Common print demands and more. [Archive] - Canon Digital Photography Forums

A.S.I.G.N. Observatory

4th of February 2010 (Thu), 18:55

Hey guys,

HEAPS of questions!!!

Anyone out there in the business of selling photographs?

How do you sell them? Wall hangings for home, office, shops?

What sizes sell best?

What do people want? proper frame with glass? Foam core board mounted only? Harder board with mat?

Do you sell them anywhere else?

Do you get all this done by one company or prints and mounts at different places? Do you do any of it yourself? I.E. Cut your own mats and glue them on?

What sort of minimum quantities do you get done, or is it an "on demand" thing?

Are you selling your stuff online, or in a gallery of some sort?

If in a gallery, how is this set up? Consignment?

How much capital would you reasonably expect to spend to get set up initially?

Baz.

Karl Johnston

4th of February 2010 (Thu), 20:26

Hey cool it's like a personal interview!

Anyone out there in the business of selling photographs?
yup, hello from the astro forum!
www.karljohnston.com

How do you sell them? Wall hangings for home, office, shops?
Prints and canvas wraps are the most popular. My prints come matted by default.

What sizes sell best?
Small prints sell the best, in my opinion. Though that really depends.

What do people want? proper frame with glass? Foam core board mounted only? Harder board with mat?
Varies, I choose to offer only a couple of options due to economic reasons and shipping. Framing doesn't work well in the post so my alternative is canvas wraps.

Do you sell them anywhere else?
Yup! Check out 3 of my galleries here:
http://www.karljohnston.com/print-info/

Do you get all this done by one company or prints and mounts at different places? Do you do any of it yourself? I.E. Cut your own mats and glue them on?
I use a couple of companies, though I do my own matting and printing because I can personalize the process a lot more.

What sort of minimum quantities do you get done, or is it an "on demand" thing?
On demand, or typically to shops and galleries I typically only sell about 5 at a time.

Are you selling your stuff online, or in a gallery of some sort?
I prefer the personal touch, gallery and retail outlets are my big sellers. Online selling is overrated, at least I think so. I also advertise on certain local websites and in print. I just use paypal to sell stuff online; cheap and easy and it accepts credit cards.

If in a gallery, how is this set up? Consignment?
This could be a bit more of a doozy, there's a lot of opinions on how to approach a gallery but basically what you want to do is contact the gallery owner and ask if they are looking for artists to represent. Typically they ask for your artist biography/statement which is a brief summary of who you are, what you do, why you create it and what your vision is behind the work.

Then they will give you a contract to represent your work, usually they do it up for you. Also highlighted in this is the consignment rate (30-50% is common - I try to aim for 38-46%).

And then you both market the work continually, though that depends on what kind of work you create and what kind of people are interested in it. Myself, I'm marketing just by sending you a link to my website and gallery representations! It's pretty straightforward, though it can be just as creative or more creative as creating the work to begin with.

How much capital would you reasonably expect to spend to get set up initially?
Another doozy, I would say all you need is a body of work built up and a lot of advertising/marketing dollars. The advertising and marketing goes into finding the people and the buyers who will show interest in your work - which should be personalized, unique, or they will lose interest and move on. I find a story behind the image helps sell it, and I enjoy writing stories to accompany my images..the image on its own is just a pretty picture, but the story adds the icing to the cake.

I think if you get creative you can do it on a limited budget, though some major fine art photographers spend 10s of thousands marketing their work per year. I would also look for local arts grants in your region to see if they could sponsor or grant you a bit of $ to start up.