Just sopping in to say, hello.
New to the art fair thing and will be doing my first shows this year. From what I've been reading, photography can be a tough sell these days. I'm from Wisconsin and have some some photos from the land of cheese, beer and brats, and others from travels around the country so we'll see how things go.
Hey, maybe some of the coasties, Arizona tour crowd and Floridians will like photos of big blocks of cheddar cheese. Who knows? :-)
Enjoy meeting people, traveling and finding knew places to shoot. Have a passion for photography. Taught it for many years and now have time to get out and shoot on MY time.
(Okay, I can hear the Art trail vets snickering and comments of: "Boy is this guy in for a rude awakening!")
But what the hell………………
Yak
Replies
Welcome aboard from another photographer. My specialty has been nature, mainly shore birds and butterflies, but I have started branching out into scenic shots. Aspens in the fall, lighthouse at sunset, etc.
This will be my 6th year of shows. When I first started out my intention was to figure out what people want to buy, and to concentrate in that area. I'm still trying to figure it out. I sell a lot of matted prints and usually a couple framed pieces each show. I also print my own notecards and they usually sell good. My goal is to have something for everyone. If they like my large framed work, but start walking away, I point out that it's available in smaller sizes and on note card. I've also sold photos by telling the story behind them.
Good luck with the shows!
Thanks Dave-
A pretty expensive startup with display setups and all the framing and matting I'm doing for my first show in Mid May. I'm interested to hear that you are selling some matted prints without frames. Looking to do that, as well maybe having a few 8x10's in clear plastic with cardboard or matboard loose backing.
Thanks again--good luck on your season.
Yak (Dale Yakaites)
Yak, a lot of people want their own frames so selling without frames is a good thing.
You mentioned 8x10's. What other sizes do you plan on having available?
Welcome.
Hi Geri!
On my display walls (Armstrong--breakdown style) I will have a number of 20x30 framed and some (photo size)-16x20--11x14---12x18--etc. For my unframed photos I will have a number of matted and unmatted photos of differing sizes, actually right now most are in the 12x18 to 11x14 size, some 18x24. I will have some 8x10's as well. Most of my unframed will be smaller versions of the 20x30 and 18x24 framed shots.
Thanks for the reply
Yak
Hi Yak and welcome aboard :)
Thanks Annette.
Seems like a lot of friendly and helpful people on this site.
Yak
Excellent response, Cassius. Looks like you picked up a few great ideas along the way. Me, I am a literal learner, so I might see that image on your wall but my eyes would immediately go to the words beneath it. Great to have that story and half the "sell." Very smart.
Yak, you come to the art fairs from the land of the art fairs best photographers. Many successful veterans in the business like Ray Hartl, Larry Oliverson, Jill Bedford, Nancy Schieferstein hail from Wisconsin. I'd peek into their booths any chance you get to pick up many great ideas on marketing. Sounds like you have a sound background in the art of photography and I'll bet you have some great images. Step two -- can you sell them? Best wishes and welcome to AFI.
Thanks Connie, I have found this site very helpful. Thanks also for Wisconsin names.
Yak
Welcome Yak!
I am also a photographer from Wisconsin (Oregon). Still learning about photography and the art fair business. I have been doing photography for 6 years and going into my 3rd year doing art fairs. I only do 4 to 5 local shows a year due to my work schedule.
From my experience (which is not that extensive) I can tell you that is not that tough to sell photos these days. I think that is just like any other business...try to find something that people want or have not seen before. Market as much as possible. Try to stand out from the others.
For me it helps that I have been concentrating in local shots and doing local shows. Before I started doing shows I spent many hours going to shows, browsing the internet, etc., to see what was out there and I found that I could provide shots that would be "new" or with a different perspective to the local public.
For example, my best selling shot last year was this one:
Nothing new to the Wisconsin public. How many shots of the Capitol building are out there? But if you search around the majority are daytime shots with the tulips on the foreground or night time shots of the dome. There is nothing wrong with those shots. But the market is probably "saturated" with them. So I went out and took this shot on the morning of the Super Bowl last year. Fresh snow on the ground. The dome with the green and gold colors. Just perfect. I also document the date, time, weather conditions, and location of every shot I take. This is printed on the description card next to the shot.
For last year I had this one printed on canvas at 38"x57" and it was the center piece in my booth. At that size, most people will at least stop to take a peak of it from the outside. A number of them will walk in to take a closer look. Then they read the description:
Game Day in Wisconsin
Taken from the corner of North Pinckney Street on
February 6, 2011 at 6:42 AM.
11 hours and 47 minutes before kickoff (Super Bowl XLV).
Temp: 27̊ degrees.
I've had great shows, average shows, and dead shows. But I can tell you that those shows that were dead it wasn't because I was selling photography. Unfortunately those shows were dead for everyone there. So I have now started to learn the type of shows that I should avoid and those that I should try to get in. Not a perfect science...but you kind of get a better idea as you start doing shows.
Thanks Cassius! And I look forward to seeing some of your work. Hope to run into you at a show this year.
Are you in the Marshfield show on May 12th?
Yak
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