, (but it worked). Now the kicker. I was VERY surprised to discover she was using a Nikon point and shoot, (a 5700, I think). I didn’t care for the way she had them mounted in pretty cheap wooden frames with cardboard backing. She was asking $70.00 the 12”X16” range framed prints But the bottom line is she was selling very well, and told me she will normally sell between $1000.00, and $2500.00 per show.
Some random thoughts, and conclusions: There is always room at the top, high quality, upper price range. It doesn’t always matter if your equipment is not the absolute best if you learn to work within its capabilities. Simply having great photos will not guarantee sales.
The search continues:
Sam
Saturday I went to an art in the park festival in Burlingame Ca. I spoke with 4 photographers. One local had some very nice nature shots, and two; I would say outstanding abstract shots. (Both won some type of annual photo award). When I asked him about sales I was stunned to hear he had never sold ether of the abstracts and would average only two frames photos per show, barley breaking even. Note: I thought his pricing was a bit high. For a simple metal frame about 12”X16” he was asking $175.00.
Two of the photographers had larger double booths; large landscape prints (up to 30” X 40” approximately, nicely framed), and shot with medium format cameras. Their pricing ranged from about $195.00 to $1000.00. Quality was excellent, and both of these photographers seemed to be selling well.
One lady had photos from Italy, wonderful local subjects, very colorful, high saturation, (but it worked). Now the kicker. I was VERY surprised to discover she was using a Nikon point and shoot, (a 5700, I think). I didn’t care for the way she had them mounted in pretty cheap wooden frames with cardboard backing. She was asking $70.00 the 12”X16” range framed prints But the bottom line is she was selling very well, and told me she will normally sell between $1000.00, and $2500.00 per show.
Some random thoughts, and conclusions: There is always room at the top, high quality, upper price range. It doesn’t always matter if your equipment is not the absolute best if you learn to work within its capabilities. Simply having great photos will not guarantee sales.
The search continues:
Sam
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Comments
tools used, a good photo is a good photo.
The hard part is discovering what your market wants to buy. Abstract art
isn't necessarily something that appeals to everyone. In this regard, I'm not
surprised with low to no sales.