Selling your work

PaulStat

PaulStat

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Paul
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Hi Guys,

I day say there are quite a few of you who manage to sell the odd print here and there of your work. I'm forever being told (by my mum mainly so could be biased) that I should try selling some prints of my work.

Now I doubt I'd make very much from landscape photography as the supply is high and the demand not so much probably. But it would be nice to have the odd extra bit of pocket money.

So for those who have done it, how do you go about doing it? I dare say some of you have your own websites, do you get many sales from that?

Also I guess the important question is, is my work a high enough standard to sell, or is my mum biased?

Opinions please, here's some of my work. (To those of you who've already seen this on another forum, apologies it's nice to get a broad opinion )

dsc0106small.jpg

westonpier.jpg

sunriselighthouse.jpg

snowydocks.jpg

nzwhale.jpg

morningembrace.jpg


Cheers,
Paul
 
Of course your mum is biased :p

Mine is constantly showing me examples of other people's work that's been published etc that's "not as good as yours" when it's quite clearly better...

You've difinitely got some great images though (love the balloon shot esp.), some of which would make great wall hangers.

An outlet is the problem... I approached a local art shop some time ago and was told that they didn't have a huge market for photos.

A website would probabably be a good start; which I'm sure others can advise on since I have no experience myself..
 
The "problem" is that art is entirely subjective. What one person likes, another hates. Just go and look at the things some people have hanging on the wall in their homes...

Mums opinions though, hmm tough one. My parents seem to gush over most of my rejections, but my best shots (IMO) are greeted with "meh". I've seen other people say much the same, there was someone on here who did a professional shoot for some clients, picked out the best 30 or so images, and then watched as the client chose their keepers entirely from the rejects.

Outlets for images, sorry no idea.
 
Yeah it's a little demotivating when an image you really like gets almost no response at all from members of your family :p
 
I have sold numerous copies of pics that aren't as good as most of the pics you have posted.
Dont get me wrong, nothing like a living. But you could sell them to friend of friends and family at the right time of year ie just before xmas.
 
PaulStat said:
Now I doubt I'd make very much from landscape photography as the supply is high and the demand not so much probably. But it would be nice to have the odd extra bit of pocket money.
Click to expand...

You have pretty much answered your own question there. They are good enough to sell.. You have conquered the photogrpahy side of it good enough to make money

Now your task is to master the business side of it and sell the pics... get them on display for people to buy and get people who would be interested to go look at them... On one hand its as simple as that.. finding enough people interested in your landscape to be able to capture the small percentage who would buy is another.

So yes its possible but (given its landscape) you will need to put a lot of time and effort in for a small return.. I am aware there are a small percentage of photogrpahers who could make a living from landscapes.. but I am being more general :)

I sell a fair few pics from my website.. I make sure everyone who would be interested know where to get them and I make it easy and simple to buy them.. and it works.. I would imagine the same approach for landscape would be very difficult.
 
The final arbiter of whether your pictures are good enough is if people buy them. Just don't expect to get rich, but it is nice when they do sell, just shipped one of my photos this morning. My main sales are my paintings, which has paid for all my camera gear :)
 
Hi - lovely images, and as you have plenty of Bristol images, I would recommend approaching Gallery 2C in Clifton. They take on work they like from anyone, professional or not, as long as the quality is good - and they seem to like local images. They are also really lovely people - I haven't got any work with them yet but plan to submit some in the next year or so. Good luck :)
 
Thanks guys, encouraging to hear, I'm going to try the local galleries route to see if their interested in displaying any of my stuff. Thanks for the link Selkie I wasn't aware of that gallery I'll have to go and check them out :)
 
This seem like a good place .. part of the CafePress group ..

http://www.imagekind.com/

RedBubble also look good ..

dotcomjohnny ... I would be interested in checking out your RedBubble site if that would be ok..
 
With pictures everybody likes different things, so what is "great" to someone is not to the next person.
I have pics up in two cafe's, and reception at work, on a sale or return basis.
The cafe owner gets free pics to decorate the oremises and I get an outlet.
Change the pics regularly and give the cafe owner 10-20%.
 
Red Herring said:
With pictures everybody likes different things, so what is "great" to someone is not to the next person.
I have pics up in two cafe's, and reception at work, on a sale or return basis.
The cafe owner gets free pics to decorate the oremises and I get an outlet.
Change the pics regularly and give the cafe owner 10-20%.
Click to expand...
A friend of mine frames his photos and has a deal with some of the guest houses where he lives. All local shots, displayed in the guest house and the owner gets 20% of any sales. He also swaps them by season, and has a link to his website on a label just in case the buyer would like to buy more.
I don't think he will be giving up his day job any time soon, but he does make enough to support his photography habit.
 
That top photo is really good mate, I like that a lot. Sorry i can't help with your question but credit where it's due for the pic
 
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