Selling your work

I know there are some excellent pro and amateur photographers on TGR (I fit barely in the later category). Do you successfully sell your work? What has worked? Social media, sites like Etsy, Artfinder, Imagekind, etc?

It's a tough gig. The biggest sales I've seen are large canvas prints to a few local companies here in Boulder, where I knew the CEO (or the decision maker) and they wanted to redecorate their office, or decorate a new one. In terms of actual prints, I can probably count the number of smaller-format prints I've sold on two hands over the last 7-10 years. Those mostly come to friends, friends of friends, or relatives... so needless to say I'm not making much money on them.

I tried posting a bunch of my favorite landscapes on Etsy for sale, but I barely got any views and I didn't sell a single thing.

In my opinion, and what I do, is the pictures I have on my website are there to get people interested - and then they hire me to do a specific photo shoot... whether it's a wedding, a portrait session, or some kind of job for a corporate entity. I also use my website to show people what I've done in the past- so I have legitimacy when I propose a specific job, or respond to a request. The weddings and portraits far outweigh anything else I've done- people are willing to spend money for pictures of themselves, or to celebrate an event. I haven't made a ton of money doing that kind of work, but it's easily paid for my gear and a vacation or two.

^ this is pretty much what I’ve heard from most pros. There just isn’t much money in prints unless you are really famous

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Originally Posted by Supermoon

^ this is pretty much what I’ve heard from most pros. There just isn’t much money in prints unless you are really famous

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Become a porn star then do photography... Got it!

Make money. Buy toys.

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Originally Posted by smmokan

It's a tough gig. The biggest sales I've seen are large canvas prints to a few local companies here in Boulder, where I knew the CEO (or the decision maker) and they wanted to redecorate their office, or decorate a new one. In terms of actual prints, I can probably count the number of smaller-format prints I've sold on two hands over the last 7-10 years. Those mostly come to friends, friends of friends, or relatives... so needless to say I'm not making much money on them.

I tried posting a bunch of my favorite landscapes on Etsy for sale, but I barely got any views and I didn't sell a single thing.

In my opinion, and what I do, is the pictures I have on my website are there to get people interested - and then they hire me to do a specific photo shoot... whether it's a wedding, a portrait session, or some kind of job for a corporate entity. I also use my website to show people what I've done in the past- so I have legitimacy when I propose a specific job, or respond to a request. The weddings and portraits far outweigh anything else I've done- people are willing to spend money for pictures of themselves, or to celebrate an event. I haven't made a ton of money doing that kind of work, but it's easily paid for my gear and a vacation or two.

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Thanks for your input. I figured as much but am surprised there isn’t a market of people who want inexpensive photography for their home or office that isn’t as formal as a huge canvas for a waiting room or something. My goal for this would be to make some passive income to supplement my current work but it sounds like it would be hard to get any traction.