[jatrax]

Pay no attention to what your friends and family tell you, I've seen my friends and family tell me they loved pictures I know are crap. Oh that's great!!! And I know it's underexposed, bad focus, basically a boring snapshot. Look for someone who has no mercy and when they like it, then maybe it's worth trying to sell it. but if you ask anyone else, you want an honest opinion, and your family and friends don't want to hurt your feelings so they won't tell you when it really sucks.

Not only do they not want to hurt your feelings, they often do not have the skill/eye/experience to really be a good judge. I rarely show pictures to friends family, I know what the answer is going be, even if it is junk. I agree 100% pay no attention to anyone but people you admire as being better than you are.

The very few actually good photographers have trouble getting their work seen among all of what I can only call pure crap. Most serious buyers probably get tired of searching through it all before they find anything worth having, and many are also looking for something specific, not just a cool photo they like.

The paid site on FAA includes your own "artist website" that alters the search somewhat so if they find your gallery (because they followed a link from your blog post for example) they stay on your site. It's not perfect but it helps. I've made enough sales on FAA to continue to upload and use it but without constant promotion you simply fall into the morass of millions of images. I think of them more as a place to direct customers if they want to see my portfolio. I use my FAA link on cards at all shows. And even so there are few sales.

[Paleo Pete]

jatrax - Both good points. I show pictures to family and friends all the time, but I pay no attention to their evaluation when considering what is good enough to sell or even show off online here at PF. I know I'm my own worst critic, that's the opinion I trust.

I let my paid membership on FAA lapse a while back, couldn't afford to renew and as you noticed, sales are pretty slow, even for those who promote a lot. I Have some excellent work posted there, but with zillions of others to sift through, it's not easy to be seen. I may try to cough up the 30 bucks again later on, not sure, so far it hasn't really paid off.

[jatrax]

I let my paid membership on FAA lapse a while back, couldn't afford to renew and as you noticed, sales are pretty slow, even for those who promote a lot. I Have some excellent work posted there, but with zillions of others to sift through, it's not easy to be seen. I may try to cough up the 30 bucks again later on, not sure, so far it hasn't really paid off.

I have (so far) more than covered the $30 per year but sales are slow for sure. Still, there is no place you can get a website for $30/year so on that basis it is worth it to many. I suspect unless you are doing a LOT of promotion on line FAA will not generate much in the way of sales. A select few seem to get a lot of regular sales and routinely share that they are making a living from it. But I think they were in on the ground floor and the search engine there is weighted toward people who make sales. So if you don't sell you get lost in the search engine and never get seen.

The one benefit I do see is if you go to a lot of retail art shows. Having a card with your website on it for future orders seems to be a good idea. And using the FAA one they can handle printing and shipping for you. But if you are not doing shows then maybe no point.

[mattb123]

One thing I liked about Zenfolio was the free 1 month trial. I started my trial just before shooting a big bike race and then the proceeds from the race covered my first year of service.
Since then (3 years I think?) I haven't had to actually pay any money in, the proceeds cover it which is nice.

[Pavel_Zhelev]

If you think the stock photography is a good idea try Stock Photos - Alamy or Stock photos, royalty-free images, video & music clips - iStock
Cheers,

[Rondec]

If you want to make money at photography, you will do a lot better taking photos of people than of landscapes or stuff. People will pay you to take photos of their kids, or themselves, or their wedding, but they are much less likely to purchase photos, particularly on line. I sold a bunch of photos to a local hospital, but they were local landscape photos and fit their decorating scheme, I guess. Otherwise, I don't think I've ever sold a photo.

