Category Archives: Photography sales

How to get noticed as a Photographer

Jul
13
2012
by Jessy | 0 Comments

So how do you get noticed as a photographer?

To answer this question, I still have no idea!  I have been doing landscape photography for a few short years as a hobby now, and managed to sell a few prints on various sites.  However, not enough to count for anything.  Maybe I don’t charge enough?  How much should you charge?  Where is the best place to sell?  The best format?

I have learned that I have my more questions about sales and turning photography into a business than what I probably should for considering myself a photographer.  I guess you live and learn, then you change it all because it was wrong.   I have a read many another blog on the subject and many have suggestions of buying inventory, selling that inventory to art galleries or even at crafts fairs.  I have looked into those options and due to equipment costs, my full time job, lack of funds, and the costs to buy the inventory and the booth, that’s not something I can do.

Many people say that most photographers will not make money at it, I can definitely understand.  Spending so much money to try something that I am scared I will fail so miserably at is definitely hard.  There’s a few decisions I have made personally that I will share with you, these may help you, and may not.  Keep in mind that my business is growing slowly (very slowly) and that I have spent more on equipment and costs than what I have made.  These decisions have set me up to grow in my career and have many or most, of my upcoming gigs be completely profit, only my time will be a cost.

What I have decided

1. I first decided photography was my hobby.  I have a full time job and am not willing to quit and take a shot with no existing clientele, or real work in the field.

2. Given that Photography was my hobby I slowly, over about 3 years, purchased equipment and what I wanted for my hobby.

3.  If I was going to get a paid gig that I would buy what I needed for that gig then as a way to help grow my equipment.

4. I would create a site and sell my photography online in some way.  This decision proved harder than I initially thought.  So many people have sites and sell there work but for one that has never professionally printed I didn’t know where to start with the sales side.  I found a safe site called FineArtAmerica and signed up.  I was able to link to that from my site, change the look and feel to match, and they did all the money, printing, and shipping.  Given my full time job (as management in IT I put in many many hours) I would not have time to print and ship myself, this was a great decision.

5. I would go to classes, conferences, and workshops that sounded interesting to learn, not improve my business.

6.  I would never take a gig that I didn’t really want to do, or feel that I was capable of doing well.
These six points above have gotten me to where I am today.  I have an amazing 27 inch monitor for my mac, that was a hobby purchase.  I now have a d800 to go with my d7000, the 800 was part hobby part for the portrait gigs I’m getting.  By purchasing lenses slowly I was able to take my time and buy used Nikon lenses from Ebay so I have fantastic lenses that I got used at half price and in perfect shape.  I was able to get the 12-24 for $600, and the 105 for $500!  These are amazing deals that I would not have been able to wait for if I had not had the luxury of looking at this craft as a hobby to start with.

I am sure many others have grown their businesses and financial intakes much faster than I but these were the decisions that I was comfortable making and I have been pleased with the outcome.  I am now doing engagement and wedding shoots, as well as other site portraits, and even babies.

Per an upcoming wedding shoot I purchased several more memory cards for the D800 than what I had initially but it was for a reason and now I have all I need to continue shooting weddings as not additional cost.

If you are a photographer what do you do?  If you were, what do you think you would do?  What do you think of my plan?

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Baby Showers

Apr
21
2012
by Jessy | 1 Comment

It is the season for babies and baby showers again.  Yes, there’s  a season when more children seem to be born than others.  A while back I was hired to photograph a baby shower.  Since I love to get to observe people and photograph I of course welcomed this idea with open arms.  I was told this would be a real baby shower where men are welcome to smoke cigars and there will be no games.  I was not sure what that meant but was happy to go experience this and learn all about it.

When I arrived there were not many people there yet (thank god because I got lost, yes my GPS failed me!).  I took this opportunity to wander around and get the shots of the decorations as people seem to love those shots as well.  This family had put a lot of work into the decorations and making everything just dreamy!  There was a huge set up out in the perfectly manicured back yard, round tables with chairs, table cloths, and each had a center piece similar to the image here.  There was coffee, drinks, cigars, etc.  Everything had chalk boards with the painted pens used to label what was available at each location.  Not only did it look fantastic but I was also jealous of the hand writing (little things right?).

