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07-07-2016, 03:20 PM   #1
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Selling at Art Fairs?

Does anyone here sell their photos at art fairs and festivals?

I've done a few small ones in the last couple years, I have a somewhat larger one coming up in August, and I'm planning to apply for several large ones next year.

Just wondering if any pentaxians regularly participate in shows and if they'd care to share their experiences.

07-07-2016, 05:08 PM   #2
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Do you make any money? Or break even and have fun?
07-07-2016, 05:24 PM   #3
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Haven't even come in the most remote neighborhood of breaking even yet. But I've only done a few small local shows and I've spent probably $1000 on a used trim line canopy, lighting, and pro panels; not to mention prints to sell plus mats and frames and so on.

Last small fair, I sold like 3 small prints and made maybe $60; my wife, who finger knits scarves and just had a few bits of pegboard and some folding screens (total cost probably $50) with scarves hanging on them made probably $250. And she hit a bunch of little craft shows in the fall and made a decent chunk of cash selling more of them.

We'll see though. The nice thing about getting the good quality booth stuff used is I can probably sell it without losing anything on it if I decide not to bother with it anymore.
07-07-2016, 05:41 PM - 1 Like   #4
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I did this twice a few years ago and cost of supplies i.e., frames, mat board and tables and, and, and, outweighed what I made. I had to start putting things together a year before the fair in order to have enough prints, and enough frames, and boards and mat boards and...etc. I gave up after the second showing when I sold two prints.

07-07-2016, 05:56 PM   #5
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I've done a few shows. Some smaller and some larger.

Lots of competition at the larger shows. Plenty of other photographers will have booths at the larger shows too.

From my experience, the photographers who had the most popular booths and sold the most tended to be at each of the extremes. Either they sold small sized very inexpensive prints; or they sold expensive extremely large premium quality prints. The larger prints had insane sharpness with exquisite printing (usually taken with high resolution medium format digital cameras). I am now hoping that with my new Pentax K1 shooting exclusively in the pixel shift mode, the quality of my large prints will be on a par of those taken by my medium format shooting competitors.

Last edited by Fenwoodian; 07-07-2016 at 08:53 PM.
07-08-2016, 01:38 PM   #6
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I've done a few in the UK. A few pointers that come to mind. Feel free to ignore ...
# Standardise wherever possible.
# Be different and create a brand/style around it
# Solos are more profitable, but harder work
# Personally I feel the frame,framing assembly, quality of print, depth and dimensions of mountboard make a big difference.
# I'm not convinced the camera does actually make much difference to the general public. PP handles most needs and anyway the paper has such a reduced DR etc as compared to modern monitors that the quality can still be very high from less than the top of range body. Lenses matter more I feel.
# Take good snaps ;-), but they also need to match the visitor profile.
# Have plenty of space to store stock.
# etc . etc ...
07-09-2016, 01:50 PM   #7
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I have never seen a big name shooter selling at art fairs. They are making their money with magazine and calendar work. Even though I am not a big name shooter, I emulate what has worked for them. When I attend an art fair, I rarely see photographers making any sales, so I avoid that means of selling.

07-13-2016, 04:02 PM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by desertscape Quote
I have never seen a big name shooter selling at art fairs. They are making their money with magazine and calendar work. Even though I am not a big name shooter, I emulate what has worked for them. When I attend an art fair, I rarely see photographers making any sales, so I avoid that means of selling.
Not sure what your point is. I've spoken with photographers who make pretty decent livings selling at art fairs. They're not the same kind of photographers who do sports or fashion. You don't hang a magazine page on your wall, unless you're 16 years old. And the whole concept of "big name shooters" just sounds fanboyish to me every time I see someone on here mention it.

I was standing in a booth on Sunday at the Krasl Art Center » Krasl Art Fair on the Bluff while a photographer sold a $12,000 print of one of his images. He did absolutely gorgeous underwater photography, every photo had a fascinating story, the prints were huge and printed on aluminum (the one that sold while I was there was a pano, probably 60x24 inches). And that was an hour before the fair ended. It wasn't the only one he sold in the 2 days he was there, and the cost to get into that show is maybe $500. Well, probably more for him - he had a 10x20 booth instead of a 10x10. With prints that big, he needed the space.
09-03-2016, 09:46 AM   #9
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I've done a few craft shows. High initial expense for me (grid walls, tent, prints, etc) and moderate sales. High amount of physical labor and I devoted a few entire weeks to getting ready for them. The ones I've been to are great if you're fishing for compliments, not so great if you're actually looking to make money. As someone who's actual career is in IT, it was a bizarre but enjoyable experience to be a vendor with people coming in to view and talk about my photography. The experience was worth it without question.
09-03-2016, 11:07 AM   #10
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Same here - IT contractor, so it's never going to compare to my real job, but I'm having fun. Actually at one right now. Sold 3 8x10 shots so far at this one. It's a little thing though. Using my wife's cheap canopy and a table, not my spendy canopy and walls that take 90 minutes to set up.
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Last edited by narual; 09-03-2016 at 11:17 AM.
09-03-2016, 11:20 AM - 1 Like   #11
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09-03-2016, 01:27 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by jab2980 Quote
not so great if you're actually looking to make money.
So I won't be able to supplement my Lamborghini maintenance costs selling photo's? Shame........
09-03-2016, 01:48 PM - 1 Like   #13
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Oh, I dunno. There are a fair number of people who are netting 7000-8000 a weekend at art fairs. but those aren't all photographers. That would probably cover 2 oil changes and a set of plugs for a lambo. Maybe even a new lens, too!

---------- Post added 09-03-16 at 04:51 PM ----------

Results for this little show: $95 in profits, plus one original acrylic painting I traded for an 8x10 canvas print of Sunsets and Coastlines | Goldport Photography

Not amazing, but I spent a beautiful day in one of my favorite parks, watching white water rafters zip by (South Bend had the first man-made Rapids in the country, and still one of a very small number in the world that are part of a real river and are adjustable - they can control how much water gets in, to help adjust for the current river conditions).

And two of the photos I sold were actually photos taken in that park, so that worked

and

Last edited by narual; 09-03-2016 at 01:59 PM.
09-11-2016, 09:29 PM   #14
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I stumbled into a street fair/wine tasting festival in Capitola CA this weekend and saw a lot of photo booths. The kind of stuff that people like to decorate their homes with. Don't know how much they sold but it did make me wonder if a couple of glasses of wine increases impulse buys.
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