Anyone on here actually sell photos, rather than doing portraits/weddings etc?

Do you take them to galleries etc? I’m sure not many get sold this way.

Are there any other channels through which you can sell? What kind of images sell?

(Note I am not considering attempting to make a living this way!)

I’ve sold the odd one here and there but I haven’t put too much effort into it. From the research I’ve done though it’s a pretty hard way to earn money. Probably easier to try and license images to magazines/websites/companies etc – either directly or through stock agencies like Alamy.

Obviously some people manage it but you have to be a pretty special photographer and/or very good at sales/marketing.

I don’t really do arty / landscapey stuff any more but I know a few who do. Sites like this one, selling art to corporate types are a good place to start. I have a mate who makes a couple of hundred a month from this site alone.

I guess it’s a numbers game – if you’re signed up with enough similar sites, it might start bringing in an income.

Another mate, Kris Dutson, landscape photographer extrordanaire makes a full time occupation out of selling at craft fairs, getting work published in mags and so on. But by thunder he works hard!

which category do you fit into?

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/7.htm

….through stock agencies like Alamy

I have a mate who does this – submits his pics to a stock agency and sees if he get any royalties from sales through them. It’s a hobby/beer money-type arrangement. He concentrates on very specific subjects and tries to saturate that with as many interesting compositions as he can. Not asked him how it’s going for a while, but I don’t think he’ll be giving up the day job any time soon….

I was musing on this. I am a contractor so there’s potentially time available between contracts. I was thinking it’d be fun to be able to put time in to finding great pictures and then potenially make a small amount of money from it.

I like the craft fair idea. I guess landscapes are a fairly safe bet.

I am not sure I could deal with weddings, but portraits could be fun if I had the courage to take it on.

Have you looked at clikpic or Photium??

I’ve got a Photium page & it’s really easy to set-up.
I haven’t had the time to actually get the sales side of it going yet & it’s really badly optimised, so I need to work on it.
But, if you have the time it might be worth a look.

A basic site including hosting on Photium is only £80/yr.

If you click on my profile I think there should be a link there to my site if you fancy having a mooch around it.

I guess landscapes are a fairly safe bet

Theres a guy who has a stall on the street in Bath selling his landscape shots.

Some are very good but I don’t think he has enough variety, as in he has been flogging prints of some of the same images for years. I guess this works with the high number of tourists passing.

Seems to do well with his calanders in december.

Heh, I like the 7 levels of photographer. Lots of 1s and 2s on this site but a good few 5s too 🙂

Stumpy, do you sell much on those sites?

I know one person who is making a career of photography. He started at 15, has worked bloody hard and is starting to get regular work from the biking press + commercial/wedding stuff as a sideline.

if you don’t need to make money from it then carry on taking photographs for the enjoyment rather than undercutting the guys who are trying to make a living from it.

Molgrips – PM me if you want some info about earnings.

Having them on the wall of local cafes is one outlet or a stall down the market is another way of bringing in a few quid.

Suppose it depends where you live, more chance I would have thought in somewhere like Bournemouth than Grimsby

if you don’t need to make money from it then carry on taking photographs for the enjoyment rather than undercutting the guys who are trying to make a living from it

That’s a little harsh, isn’t it? It’s not like I am out to steal your market share. If your photos are better than mine then they’ll sell, won’t they?

I’m not so rich that I don’t need money. Consider the idea as doing it for a living, but with backup.

molgrips – not sure how many you could potentially sell from a site like that provided by clikpic or Photium.

I haven’t had anyone enquire about any of the pics on my site, but looking at Google Web Analytics would suggest that it’s about as badly optimised as is possible to get.

I need to find the time to get back on it really.

I set mine up as I thought it was worth doing for £80/yr. At the time I was getting out and about a lot more with my camera & having more time to fiddle about with stuff.
Not really had much chance for the last 6 months or so for the last 6 months or so, so it’s kinda languishing a bit.

YHM

Danke schoen.