[northcoastgreg]

The last four years I've sold around 60 to 70 images on FAA. I can't say why some images sell and others don't. There doesn't seem to be any hard and fast rules, although it helps to try to bring something at least a little unique to the table and to keyword every image as much as you can. I've sold a lot of landscape images, for example, taken with the DA 10-17, including four images taken at Discovery Point in Crater Lake (a very over-photographed location -- lots of competition!). But not many people shoot landscapes with fisheye lenses, and so using such a lens can provide a new and exciting perspective for an overshot location. I've also sold a surprising number of shots taken with the old FA 24-90 lens, including cliche shots at Oxbow Bend in the Grand Tetons and Wild Goose Island Overlook in Glacier NP. People seem to like how that lens renders colors, particularly for landscapes. It also helps to become expert in photographing where you live, locally. I'm fortunate to live in a scenic area that has not been over-photographed. Being local to an area means you have the ability to make discoveries that are missed by photographers just passing through; you also have the opportunity to wait and shoot in the most ideal light possible.

One surprising avenue for promoting my work has been panoramio.com, in which you link your photos to specific locations. People who are trying to find images for a specific location often wind up at panoramio and if you post good images of under-represented locations, sometimes it can lead to sales. That's how I was able to sell half a dozen images to the Yurok tribe for use in their new Visitor Center in Klamath, CA. I've also placed images in magazines that way.

Having a website helps as well. But you need to put information on the site that people would find useful. I try to put information on my site that will help people plan scenic trips. I'll often include maps and plenty of images.

[sholtzma]

If you want to make money at photography, you will do a lot better taking photos of people than of landscapes or stuff. People will pay you to take photos of their kids, or themselves, or their wedding, but they are much less likely to purchase photos, particularly on line. I sold a bunch of photos to a local hospital, but they were local landscape photos and fit their decorating scheme, I guess. Otherwise, I don't think I've ever sold a photo.

So, since my wife has cancer, we go to a hospital regularly for her clinical trial. The hospital has oodles and oodles of art on the walls...of hallways, waiting rooms, bathrooms, everywhere. There is photography, oil and acrylic paintings, watercolors, mixed media, small works, regular sized works, enormous works. Clearly, the hospital paid lots and lots of money for all of this art. And at least some of it appears to be local artists. I'd like a shot at that market. How did you engage with your local hospital?

[Murfy]

So, since my wife has cancer, we go to a hospital regularly for her clinical trial. The hospital has oodles and oodles of art on the walls...of hallways, waiting rooms, bathrooms, everywhere. There is photography, oil and acrylic paintings, watercolors, mixed media, small works, regular sized works, enormous works. Clearly, the hospital paid lots and lots of money for all of this art. And at least some of it appears to be local artists. I'd like a shot at that market. How did you engage with your local hospital?

I dont know about all areas, but ours has an art gallery contact, and they run shows every few months. They dont pay for it, they offer it for sale, like a gallery. You could also just call them and ask. You may have better luck asking if you can hang the work for sale and then donate a certain. percentage of sales towards the hospital. The gallery asks for 40 percent of your sales to go toward the womens and childrens cancer center, tax deductible. I am not sure most of them actually pay outright, but I could be wrong. The gallery works with a local artist organization/framing place who helps find art for other locations of the hospital. Anyway, if you see nothing on the local hospital website, I would contact the hospital, maybe the marketing or administration and just ask if they would be interested in an opportunity to display your artwork.

[Rondec]

So, since my wife has cancer, we go to a hospital regularly for her clinical trial. The hospital has oodles and oodles of art on the walls...of hallways, waiting rooms, bathrooms, everywhere. There is photography, oil and acrylic paintings, watercolors, mixed media, small works, regular sized works, enormous works. Clearly, the hospital paid lots and lots of money for all of this art. And at least some of it appears to be local artists. I'd like a shot at that market. How did you engage with your local hospital?

I know someone in hospital administration and they are familiar with my photos and they actually contacted me. We have a little 25 bed hospital in our community, so it wasn't like it was a huge money making thing, but they did spend several thousand dollars on large metal prints (they preferred metal for the ease of cleaning).

[jatrax]

So, since my wife has cancer, we go to a hospital regularly for her clinical trial. The hospital has oodles and oodles of art on the walls...of hallways, waiting rooms, bathrooms, everywhere. There is photography, oil and acrylic paintings, watercolors, mixed media, small works, regular sized works, enormous works. Clearly, the hospital paid lots and lots of money for all of this art. And at least some of it appears to be local artists. I'd like a shot at that market. How did you engage with your local hospital?

