What do you do with the images that you make? I have seen so many wonderful pictures grace the pages of NPN over the years and can’t help but wonder what their eventual fate was.
Thoughts … comments ?
Hi Anil. Mostly use them as background on my computer, I hate to say. I’m working with the local Audubon chapter to donate my bird images to them for whatever use they might have for them. They seem enthused about having them for educational purposes. Other than that, I had a Zenfolio website, but I’ve just dropped it and have put most of my images on Flickr for anyone who wants to look at them. I’ve also given a couple of talks locally illustrated by my images and I’m part of a tiny environmental non-profit that uses some of them for note cards that they sell during our annual Prairie Appreciation Day.
Like many here, I think, I started out thinking I might sell some images, but discovered I really don’t have the personality and interest in pushing that much. I find that I get sufficient satisfaction out of the taking and processing.
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I post them to social media and my website, sell the occasional print, have a patreon where I give a couple of desktop wallpapers out monthly, and print some to hang around my house. Kinda like Dennis, I don’t have a strong interest in being a salesman so I just keep taking more photos for fun.
Time was when I licensed a fair number to clients for our commercial photo business. Since we sold the business and retired, I mostly accumulate them and delve into them more or less like a travelog. Our last two licenses expired within the past few months, so I’m officially an amateur again wondering what to do with my photos!
I try real hard NOT to sell prints. It is too much hassle and not worth the $$ (and I never sold many anyway). So images just kind of stack up. I create hidden galleries on my website from each road trip and send friends the link to the gallery and that is pretty much it.
I try real hard NOT to sell prints. It is too much hassle and not worth the $$ (and I never sold many anyway).
Ain’t that the truth! Sometimes it takes a couple of dozen emails back and forth to figure out what the customer wants, make the print, get the payment, and send them the print. I’ve slowly been increasing my prices to try to decrease the number of orders I get.
Same here. I have finished, unmounted prints that are closet queens. I have sold a few in the past at very irregular intervals. It’s just not worth the time and hassle.
I have licensed a few to conservation non-profits and the USFS, but that has been infrequent. Having my archive has helped in this regard when I get a request.
I do have a web site where I post images, but no hard sell efforts. The site is mainly for folks to enjoy my photography. I do have an archive on my computer drives mainly for posting here at NPN.
Bottom line is, I enjoy being in the field and processing my stuff. If I make a sale, that’s just a nice affirmation of my effort and vision, but selling is not my be-all, end-all.
-P
Thanks for the responses so far. Hopefully, others will chime in too.
@Dennis_Plank: It is nice to hear that you are donating some of your work, especially for educational purposes.
@Hank_Pennington: It is so nice to hear from you after all these years. I used to enjoy reading your thoughts, comments and advice on the old NPN site. Trust all is well and that you are enjoying retirement.
@Preston_Birdwell: Reading about those ‘closet queens’ makes me sad. Your work is so beautiful and deserves to be seen by more people.
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When I’m not laid up with a shoulder injury (.whine), I do some things with them but not as much as I thought I would;
I have a store that represents me and I always have a few canvas or placques there plus small matted prints of Colorado scenes ( which do sell ), I do a few small shows each year which are pretty fun as I like to talk about photography - most retired attorneys love to talk, I belong to an artists guild that has a gallery and I sell a few things there from time to time. I also enter juried shows both photography and general art shows . I generally make no money on those endeavors but like the challenge and enjoy the openings ( another place to gab )
I have a website but don’t seem to sell much from it. I attended a lecture on how to revamp said website but so far, have not managed to follow through.
I agree, selling prints is a pain. I still do it though. I like knowing someone is looking at the stuff besides me.
I also donate a few placques each year for charity auctions.
Anil, a great and appropriate question. Sadly, my answer is much like everyone else.
That’s pretty much me. I’ve dabbled in selling, that includes prints, getting published in rags, a calendar here and there, even a book and album cover. I was in stock, did an Art Fair and even some gallery displays. In the end, you’re either all in, or you’re not. You either produce and sell and that’s your job, or you’re not going to be successful. I think that’s what most of us have learned. I’m good with that. I have a good job, retirement is a light at the end of the tunnel and I just have joy being out in nature, capturing beautiful scenes, creating art, processing and sharing it…
To your question, I’ll just fast forward to my entry in to the DSLR age 3 years ago. I’ve yet to print one single image from my dslr. I’ve not uploaded a single image to my website. I don’t even share on FB or any other online venue - except for here on NPN.
I suspect this is a common theme here - at least for those who have been doing nature photography for a while now… And then there’s the flip side. What about those who do earn their living from photography? Not too many post here that once contributed. Why? It would be a good guess to say that they don’t have time, NPN doesn’t generate much, if any income(maybe an e-book) and most are not likely interested in giving away free critiques when they do that in workshops that photogs pay thousands to attend. I don’t blame these folks in least - when you’re earning a living, your focus is on generating things that produce revenue.
Having said that, most here are pretty darn happy just chugging along, being out there, capturing unique and interesting image - and sharing with those of like mind. I’m certainly happy with it.