The sun started to go down and more people began to arrive.  The men tended to gather outback around the fire pit and smoke their cigars, it was really more of a cocktail party than a baby shower.  About 30 people arrived and all mingled and congratulated the happy couple on their new addition to the family.  The little boy is going to be very loved by this family, they were all so very happy and excited for his arrival!  I have never been invited to an event where everyone was so welcoming and glad to have someone there to do something for them.

 

The family also owns a few restaurants and had their waiters cater the event for them.  The food set up was gorgeous as well as delicious.  No, I did not eat the food, but just the smell going through the house was enough to fill you up.  You could smell the different flavors and even imagine the taste of each thing you smelt.  It was really quite an amazing and eloquent event.

The images were rather difficult to get with decent white balance due to the yellow painted walls, candles, and the fact that was dark outside.  With no way to set up lights and no real natural light to work with I was challenged during the processing to get the right white balance back into the images but it was worth the time.  The family was overjoyed with the images I provided and the way in which they were provided.  I of course provided a DVD with print files and web files so they can easily Facebook and also easily print.  I light scribed the event and date onto the disk and purchased a case with an image of the happy couple and date on the front.

I had taken my Domke camera bag with my extra lenses, batteries, and memory cards.  This I tucked back in a hallway out of the way but with easy access to get to and switch lenses.  I had several with me but seemed to only use my 105MM and randomly used my kit lens due to the small space.  This worked out rather well for me though I would love a 50MM prime, but someday I’ll give in and buy one.

Being my first baby shower photography shoot with my D7000 I think I did well and produced photos that the family appreciates as well as providing them in a way that will be a great keepsake.  Just remember to think about the way in which the images are provided after the event as that is the way that you will be remembered.

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Work on Good Friday

Apr
06
2012
by Jessy | 0 Comments

I’m still new to the photography world so I was thrilled when I was asked to do company portraits for Oyova!  I spent a little time this afternoon taking pics of the guys standing in front of a white wall.  Several months back I had done the images for the President so I was excited that he thought enough of it to have me come and do the rest of his team.

They are a great set of guys and seemed to have a little fun giving me profile shots, and randomly making faces. I used my best/only portrait lens, my 105MM to take the pics.  Due to the focal length I had to be a ways away.  I can’t wait till Adorama has a 50MM back in stock for me to order.  A fixed lens of that length will be perfect and not require me to be so far away.  I’ll be able to make the experience a more comfortable one as well.

I got the images all converted over (color, black and white), updated, and resized.  They are back out my door and the team seems happy with them!  Hopefully this will lead to more opportunities in the future!

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A few critiques

Apr
01
2012
by Jessy | 0 Comments

Like many photographers I listen watch several of the online shows with Scott Kelby, RC Conception, etc.  Kelbys tip to have pro’s review you work is one of those things I have always been scared to do but finally decided to suck it up and try it.  On “The Grid” a while back Kelby offered to do some critiques on his show so I submitted these images.  Of course he told everyone how horrible they were.  Kelby provided some really great feedback about what is good and what is bad in the images as well as how to make them better.  His feedback and insight is very valuable.  I believe most of the people that were critiqued during that episode understood what Kelby was getting at with his critique and appreciated the feedback he gave.

I was also able to get a few minutes of Andrew Howells (from Aplebox.net) time to review my site.  He also provided some valuable insight and restated some things I had already known.  I have since cleaned up my site and the images on it per his feedback and feel better about taking another step forward.

My advice to others looking for the same feedback would be:

  1. Seek out people you trust for feedback.  Not friends and family, but others in the photography community that have more than their gut feeling of like or not.  This will give you more of the why and why not.
  2. Take their feedback as it is meant to be given.  When you ask for feedback and someone gives you an honest critique of your work it’s not all butterflies and kittens.  Sometimes things can sound very harsh, just listen to Kelby provide his critiques.  Remember that as harsh as it sounds it is meant to provide you with the information and the push you need to move into the right direction and away from what you are doing poorly.
  3. Final, but not least…Remember that their feedback is biased with their opinion.  With my critique from Kelby I had a laugh a little because an image he trashed during the critique is one I have actually sold some copies.  I have not sold hundreds of copies, but many more than you would have thought had you only listened to his critique.  I think Andrew said it well in his critique: “I don’t care much for the bright stuff but that’s just me, it’s not my style.”  He acknowledged that the work is good, but he prefers one type over another.