Our artists guild has a relationship with several local hospitals (as well as local government offices) and we get to hang art in those locations on a 2 month or 6 month rotation. They don't pay anything but they do allow a card with your name, contact info and price. I've never sold one that way but others in the guild have. So if you are looking to get into those types of businesses check into your local guild they will know.

The other way is to research the hospital and find out who is responsible for hanging / procuring art for the building. Often some type of committee. Then you need to make contacts and knock on doors.

[philbaum]

There is an alternative to online displays as jatrax mentioned.

My brother and I sold smaller pieces out of a smallish grocery store/restaurant building in a small town for over 3 years. We were selling 4 to 5 pieces a month at one point, and would check in each month to collect a check, replace pieces. Because these sales were in a restaurant area, we could only replace them after dining hours, which was a pain. Elsewhere i approached a wine shop that had a little display area in a loft - used for wine tasting events, and displayed my photos for about a year. . Sales weren't good except during their "art walk" week at the beginning of each month when i would sell 1-3 pieces. How do you get into shops like this. Well i would bring a representative photo sample(s) with me and ask if there was a chance i could display photos on their wall. You don't know if you don't ask.

Then there are craft fairs, which i did one time. Then there are "juried" art shows. I've done about 10 of those. Never manage to get prizes but have sold 4 pieces that way.

Finally, there are galleries in small towns. In 2014 i joined a gallery in a small town which was still trying to come back from the recession. I paid $40/month with no commission charges. I sold well enough to cover that initially, but then my sales dried up and i just wasn't seeing much foot traffic along the sidewalks. So quit that gallery after 12 months and moved to a gallery in another town. Thats costing me $65/month with 22% commission. Much more activity, a true co-op gallery and we all are required to do 8 hours clerking a month, along with contributing on various committees. Besides the benefit of better sales, its fun being involved in group activities with other artists. Not sure if galleries in large cities are easy to get into

Finally, a community playhouse in yet another town is giving me free display space in part of their lobby for my artwork in exchange for my photo work on their behalf.

The surest way to not make any sales, is not to display your work anywhere.

---------- Post added 11-14-15 at 01:44 PM ----------

Our artists guild has a relationship with several local hospitals.

What's an artist's guild? Sound interesting. How many members, do you have meetings - who runs them ????

One town i spend a lot of time in is Port Townsend, WA. They have a ton of artists. And local businesses, dentist, medical offices, etc. are commonly displaying local art work. I even displayed my pics for 2 months in a local bank. What gripes me about these less formal display areas, is they like to have an attractive interior, but they don't even offer one to pay gas money to carry your art to the place and set it up. It'll often take 2 hours to put up even a smallish display. Good way to learn display techniques, but tough to make any money at it. I think Guild organizations might be effective in trying to get some compensation from businesses. IMO In some countries i'm told, artists at some level receive a stipend from the government.

[jatrax]

What's an artist's guild? Sound interesting. How many members, do you have meetings - who runs them ????

There are several guilds in my area (defining area loosely) I belong to Three RIvers Artist Guild: Home - Three Rivers Artist Guild

I think we have about 160 members, there are monthly meetings with usually a lecture or speaker on something art related. They do a FANTASTIC job of getting "call for artist" bulletins out to us. I get maybe one or two per week, way more than I can possibly work with but it gives you the chance to pick & choose. Dues are I think $30 / year. We have our own co-op gallery as well as relationships with Oregon City government, several hospitals and business to put art up. They also do a summer art show: The Second Annual Forest of Arts | Demonstration Forest and a holiday show: Holiday Show - Three Rivers Artist Guild

Note this is an artist guild, not photographers only. So we have ceramics, watercolors, paper art, wood turners, wood burners, fabric art, oil painters, jewelers, and photographers. It is all volunteer so everyone gets to help on various committees as well as work the gallery one day per month.