So @Anil_Rao, hopefully it’s only fair to ask you. What do you do with your images?
Lon
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Interesting thread and, Anil, I have wondered the same thing. Doing some cleaning last week, I came across and began flipping through a box of 20-30 year old Outdoor Photographer magazines (dating back to film days). It struck me how, nowadays, I regularly see more way more impressive images on the internet than were in those magazines, and I wondered what is done with 99% of them other than being shown on the internet. Interest in nature photography as an activity has grown by leaps and bounds, and the quality has also, but the nature photography sales market has probably grown only a fraction.
As for me, I got a little lucky. In my hometown, we have a local park district (Mill Creek Park) that is Ohio’s first public park district and the pride and joy of the area. It is also an amazingly photogenic park, particularly for Ohio. In my part time side nature photo business, I sell about 3000 “Mill Creek Park” wall calendars a year (printed in S. Korea and retail for $14.95) and probably around the same number of notecards and holiday cards (printed in the US). I sell the cards and calendars in a couple stores and at art/craft shows (I do three local ones a year). At the art shows, I don’t have to rely on prints sales alone, but rather on the combination of all three (prints, cards, and calendars). I also have some corporate clients that buy calendars and holiday cards for their clients (at substantial discounts, of course) as well as prints on metal or canvas for office walls. Also, while it’s a small market, I am fortunate in that I don’t have to compete that much with other nature photographers. 2019 marks my 12th calendar, and I need to average getting 13 calendar worthy images of Mill Creek Park a year so keep pace. This keeps me motivated.
I also learned a long time ago what will sell for me and what will not. First, high-end photo art generally will not sell here, at least not at a profit. This Youngstown area is a bit provincial and, unfortunately, not that well off these days. Second, grand landscapes of the American west will also not generally sell here. People here can’t sufficiently relate or identify with it. While I love going out west on photo trips, I rarely print anything I take out west because it won’t sell. In the words of Crosby, Stills and Nash , if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one your with. Maybe others have similar local or niche markets for their work.
Finally, I will join with those who say trying to fill print orders from the internet is a pain and not worth the hassle. Presently, I actively discourage web sales or even any kind of smaller “orders.” Maybe I will feel differently after I retire from my “day” job, but I barely have the time to do what I do (which is why I have yet to post any photos at the new NPN site).
Thank you Lon, I could not have said it better. I would only add that I have discovered the joy of city photography (especially old towns) and I am now doing almost as much of that as of nature photography. And that I am lucky that my faculty job allows an enormous amount of opportunities and flexibility to travel. Once I retire (in about 2 years) I will try to grow my blog into a commentary and photography Patreon-style model, as I also enjoy writing, but whether or not that will ever generate any income I honestly do not know.
I have sold a very few framed prints at shows organized by our local photography guild, but have never tried to sell prints on-line (not my personality, I’m afraid). From what I read in many of these comments this may have been a good decision…
Hi Anil,
I manage to sell a few prints now and then, but its not worth it. The market is over-saturated with lots of photos and this drives down the prices. For the photographs that I really like, I print them on 13x19 paper store them in Itoya Art Portfolios. I then show them to people and they enjoy looking at them. I do take lots of pictures of our dogs and many have been framed and hang on the walls of our home. My wife trains our Newfoundlands for water rescue work and I record successes and failures with the camera. Dogs are relatively short-lived creatures and the wall of pictures provides a memorial for those that are no longer with us. I also have been framing some of my nature prints and they go up on the wall as well…Jim
Hi Lon,
I have always liked making prints so for me the process is not complete until I can get a satisfactory print made for an image I care about. I used sell these prints via a few galleries, art-consultants and my web-site. In 2013 my trusted Pentax MF camera died and my photography came to a screeching halt. After a couple of years I got a digital SLR and I am happy to be making new images and prints again.
For the time-being I am not offering prints for sale on my web-site. I do, however, give them away to folks who have shown an interest in my work. I would really to find a better way to share my work. As Preston (@Preston_Birdwell) often says, “research continues…”
Thanks to all who have shared their thoughts. It was interesting to read the different responses.
I have to admit that it just doesn’t seem right to me that all of these wonderful image are just sitting in everyone’s hard drives. There must be a better way to share them with others besides posting small JPEGs on-line.
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Well, I’ll join the discussion. Over the years I have sold some prints. We used to go to street fairs and juried art fairs. We would get a lot of traffic and get to talk a lot about the images and where/hoe they were made. We would sell maybe $1,000-$1,500 worth of prints. While this sounds good it would cost us $500 to get in by the time you paid the entry fee and insurance costs. We would stand at our tent display 8 hours a day for two days,plus set up and take down. The cost of the material to print and mat the images the tent, print racks and display material is not cheap. Bottom line is that, after expenses the per hour rate of income was terrible. This was at locations where we cold go home at night we didn’t have to pay hotel and travel meals.
Now we sell an occasional print and I am happy to do it. However, it, again, is not a money maker.
What we really like is to put together “slide” shows with still images and some video and show them to local organizations needing guest speakers. Lions clubs, senior citizen groups, local nature groups etc. enjoy the images and talks. It is fun for us.