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Selling & Submitting Your
Photography At Art Shows
By Roy
Barker
Starting Out
Everyones most common question - where do I
start? Let's just say that you've been
taking pictures for a while now and you've
received regular feed back from your friends
and relations as to how well you take
pictures. You may have done a couple of jobs
here and there and you customers have
commented a number of times about the
quality of the shots. Maybe you've even
thought about establishing a booth at some
of the fairs as well. Art shows can provide
a viable way to earn a living doing what you
like to do, taking shots.
Lets Look At Some Important Points
Some people make the first few attempts at
shows by only going to those close to home
but this should be short lived and should
only be a stepping stone to a bigger and
more frequent attendance. You see there are
bigger and better art shows out there that
will reward you handsomely if only you can
find it in your soul to dismiss the habit of
eating a sandwich and reading a book at the
standard small fair while people look at
your pictures.
I'm talking about the better art shows, I'm
talking about the sale of photography as a
business, and in approaching it, see that
people do art shows on a very professional
level for a living to support their families
and enjoy some wealth creation while they're
at it. The competition can produce some of
the best photography you’ve ever seen. But
of course you think that you have something
of value to contribute. Real photography art
which people are waiting in line to
purchase.
You need to get these two points right if
you’re planning on applying to some of the
better art shows. You must understand what
other photographers are selling and how they
go about displaying their work. Walk through
a major show and observe the competition.
Fact#1 - On a business level it’s
competition for the money
Fact#2 - on a photographic level it’s the
competition for the space in the show.
Why It's Important To Have A Unified Body Of
Work
There are TWO reasons;
Fact#1 - Customers hate being confused and
will walk rather than ask for clarity due to
embarrasment. When you have people standing
in your booth thinking about making a
purchase, there is a point in time where if
they haven’t made up their mind, they walk
away.
Fact#2 - The other is the “your booth”. Most
application requirements at art shows
require that you submit individual slides of
your work (about 4 or 5) plus a picture of
your display. Now listen carefully - the
display slide will look more professional
looking if the body of work is unified.
Something to consider carefully is how you
will attract someone to your booth, given
that they will be walking past many. I
suggest that your whole booth become a show
stopper. By this I mena thta the them and
composition should be interrelated and have
exceptional impact.
Image Preparation
There's no avoiding it, especially when
you're starting up. Printing, mounting,
matting and framing all have to be done
professionally.
Your materials and labor will become a
factor in your selling price, as will
competition from your peers. As a
generalization, you can’t spend $50 to
print, mat and frame a 16x20 if you plan on
selling it for $100. But you can if you’re
going to sell it for $300. But you can’t
sell it for $300 if the other photographers
are selling that size for $200.
You will need a source for framing supplies.
There are multitudes of companies that sell
frames. You can find some in the
advertisements in Décor Magazine.
It's best to use non-glare glass with
photography. That way customers can be
distracted to the photograph from where evre
they're standing at my booth and other
reflections don't deter purchase. It’s a
personal choice and doesn’t work for
everyone. Non glare glass costs twice what
regular framing glass costs. Fome cor is an
acid free backing and mounting board that is
widely used in the framing industry. Some
photographers base their sizes on the
available materials. Because mat board and
fore cor are available in 32x40 inch sheets,
that 32x40 sheet can be cut to produce four
16x20’s with no waste.
You can also sell unframed picture for sale.
This places the framed pictures in a more
up-market category and helps justify a
higher price. This serves three purposes. It
gives you a less expensive item to prepare
and sell. It generates money, and it lets
you display different images that might not
have the same theme as the ones hanging on
the display.
The unframed photos can be matted and
mounted, just like the framed photographs,
and are displayed in clear plastic bags to
protect them while people handle them.
Art Show Applications
How to find an art show to start with;
Believe it or not most exhibitors hear about
shows from other exhibitors. However her's
a short list to start with -
Art Fair Sourcebook, The book is published
annually and is an expensive but necessary
resource if you’re considering art shows as
a profession. It lists the top 300 art shows
in the country.
Another is Sunshine Artist Magazine, which
is the closest thing there is to a trade
magazine in the art show business.
Which are the good Art Shows?
Here's a guide for the best art shows. The
first being Coconut Grove Arts Festival,
Winter Park Art Show
(Orlando), Oklahoma City Festival of the
Arts, Old Town Art Show (Chicago), 57th
Street (Chicago), Boston Mills
Art Show (Peninsula Ohio), Cherry Creek Art
Show (Denver), Madison On the Square
(Wisconsin), Central
Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts (State
College PA), Ann Arbor (four shows to choose
from), Uptown
(Minneapolis) Art Show, Longs Park Art Show
(Lancaster PA), The Plaza (Kansas City),
Saint Louis Art Festival
(Clayton MO), Des Moines Art Festival. there
are similar shows in England, Canada,
Australia, Scandanavia, Europe, South Africa
and New Zealand.
One last tip:
Web Site Promotion - Use your web site URL
as your business name on your booth sign. It
has been found from experience that web site
clients get a substantial increase in
traffic after art shows if they promote
their web sites properly. Your art show
visitors will usually be your biggest online
customers.
This article has been supplied courtesy of
Roy Barker. Roy often writes and works
closely with Profitable Photography
Business. This site is dedicated to coaching
you in starting your own photography
business but places a strong emphasis on
profitability issues & guidelines. You can
also gain many photography resources (some
free) from Digital Photography If you seek
further guides, helpful hints, articles and
news, you can go to
http://www.photography-business-tips.com
which also has a Photographers Forum for
exchange of views with other photographers.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roy_Barker
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