I hope that I am able to continue to get these random critiques as time goes on and my skills increase, this information and feedback is very helpful and valuable in my continued development.

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Red Stalagmite Image Sold!

Mar
10
2012
by Jessy | 0 Comments

I sold a 7.75″ X 8.00″ print of Red Stalagmite on FineArtAmerica!  The buy purchased with a black frame and white matting, I think it looks rather good like this.

 

 

 

This is the image but be sure to check out the announcement page to see the image of the frame and matting on it, gives it a very different look.

Announcement page

 

 

 

 

 

This image was taken last fall when my husband and I went to West Virgina for a weekend to hang out in a cabin with his family.  His parents and sister were already there.  Part of the trip for the weekend included going through Smoke Hole Caverns.  it was truly something to see and they had it lit beautifully inside so that I could get some nice photos.

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A Barn in Kansas

Feb
25
2012
by Jessy | 0 Comments

Growing up there was this barn on the side of the highway by my little town.  It becomes one of those landmarks that lets you know you are close to home.  As I got older and started seeing things a little differently the barn become something more.  I always wanted to go look inside, see what’s there, etc.  Finally, last year at Christmas I asks my Dad to take me out there so I could take some photos.  This only prompted him to say “You mean to XXX’s barn?”  Of course we knew the family that owned it, if only I would have asked earlier.

I was able to get some great images of it with the snow all around, and I have found I am partial to the black and white, that must be how I’ve always seen it in my head as a child.  The barn is nearly 100 years old so I think the black and white is fitting.  For the images below, you can see them larger here.  I used a few presets that I have in Light Room and then of course tweaked them a little, I’m never happy with pre-sets.  I did import a few of them into Topaz BW but I decided that I liked them better straight from Light Room.  Take a look and let me know which one is your favorite.

 

 

This is the first image I completed.  This is HDR using Photomatix, I love how the sun turned out…

 

 

 

 

 

This is an image of the back of the barn.  Something about how the door was hanging from the hinge and resting on the ground drew my attention.  The red with the sun hitting it was so bright and beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

An image from the side in the snow path of the trucks and tractors.  Just to the right was a huge snow pile that I did clime up a little to get a different perspective.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This image is my favorite.  I used a few presets from Lightroom then  kept tweaking them until I was happy.  something about that old Black and White photo is how I have always seen it in my head.  It gives this image some of that old story and mystery to it.

 

 

 

This is a different Black and White process I did.  I love the sun as the focal point, but you cannot ignore that barn.  I think this makes a unique panorama of the whole place.

 

I will be putting these up on my fine art america site but I am still looking for another printer that is a little cheaper.  Fine art america charges so much and I get so little as I try to keep the costs reasonable.  If you have suggestions let me know! 🙂

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PlusOne Collection Book – update

Feb
25
2012
by Jessy | 0 Comments

The limited edition sale period is over.  Yes I had to order one, it’s the first book that my photography will be in so it is quite exciting for me.  Very soon the release of the standard print, ebook, and app will be posted and the ebook and app are extremely cheap with the funds going to a great cause.  I will be sure to keep you updated on the information about the release and any sales info I receive.  You can continue to check out the book site for information s well.  http://plusonecollection.com/

This is copied from a post Ivan Makarov put on G+, it really is great information about the limited edition sale, I had to share:

“The final number is in. A total of  195 copies of the Limited Edition of +Plus One Collection will be printed. The production of all those copies will begin this week, and we hope to ship in the first few days of March. By the way – today is the last day to pick your print, if you have a preference –http://goo.gl/j5Orv

Each copy will be numbered inside the book (1/194, 2/194, etc.). 

The first to order the book was +Alan Allum who also ordered another copy towards the end of the sale. The last to order was +Jim Patterson – literally with minutes to spare. 

Lots of cool stories – wives ordering for husbands, guys buying for their girlfriends, children buying for their parents and even my mom buying a copy in the last 30 minutes of the sale. 

I also know quite a few Googlers ordered their copies, including company’s executives. 

Approximately 65% will ship to US/Canada, with the rest all over the world – from Hong Kong to South Australia to Argentina and Poland. 

