 William H. Parker |
Selling photo prints at arts & crafts fairs Anyone have experience selling photo prints at arts & crafts fairs? Is it worth the up front expense and work? Advice on how best to approach?
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Murry Grigsby |
I tried it once Bill and it wasn't worth my effort becasue I sold very few photos. Of course it may just have been my photos? Lots of work and a fair amount of up-front expense and I just bit the bullet and have never tried it again. I have better luck placing photo-card racks in local businesses, for example a lavender farm, frame shop, bed & breakfast, etc. Even at that I'd hate to try to live on this income!! I hope you have better luck if you try it--good luck!!
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- Carolyn M. Fletcher  Contact Carolyn M. Fletcher Carolyn M. Fletcher's Gallery |
The only one I know that makes any money that way is Joy Brown. You might look her up (she has a website) www.enJoyphotography.com
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Ed Estes |
Like any venue, there are lots of variables for affecting any given success. I have friends that do all the shows in their area. It helps to have lots of people traffic for sure but also looking at the clientele. What are they more likely to purchase in turns of photography and art? Photos of local landmarks work well with high tourist traffic for example. Keeping the matted prints at 11x14 or smaller is good also. In a gallery setting, all the rules change again.
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Jeffrey R. Whitmoyer |
The art/craft fair market is very tough, esp. right now in a broken economy. It is something you have to work at. I haven't done any shows yet but have been researching, learning and observing with the intent of starting to do some this year. Be selective in the shows you do if you decide to pursue that route. Don't go for high end shows initially, you can do alright at the smaller shows if you understand your market, control expenses(bootstrap your business) and know what kind of traffic to expect. There is a Yahoo group that is an excellent source of info. It is run by Larry Berman who writes for Shutterbug at times. It is artshow_photo. Do a search on Yahoo groups for it and join. There is another group called artfestivalguide(I believe)which might also be educational.
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Evan G. Spellman |
I make my own high quality prints with a hp 8750 13/19 inch printer and sold quite a few to tourists that came off the cruise ships here in Prince Rupert. it was a lot of work and was more for fun and just socializing than anything. not a serious money maker at all!!
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John G. Clifford Jr |
Evan, care to share some details? How many prints did you sell? What did you sell them for? Why didn't you make a decent amount of money?
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Pete H |
William, "Is it worth the up front expense and work?" Depends. If you subtract your time and expense from your sales and net twenty dollars; is that worth it to you? Some will say yes if your goal was to gain exposure. (no pun intended) If your goal is to make some good money; ($500-$1,000)in a day, art & craft fairs are not the proper venue to accomplish this. There are better ways to make money in photography when starting out AND gain exposure. What is your goal? all the best,
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Evan G. Spellman |
To answer your question, It was a Street market put on once a week for the Cruise ship that docked in Prince Rupert. they blocked off the main street of town for one block. It involved setting up tables and tent awnings. that took about an hour to put up and tear down. I am a landscape photographer but have a few Bald Eagle shots, not great ones but a few. The people were after Bald Eagle shots, I fellow photographer with some point and shoot 8x10 prints sold approx. $500 in one sitting. He had costs of printing to be sure so what the profit is I'm not sure. A couple of the Better Eagle photographers, who bait the Eagles with food and shoot pics as they swoop down into the water to pick up the food, well they sold about the same $400 or $5oo each time out. People don't really seem to care about quality shots when it comes to Bald Eagles. As to myself $200 was a big day for me and I think that the whole gross was about $1000 for the total time I put in. I had made post cards with real photo's attached,8x10's sold well and quite a few 13x19 inch prints sold as well. In terms of $per hour its very low, but for me it was just fun to meet the people and talk with them. Just another note, portability is an issue here, the tourists off the ship don't want a framed print or anything that was not easy to carry.At the end of the Day I probably won't do it again.
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