What do you think?

[dstone81]

I am a hobbyist at best and never do portraits for anyone, but several in my family and some of my friends want to get copies of some of my photos and have them blown up and framed to put up in their homes. And think I should have some framed and sell them. What do you think? I don’t think my work is that great, I just do it for the joy of taking pictures and as a hobby. Here is a link to some of my stuff.

https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=2426402982380&set=a.2426401222336.2141841.1320691285&type=3&theater

 

https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=2426408822526&set=a.2426401222336.2141841.1320691285&type=3&theater

 

https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=1702907535446&set=a.1702897295190.2096766.1320691285&type=3&theater

 

I just don’t want to be seen as a fauxtog. But my family just doesn’t understand that.

 

[dstone81]

Oops I posted this post in the wrong forum. How do I delete it?

 

[fstopper89]

Can’t see your work since it’s on your personal FB page… do you have a Flickr account? This seems to be posted in the correct forum if you ask me…

[dstone81]

No I don’t Have a flickr account. I can set one up real quick and post a few of my pics. Sorry.  I have a photobucket account. Will that work on here?

[dstone81]

[fstopper89]

It should, as long as you copy and paste the link.

[dstone81]

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g88/kittykat1981/112-3.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g88/kittykat1981/345.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g88/kittykat1981/343.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g88/kittykat1981/341.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g88/kittykat1981/064-2.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g88/kittykat1981/062-3.jpg

[IHF]

Selling a print or two of our art isn’t a “business”, it’s how we hobbyists hobby.
It’s a completely different ball game than offering a service and selling portraits and event photography without a clue. There’s no taking advantage of people.  No one but ourselves is personally invested in our wild life or still life photos etc, and there’s absolutely no obligation to buy unless they love it.  This is why it is so very difficult to sell art, and it’s rare to be successful at it other than being able to help fund our hobby.

Should you print and finish your images and turn them into photographs? Yes, if you currently not doing that you are missing out on half (if not more) of the process.  Wether people buy them or not, its a must to do for ourselves.  If we dont invest in our work how can we expect others to? Photographs are not digital files on a computer.  Is it expensive to make photographs?  Yes.  Is it ok if family and friends help fund the finishing process by buying your fished work?  Yes.  Will you be taking advantage of people by doing this, or stunting/hindering your learning process?  Will you be labeled a fauxtog by doing this? Absolutely not!  Quite the opposite.

With that said don’t go all out and get gung ho, and spend tons of money finishing a load of photographs to sell at an art show booth or go and buy an expensive website.  I don’t want you to go in debt or spend hours on marketing and all that jazz, with the hopes of selling to millions, thousands, hundreds, or even just 10 in the next few years.  Take it slowly.  If Mom likes a photo and wants to hang it in her home to help support your photography, let her.  Like I said printing and finishing is a process, and learning how to properly finish your work is important and can get costly.  We need all the help we can get.

I’d start out just fulfilling people’s requests as they are made.  This helps you get a feel for the types of work people are interested in.  Believe me, just because a photo is one of our favorites, it doesn’t mean everyone else will think so too.  Check out successful photographers that sell their art.  Find out what makes their work marketable, take tips from them on how they do it.

Bubble burster:  it costs me aprox$40 to finish (as in mounted or framed and ready to hang) a small 8×12 photograph.  I charge $50 for the product plus shipping if it can’t be delivered in person.  Needless to say, Im not getting rich even though I have a somewhat steady trickle of sales.  People only buy if they LOVE it, and it’s difficult to make people love something that doesn’t have their precious child in it.  Your work has to be good, it has to be different, it has to be something that they can’t do themselves, it has to speak to them, it has to be quality, it has to be an image that people other than Mom can appreciate to make a sell and continue to makes sells. So take it slow, and don’t do this with any expectations at all.  Do it for yourself and your photography.  Do it for your learning process.  If you have people saying “I want a print!”  Goodness!  Take them up on it, quit saying “no”.

[dstone81]

Thanks for the input. 🙂 That is what I was thinking. I do mainly still life photography to hone my skills and because it relaxes me when I have had a rough day with my children. I get what you are saying though, only finish the ones that people request and my work isn’t going to be seen by others unless my work gets out there. I knew about the cost of finishing them already because I have taken a couple of my pics to a few Photo finishing studios to see what the actual cost would be. I want to eventually take some college courses to learn every aspect I can of photography while keeping my style aesthetic in mind. Someday once my kids have graduated high school and moved out of the house I hope to go on a Nat geo expedition and have some of my photos end up in one of their magazines. (I know that that is a long ways off and I know I have a lot more learning to do) But it is still a dream I have and a goal I want to someday attain.

[dstone81]

Let me reiterate what I was saying, process not only the ones that others request but process some of the others too for my own personal learning process. ( I have btw had a few select photographs processed for my own home, but they were just a few 5×7 prints to put up in our bathroom.)

[IHF]

” I have btw had a few select photographs processed for my own home, but they were just a few 5×7 prints to put up in our bathroom”

your next challenge

make a photograph that you yourself like enough to finish large and display in your living room as the main focus.  It doesn’t matter how long it takes, but the photo has to be newly created after today and can’t involve loved ones in anyway.  You have to like it for its technical and artistic merits only.  Good luck 🙂

[dstone81]

Thanks. 🙂 That is why I love still life/ Nature Photography. I like it for it’s artistic merit and technichal merits. I will definately do that. Now I just have to find something to really inspire me in this town. (We just moved here from the crystal coast of NC and there was tons of inspiration there.)

[Sharra]

IHF: I did that assignment for myself a couple years ago and now have a nice 24″ x 18″ landscape shot hanging on my living room wall. 🙂

[IHF]

It feels good doesn’t Sharra?  It took me a long time to commit to it and follow through.  (Almost 3 years, not bad) The first pieces I finished large, I chose what I thought others would like (that’s impossible to predict lol I don’t bother trying anymore) and now I’m stuck with them lol one I actually sold, one is nicely packed away and doesn’t even appear in my portfolio anymore because its just so blah and the other is hidden up on the wall in my bedroom that no one ever sees.  You can’t force it, you can’t settle, and when it finally happens… It’s fantastic 🙂

dstone, my very first displayed prints were small and placed in the bathroom too ;). I wonder just how many do that Before they figure things out?

[Sharra]

IHF: I have a shot in the bathroom, too! 🙂 I can’t hang everything on the wall, so many of my photos end up in photo books highlighting events with my family over the year. I’m looking to backtrack those books to 2001, but I haven’t had the time or energy to take on such a large project yet. I’d like to have most of them done over the next year though…

[Author]

Posts