Don’t have the exact number of funds we raised thus far until all shipping expenses are paid for, but safe to say, we’ve raised over $10,000. “

As you see in the post he actually let people purchasing choose from 15 different prints which will be included in their order.  This is a great idea because it gives them that freedom but I’m sure it makes a lot more work and coordination for Ivan.  We will all remember his efforts for a long time to come.  If you are on G+ please remember to stop by and thank him for all of his hard work to raise this money for KIVA!

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PlusOne Collection Book from Google+ Availabe for Sale

Feb
09
2012
by Jessy | 1 Comment

The PlusOne Collection Limited Edition book is now available for sale!  This book is a collection of photographs submitted by over 520 artists on Google Plus.  The artists range from pros to amateurs.

Each book will be printed large (11″ x 13″ landscape), and on premium fine art ProLine paper. Each copy will be numbered and include a certificate of authenticity. In addition, each book will come with a tipped-in print of one of the images in the book (prints are 6″ x 9″ on 8″ x 11.5″ paper). Prints are printed on archival paper to museum standards using UltraChrome K3 inks and will last close to 100 years with proper care.

View the PlusOneCollection site to learn more about the artists and various book editions that will be released later on Feb 21st.

One of my own images will also be available in the book.  Below you can see my image.   

The orders for the Collectors’ Limited Edition will only be taken from February 9 through February 20. No orders for that edition of the book will be taken after that date, and only one run of the Collectors’ Limited Edition will be done.

 

The PlusOneCollection site is up and ready to take your orders.  Be sure to go there soon and order if you would like the Limited Edition book!

 

Thank you again to Ivan Marakov and his team for putting this together so quickly to support the artists on Google+ and a Kiva

 

 Other Facts

  • Collectors’ Edition of Plus One Collection printed version is being released on February 9 and will be available for order until February 20th. Standard edition and ebook will be released on February 21st
  • Collectors’ Edition of Plus One Collection will be fulfilled by our team (Ivan and the Crew). Standard print edition of the book will be fulfilled through the publishing company Blurb
  • Photographers of all levels are represented – established professionals, up and coming artists, and amateurs just picking up photography
  • Photographers contributing to the project are from all four continents, representing 53 countries. Less than 50% are from the USA
  • Photographs in the book are just as diverse, representing all styles of today’s photography
  • Book’s editor and project manager is Ivan Makarov – you can find him here
  • The book is designed by design professional, Andy Lee, who volunteered his time to put the book together
  • A team of 11 photographers chose the images for the print edition. The PDF and mobile app will include ALL photographs submitted to the project
  • The total team working on the project consisted of 15 volunteers – none paid
  • Google+ page is here

 

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Storm Breaks Image Sold!

Jan
25
2012
by Jessy | 0 Comments

I sold my second print on Fine Art America!  The image is an HDR of two people down the beach and the amazing clouds as the storm was breaking up.

Check the announcement page here: sale announcement

This image was taken the day after I purchased my amazing Nikon D7000.  Of course I got the camera just so that I could bracket and learn how to do HDR.  I barely put the camera down anymore, I have learned to love it so much.

I woke up very early, then had to wait for the storm to end.  Being paranoid about such an expensive piece of equipment I could not get myself to go to the beach with it still raining.  As soon as the rain subsided I was out the door and at the beach trying to figure out the bracketing.  I finally figured everything out and was getting some amazing shots of the pier when I noticed two people way down the beach, the clouds above them, and the sun breaking, it was just perfect.

Once again this sale is just amazing to me and I thank all of those that have been with me through the process, I couldn’t have done it without all of you!

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Cathedral Reflection Image Sold!

Jan
25
2012
by Jessy | 0 Comments

I sold my very first print on Fine Art America!  The image is a reflection of the cathedral in a window of a cafe.  This image was taken when I was in New Orleans for the National Geographic Photography workshop.

Check the announcement page here: sale announcement

I never would have thought to start looking in the windows and in different places for images if Tyron Turner had not told us to think of things like reflections and signs.  I immediately emailed Tyrone to let him know the amazing news but also to once again thank him for all that he taught us and his amazing support.  I never would have thought that someone as busy as he is would really take the time to continue and email the group months after the trip, but even to respond and be so excited for me and my sale!

Such amazing people have led me to this point in my life and I am forever grateful to them.  Thank you again to the buyer and all of those that have supported me through this process.

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