Quote:
Originally Posted by dcstep
I know what you mean. Even seeing 50" prints in my own office is pretty exciting and then having my printer and the designer saying my stuff is better than what she put in her last building is even more encouraging.
I have sold stuff, but it's been really spotty. I'll have a big month on Getty and then go months with absolutely nothing, then someone will contact me directly and buy a print at a good margin. It's nothing that I can even count on to fund equipment, much less pay the rent.
Two elements that I've been zeroing in on are the printer and designer contact. You need a high quality printer that will work at cost levels that leave you some margin. Without that, you'll need to invest in equipment to do it yourself or accept lower to non-existent margins by using online printers. The big printers cost a fortune and must be run regularly to keep them operational.
A designer that is loading whole buildings may be the best sales source. Gallery rent and commissions make that a break even prospect unless you have a really popular print that sells several times per month. I still haven't given up on Stock, since my few sales are usually to high exposure kinds of buyers (Wall Street Journal and big advertising agencies) but they've been irregular. I'll stick with that at least two more years and the liscense does allow me to sell the same images as "products". I just can't sell the file so long as it's listed with Getty.
Going at it part-time, I can't complain. Unless you do wedding and/or senior pix, it's really tough to pay the rent with photography. All the guys that I've found doing nature and travel all have other jobs (printers, installers, post-processors, tour guides, etc.). John Fielder is the exception, but he's been at it 30-years and puts out a big book every other year and runs two galleries, etc..
Anyway, it's fun for now. My "real" job makes WAY more money and it's also fun. I hope that I can increase my photography income level in 2014 enough to put it on Schedule C of my tax return and deduct a 1D X and a Series II super-telephoto. 
Dave |
Excellent insight, Dave, thanks.
On the gallery idea, yeah, it's for the top of the top. Definitely would be cool to do someday but would need a lot of force behind my name to even make it worthwhile.
I never (really, never) wanted to make photography a profession, and still don't. I consider it a passion, which in my view is not just a hobby but more like a labor of love. Hobbies come and go but this has been a part of me since I was a kid, and I don't see it ever going away.
As for the profession, you're right, there's simply not enough money in it. But for a personal achievement sense, I love the idea of selling prints because in a way that's recognition. People want your vision and are willing to pay for it. That's gotta be a great feeling!
Eventually I'd like to be good enough to have that sort of recognition and do more and more travel photo trips, like my Iceland trip back in '08 which was awesome. That and I've been eyeing the idea of publishing a photo coffee table book with a theme of sorts.
Doing weddings or anything of similar nature wouldn't be my thing at all. My entire interest and love for photography is based on what I see and how I want to convey it. In other words, being forced to shoot stuff I don't find interesting, or in a way I don't prefer, for a client, would kill the passion pretty quickly. Besides, I do enough of that kind of selling out in my programming profession
Having some fun tonight: 6D multiple exposure with fisheye, 5 total exposures, 30 seconds each, 3 different focal lenghts
Eye of the Fish (EOS 6D Multiple Exposure) by
ddk632, on Flickr