How To Sell your work ??
Discussion
I was also interested in selling photos. The main options appear to be:
1. Stock photography sites (+ easy source of income, - low income and can be hard to get accepted)
2. Print them and trawl them around markets, fairs, shops etc to see if anybody wants to but them (+ quite high rewards for what you sell, - hard work and costs for what you don't)
3. Get commissioned to take specific shots, or apply to be the official toggy at an event (+ lower costs, - difficult to get access as there's usually a photographer doing it already who knows the guy who chooses the official photographer).
4. Take some good shots, get them printed and mounted and offer them to local coffee shops, cafes etc to sell for a commission. For example, a good series of beach shots at a beach cafe would be quite popular (+ not too much effort, you get to keep the pictures that don't sell, - people might not realise they're for sale unless the cafe etc promotes them).
I think 2 is a good option if you have the time. I recently saw somebody knocking out st1te framed photos to idiots at a market for >£100. I was shocked and somewhat disappointed that someone with so little talent was making so much money. But as long as the customer was happy.....
If you want to make a living out of it you'll need to buy a lot of kit to be able to cover all situations. If you're looking for pocket money I'd find out what you're good at, take some good shots of it and try option 3.
ETA: I have a couple of good ideas up my sleeve. If they don't work out I'll let you know.
1. Stock photography sites (+ easy source of income, - low income and can be hard to get accepted)
2. Print them and trawl them around markets, fairs, shops etc to see if anybody wants to but them (+ quite high rewards for what you sell, - hard work and costs for what you don't)
3. Get commissioned to take specific shots, or apply to be the official toggy at an event (+ lower costs, - difficult to get access as there's usually a photographer doing it already who knows the guy who chooses the official photographer).
4. Take some good shots, get them printed and mounted and offer them to local coffee shops, cafes etc to sell for a commission. For example, a good series of beach shots at a beach cafe would be quite popular (+ not too much effort, you get to keep the pictures that don't sell, - people might not realise they're for sale unless the cafe etc promotes them).
I think 2 is a good option if you have the time. I recently saw somebody knocking out st1te framed photos to idiots at a market for >£100. I was shocked and somewhat disappointed that someone with so little talent was making so much money. But as long as the customer was happy.....
If you want to make a living out of it you'll need to buy a lot of kit to be able to cover all situations. If you're looking for pocket money I'd find out what you're good at, take some good shots of it and try option 3.
ETA: I have a couple of good ideas up my sleeve. If they don't work out I'll let you know.
Edited by mikee boy on Monday 27th April 15:27
It's hard to make a lot of cash unless you do the proper pro thing (weddings, portraits etc).
I sell prints and books on-line, and in half a dozen local retail outlets (plus postcards). I am about to sell 'coffee table' books in the local posh hotel. But to be honest, I make more money from writing one decent bit of music that all the photos I could sell in a year.
However, being self employed, at least I get to offset all my photo kit against tax. (Which if truth be told, is the main reason I sell anything!)
I sell prints and books on-line, and in half a dozen local retail outlets (plus postcards). I am about to sell 'coffee table' books in the local posh hotel. But to be honest, I make more money from writing one decent bit of music that all the photos I could sell in a year.
However, being self employed, at least I get to offset all my photo kit against tax. (Which if truth be told, is the main reason I sell anything!)
GetCarter said:
It's hard to make a lot of cash unless you do the proper pro thing (weddings, portraits etc).
I sell prints and books on-line, and in half a dozen local retail outlets (plus postcards). I am about to sell 'coffee table' books in the local posh hotel. But to be honest, I make more money from writing one decent bit of music that all the photos I could sell in a year.
However, being self employed, at least I get to offset all my photo kit against tax. (Which if truth be told, is the main reason I sell anything!)
