What do you guys think??

[Mitchell]

Becuase i live in a resort town I have been thinking about selling posters of diferent senic places around here and some of Yellowstone Park.
so i could maybe gain a little money with somthing i love doing..
So i was wondering what do you guys and gals think of this idea?? am I crazy?

Thanks for what ever you have to say, good or bad
Mitchell

[Photography~girl~]

go for it. haha.
i'd love to some how sell some of my shots - only i have NO IDEA how to go about doing it and there are lots of pics of Lake Michigan, Big Red(our famous lighthouse), and not to many people want to by pics of some random umpire. haha. though this fall i'll be working with a friend on how to market myself. anyway.
go for it. never hurts to try, right? we're young, and not making it our living...yet.

[oTTer]

Isn't that what a lot of photographers do? I suppose it will depend on how you market your work. Gallery? Stand on a corner waving pictures over your head? Maybe make postcards out of them, and find a gift shop that will sell them...?

[Mitchell]

Oh yah.. i forgot to say my ideas on how and where i might sell them..
All the gas stations up here are more of like a gift shop type of place, so i thought i'd see if they would like to sell them there.
And i am still thinking of some other places..

[Bonish Photo]

Hey Mitchell, good for you that you're thinking of doing something like this to further your career.

I'd say you need to first start shopping around to see where you might be able to get these posters printed at a cost that would allow you to turn a profit. Second, are your images worthy of people buying them? You need to look at what everyone else is doing and either make your images stand out, or find a different angle so your images make people stop and notice.

Put together a portfolio of only your best images and go around to a few of the local gas stations, galleries and gift shops to see if they'd be interested in carrying some of your stuff for you. Remember, that many of these places are either going to charge a commission or are going to want a cut of the profits, so make sure you have this worked out and have it in writing before you start hanging your work up anywhere.

I'd also look at Post Cards and simple things that people are more apt to buy than a big, poster type print. The book store we work in sells a few hundred post cards every day. I cringe because many of them arent even that good of images and I think "If only I could slip a few of my own images into the display racks!"

When you start ordering post cards in bulk, the prices drop considerable. Talk with Luca or Jana as both of them have some great post cards that they sell in their hometown areas. They can probably point you in the direction of a printer that might be able to help you get started.

Good luck, and hope you start earning some money off your work

[gldiana]

Hi Mitchell,
good to see you're thinking professionally. Posters are definitely nice to look at but I don't think there's much market for them, in either case not for small batches. Like in many prints if you want to make a profit you'd need to sell a lot and you'd need to have them printed in Asia with a minimum batch of 5,000 for each image, that requires some serious cash in initial development. As Pat suggested postcards are a better alternative because, well, people are more likely to spend 50 cents on a postcard than $20 on a poster. Calendars are working well for me, I have a new 2010 scenic wall calendar with 13 views of the Tetons and I pre-sold over 50 (just got another order today through my website), it's not a huge profit since this, too, is a small batch (I made mine a limited edition of 250 copies, numbered and signed, to make it more appealing) but it's nice to see that people like my photos and they are interested in getting a copy. Note cards is also something else you might want to consider. Remember: use only your "wow" photos. If you are not super excited about a photo you can't expect that people will be excited enough to buy the product.

[oTTer]

I agree about the 'wow' photos - there's a wildlife refuge about 40 miles east of me, and every fall they have an art show. A lady had notecards made out of her photos, and I know she took many of them at the zoo park because I recognized the wire wrapped around the tree trunks in the photos. Not attractive. I agree with the so-so photos on postcards too, sometimes you can find a gift shop that might be interested in selling say, a packet of three assorted note cards with wildlife on them. I have sets of three of my grandma I painted, and then I sell the individual cards with my paintings on them, but that is at the gallery I belong to. It's $30 a year membership, and I can hang or put out whatever I want in the loft (that's their member sales area). So look into that, too. I know small boutiques may sell stuff like that. A gal I work with, her daughter has a flower shop in Montana. She bought a dozen painted Xmas bulbs from me, and sold them in her store. Six of them to a lady from Nebraska (that's where I'm from)... so they came home. Anyway, you'll have to have some stuff made up to present to the store owner. I go to the print shop here in town. They aren't flying off the shelves, but I don't have to feed them or anything so other than having them printed, they don't cost me any more.

[Mitchell]

Thanks everyone for there input, i am going to look into the Postcards. do any of you have any good places to get them printed? i know theres alot of places but just wondering what places you like?
The thing about the posters is, I was thinking for people who want a Large picture of some of the areas they seen while on vacation here. i was thinking more of teenagers or kids who want to have somthing to remember there vacation. Or is there still really no market for this kind of thing??

Thanks

[Photography~girl~]

i don't know many kids who want a poster of some gorgeous scene from their vacation. Now if like, the jonas brothers is in the shot - teenaged girls might buy it more. hahaha.

[Mitchell]

I was wondering, sould I bring in the postcards to show the owner/manager, or sould i bring in a portfolio of 8X10's in a nice leather portfolio??

[Bonish Photo]

I would bring in a nice leather bound 8x10 portfolio. Images always impress when they're larger. I've had images that I thought were "Sub-Par" looking at them on the screen, but when seen large and on high gloss paper, I can sometimes be amazed with my own work...LOL

[oTTer]

I would have some of the cards ready to go, too. That way if they say 'sure' you can put them on display right there. Seems more confident. ?

[Edd]

I would have some of the cards ready to go, too. That way if they say 'sure' you can put them on display right there. Seems more confident. ?

Personally I would be careful going down this route, as you're tying money up in stock that may not shift.

If people seem to be always choosing certain images maybe have a few "selected" cards ready.

See how long it takes to get them printed, I wouldn't expect it to take more than a few days.

Ed

[Mitchell]

Ok i guess i need to get together a portfolio
oTTer, thats a good idea, i'll definitly do that.

Thanks everyone

[Bonish Photo]

Mitchell, it might be good to put together about 50 or so of your best images, and maybe only print them out in a 4x6 size. Have a bunch of different people from all different ages and backgrounds look through them and rate them. Maybe put a little post-it note on each image with what they think it rates from a 1-10

Narrow it down to your best 20 and this is what I'd put in the portfolio

This might save you some money in the long run