Printing a portfolio

[AlexStirrup]

Hello all,

I'm after some advice on printing a portfolio. First of all I want the portfolio to take around a few local art shops with a view of getting them to sell some of photographs (I'm not holding my breath but you don't get if you don't try). I'm also considering doing a college/uni photography course where a portfolio needs to be presented beforehand.

Where do you find the best place to print your pictures? (I don't have a good enough printer nor the money to invest in one at the moment).

Should the pictures be printed on a certain type of paper (glossy/matt etc)? What size would people recommend?

Lastly how do you generally present your portfolio in terms of folders etc?

Sorry about all the questions and thanks in advance

 

[snapalot]

Firstly if attempting to sell prints to an art shop you would need to have them printed at the highest possible quality and presented as a loose print, a print in a mount and a print in a quality frame. This shows them what might be available but unfortunately it's a massive uphill battle.

I was at the Spring Fair at the NEC earlier this week and the number of artists and publishing companies trying to sell prints wholesale was unbelievable. Some were silly money but the majority were being sold for peanuts.

Paying for 16x12 sample prints (and you would need a few) to show potential buyers won't be cheap but if your images are exceptional you might manage to sell a few.

Probably your best bet would be to upload your best ones to the web and start with friends and family as their expectations will probably not be as high as a shop that would need to buy them as cheap as possible so they could be sold on at a profit.

 

[AlexStirrup]

Thank you for the advice Brian. My pictures are by no means exceptional, but neither are some that I've seen various shops selling.