Interesting, how does the tax thing work? I reckon I could sell a few photos to friends and family...I sell prints and books on-line, and in half a dozen local retail outlets (plus postcards). I am about to sell 'coffee table' books in the local posh hotel. But to be honest, I make more money from writing one decent bit of music that all the photos I could sell in a year.
However, being self employed, at least I get to offset all my photo kit against tax. (Which if truth be told, is the main reason I sell anything!)
Tycho said:
GetCarter said:
It's hard to make a lot of cash unless you do the proper pro thing (weddings, portraits etc).
I sell prints and books on-line, and in half a dozen local retail outlets (plus postcards). I am about to sell 'coffee table' books in the local posh hotel. But to be honest, I make more money from writing one decent bit of music that all the photos I could sell in a year.
However, being self employed, at least I get to offset all my photo kit against tax. (Which if truth be told, is the main reason I sell anything!)
Interesting, how does the tax thing work? I reckon I could sell a few photos to friends and family...I sell prints and books on-line, and in half a dozen local retail outlets (plus postcards). I am about to sell 'coffee table' books in the local posh hotel. But to be honest, I make more money from writing one decent bit of music that all the photos I could sell in a year.
However, being self employed, at least I get to offset all my photo kit against tax. (Which if truth be told, is the main reason I sell anything!)
Unfortunately, there isn't a way of cheating the system - you neeed to demonstrate that you earn from sales of your work.
Edited by GetCarter on Monday 27th April 17:12
GetCarter said:
said:
GetCarter said:
.
However, being self employed, at least I get to offset all my photo kit against tax. (Which if truth be told, is the main reason I sell anything!)
However, being self employed, at least I get to offset all my photo kit against tax. (Which if truth be told, is the main reason I sell anything!)
Unfortunately, there isn't a way of cheating the system - you neeed to demonstrate that you earn from sales of your work.
Edited by GetCarter on Monday 27th April 17:12
I know that HMRC can deem something either a business or a hobby (you bet that if you sell enough stuff on pBay as a hobby, HMRC could claim it's a business) but when you start out on a new business, you are going to have to make investments in business capital and if that business does then not succeed as you hoped, does that then make it a hobby?
Edited by Elderly on Monday 27th April 17:42
Elderly said:
But you have also said "I make more money from writing one decent bit of music that all the photos I could sell in a year" [confused Smilie!!!!]
Yes... because writing music is akin to 'money' and 'old rope' and can pay shed loads, because every time it's played, I get paid again, and there are thousands of TV channels worldwide repeating stuff each day. I'm still earning dosh from tosh I wrote in 1985. There was a Sandra Bullock movie on yesterday afternoon that uses my music... and that showing on Sky will earn me more than the 1000 postcards..... but it ain't my fault that photography (at my level) doesn't earn much!ETA... I should add that my music is like my photography, I write loads and every so often hit the spot - carpet bombing once more.
Edited by GetCarter on Monday 27th April 18:01
I think we are at crossed purposes 
I know how the music business earns (generations of my family are in it).
What I was confused about was the fact that you say that you (relatively) earn so much from music and so little from photography,
yet HMRC (or do you mean your accountant?) accept that the photography is also a business.
It appeared to go against what you were advising earlier in the thread.
I know how the music business earns (generations of my family are in it).What I was confused about was the fact that you say that you (relatively) earn so much from music and so little from photography,
yet HMRC (or do you mean your accountant?) accept that the photography is also a business.
It appeared to go against what you were advising earlier in the thread.
I think what he means is that the photography is, well, sort of 'incorporated' into all the other stuff. If you're self-employed and have accounting systems up and running, then things can, er, fall in accidentally.
Cautionary tale for OP: A year after getting my first DSLR I'd taken about 40 photos I thought were rather nice so I tried making some money out of them. I spent £500 on frames, mounting board and prints, spent days cutting mounts and framing, took them round to two libraries and set up the exhibitions myself - and sold one print for £18.
The world is full of good photos, and getting fuller every day.
