Selling photographs is like selling any visual art. It is nice when people like your work, but it won't buy any groceries. Others may like and want your work and you might negotiate enough for an occasional tank of gas from them. The people who need your work are the ones that pay the mortgage.
You can see this in the galleries. A couple stand in front of a picture and the man tells his wife that he really likes it and they move on. Another couple stops and looks at the same picture.
"You know that print next to the fireplace, don't you think this would look great there instead?"
"I always thought the yellow clashed with the chair. We need to move either the print or the chair. I like the chair where it is."
"Alright, I better get our deposit down before someone else takes it."
I learned about selling what the customer needs the hard way. About eight or ten cruise ships heading to Alaska will stop at Astoria, Oregon for six or eight hours. Every time there would be an Arts and Craft Show on the pier. I had a booth one spring selling 16" x 20" matted photographs of the Astoria area. Many people looked, said they were very nice, and moved on. How many people need a sixteen by twenty matted print on a ten day cruise to Alaska? On my best day I just covered my booth rental.
A number of years ago I was having dinner with a young couple at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. He was a young professional who had started collecting art on a modest scale. During dinner his wife mentioned that she would like a piece of art that reflected San Francisco in a unique way.
After dinner we were strolling through the wharf area and went by a gallery he dealt with. There in the window was a new Salvador Dali print from his San Francisco Suite. He immediately put his deposit down for the set of five, hand colored. etchings. Why did he buy it? He needed to please his wife. By the way, that suite recently sold at auction in Dallas for $12,000.
You can see this in the galleries. A couple stand in front of a picture and the man tells his wife that he really likes it and they move on. Another couple stops and looks at the same picture.
"You know that print next to the fireplace, don't you think this would look great there instead?"
"I always thought the yellow clashed with the chair. We need to move either the print or the chair. I like the chair where it is."
"Alright, I better get our deposit down before someone else takes it."
I learned about selling what the customer needs the hard way. About eight or ten cruise ships heading to Alaska will stop at Astoria, Oregon for six or eight hours. Every time there would be an Arts and Craft Show on the pier. I had a booth one spring selling 16" x 20" matted photographs of the Astoria area. Many people looked, said they were very nice, and moved on. How many people need a sixteen by twenty matted print on a ten day cruise to Alaska? On my best day I just covered my booth rental.
A number of years ago I was having dinner with a young couple at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. He was a young professional who had started collecting art on a modest scale. During dinner his wife mentioned that she would like a piece of art that reflected San Francisco in a unique way.
After dinner we were strolling through the wharf area and went by a gallery he dealt with. There in the window was a new Salvador Dali print from his San Francisco Suite. He immediately put his deposit down for the set of five, hand colored. etchings. Why did he buy it? He needed to please his wife. By the way, that suite recently sold at auction in Dallas for $12,000.
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