Cautionary tale for OP: A year after getting my first DSLR I'd taken about 40 photos I thought were rather nice so I tried making some money out of them. I spent £500 on frames, mounting board and prints, spent days cutting mounts and framing, took them round to two libraries and set up the exhibitions myself - and sold one print for £18.
The world is full of good photos, and getting fuller every day.
Simpo is right - there is a massive gap between wanting to sell your photos and anyone wanting to buy them. I'm not counting family and friends because, frankly, they don't count.
I've got an exhibition coming up later in the year, it's going to cost me probably the think end of £300 to get all my prints framed - do I expect to make any of that back? Not really, but it would be nice.
I've got an exhibition coming up later in the year, it's going to cost me probably the think end of £300 to get all my prints framed - do I expect to make any of that back? Not really, but it would be nice.
i think the key is specialising in an area, and really have a passion for it.
im a vid cameraman as my main job, and ive started to realise that the people in demand are the specialists- the underwater cameramen, the steadicamers (of which im one), the guys that have rock climbing kit and can take photos form the top of everest etc
the worlds full of people who can take nice photos of flowers
I tried get involved in stock photogrpahy, and had a lot of my stuff turned down- it wasnt that my photos were bad, just not what theyre looking for- they want photo of a dog on a clean white background, or woman in suit in an office using computer, lit perfectly. You can't just raid your archive, but i think if you put effort in at the weekends, hire some people and a studio for a day, could be worthwhile. And i bet if you happen to take a popular photo, it could keep selling for years
im a vid cameraman as my main job, and ive started to realise that the people in demand are the specialists- the underwater cameramen, the steadicamers (of which im one), the guys that have rock climbing kit and can take photos form the top of everest etc
the worlds full of people who can take nice photos of flowers
I tried get involved in stock photogrpahy, and had a lot of my stuff turned down- it wasnt that my photos were bad, just not what theyre looking for- they want photo of a dog on a clean white background, or woman in suit in an office using computer, lit perfectly. You can't just raid your archive, but i think if you put effort in at the weekends, hire some people and a studio for a day, could be worthwhile. And i bet if you happen to take a popular photo, it could keep selling for years
Edited by Fordo on Monday 27th April 18:48
Elderly said:
I think we are at crossed purposes I know how the music business earns (generations of my family are in it).
What I was confused about was the fact that you say that you (relatively) earn so much from music and so little from photography,
yet HMRC (or do you mean your accountant?) accept that the photography is also a business.
It appeared to go against what you were advising earlier in the thread.
Ah right... well I'm a composer and photographer and can show that I earn from both. The fact that photography earns sod all money is down to the market, not me. I spend as much time doing photography as music... as I say, it's not my fault that one doesn't (by and large) get decent returns from photography. I wish it were otherwise! I know how the music business earns (generations of my family are in it).What I was confused about was the fact that you say that you (relatively) earn so much from music and so little from photography,
yet HMRC (or do you mean your accountant?) accept that the photography is also a business.
It appeared to go against what you were advising earlier in the thread.
(ETA... and the figures won't be news to you - but may be of interest to others here) A mate of mine got £250k in royalties last year - unexpected, as a piece of music he had written was being used as the theme for a soap in the USA. That may happen once in a lifetime for a photographer, but he'll now earn another few million in repeat fees over the next decade as a composer.
Images get sold, compositions get licenced with strings attached.
Edited by GetCarter on Monday 27th April 19:12
GetCarter said:
A mate of mine got £250k in royalties last year - unexpected, as a piece of music he had written was being used as the theme for a soap in the USA. That may happen once in a lifetime for a photographer, but he'll now earn another few million in repeat fees over the next decade as a composer.
Note to self: sell camera, buy keyboard!GetCarter said:
Images get sold, compositions get licenced with strings attached.
Not strictly true - images are licensed as well. However, with every man and his dog taking photos for beer money, the bottom has fallen out of the market.Gassing Station | Photography & Video | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff