Anyone selling prints at fairs, etc.?

Horatio · Wednesday at 8:40 AM

I was unsure where to post this thread, so please forgive me if it is in the wrong forum. I've long had the desire to make and sell prints at arts and crafts festivals, etc., and was curious as to whether anyone else has tried this approach. There is a weekly event nearby that I might try when I've retired from my profession. Any insights and tips would be appreciated!

I'm not expecting to get rich doing this, by any means. Just as a way to fund my avocation.

Robert Ley · Wednesday at 9:28 AM

I did outdoor art festivals for about 25 years and loved doing the shows and talking to the people that would come into my booth. My best advice to you is to go to as many shows this summer as you can. Sunshine Artist is a publication that lists all the Art Festivals in the country and gives all contact info for the shows as well as reader reviews. Go to shows and talk with fellow photographers about their experience doing shows, just don't try to corner them when they are busy At minimum you will need a mat cutter, someway to mount the print and either a shrink wrapper or clear plastic bags to cover and protect the prints. The more you can produce yourself the more money you make.

Horatio · Wednesday at 9:47 AM

Robert Ley said:
I did outdoor art festivals for about 25 years and loved doing the shows and talking to the people that would come into my booth. My best advice to you is to go to as many shows this summer as you can. Sunshine Artist is a publication that lists all the Art Festivals in the country and gives all contact info for the shows as well as reader reviews. Go to shows and talk with fellow photographers about their experience doing shows, just don't try to corner them when they are busy At minimum you will need a mat cutter, someway to mount the print and either a shrink wrapper or clear plastic bags to cover and protect the prints. The more you can produce yourself the more money you make.

Thanks Robert. My wife worked in a fine art frame shop just out of college, so I have some help available with matting, etc.

fdi · Wednesday at 10:37 AM

You might check out this website for more info about art shows and fairs

Home

Art fair network for artists exhibiting at juried fine art fairs and art festivals. Info on best craft shows, call for artists nationwide.

www.artfairinsiders.com

Also if you plan to transport framed work between shows my company partnered with photo journalist Andrew Darlow to manufacture the GalleryPouch just for this purpose: https://www.framedestination.com/ctg/photo-storage/gallery-pouch.html

jeffreyg · Wednesday at 2:09 PM

Horatio
Best of luck and have fun. Just a funny aside: a number of years ago I was wandering around one of the most popular art fairs held here at the U of M. I came across a friend who was a very good photographer. He used the finest equipment, had a fully equipped darkroom that he never used and had all his film and prints done in one of the top professional labs in town. All his prints were professionally mounted and framed. This was before digital. We were just chatting at his booth when a lady who was looking at his prints asked him if he did photography for a living. After a long day sitting with no sales his answer was “if I did this for a living, I would be skinny!”

GregY · Wednesday at 3:16 PM

jeffreyg said:
Horatio
Best of luck and have fun. Just a funny aside: a number of years ago I was wandering around one of the most popular art fairs held here at the U of M. I came across a friend who was a very good photographer. He used the finest equipment, had a fully equipped darkroom that he never used and had all his film and prints done in one of the top professional labs in town. All his prints were professionally mounted and framed. This was before digital. We were just chatting at his booth when a lady who was looking at his prints asked him if he did photography for a living. After a long day sitting with no sales his answer was “if I did this for a living, I would be skinny!”

Ever more skinny with the current price of enlarging paper and matt board.....

xkaes · Wednesday at 8:29 PM

Good luck. Do it only if you'll be satisfied not selling anything -- because that's always a possibility. Digital cameras have convinced a lot of people that they can be "photographers". Plus, even when someone is interested in a print, they'll want it in a different size, in a different frame or matt (or unframed), a different price, etc.

I always found the most fun was at the end of the day -- when the agent from the County would come by as I was packing up -- and not believing me when I told them I hadn't sold anything, and they would not believe me. They were there to collect taxes. No kidding.

Horatio · Wednesday at 8:47 PM

xkaes said:
Good luck. Do it only if you'll be satisfied not selling anything -- because that's always a possibility. Digital cameras have convinced a lot of people that they can be "photographers". Plus, even when someone is interested in a print, they'll want it in a different size, in a different frame or matt (or unframed), a different price, etc.

I always found the most fun was at the end of the day -- when the agent from the County would come by as I was packing up -- and not believing me when I told them I hadn't sold anything, and they would not believe me. They were there to collect taxes. No kidding.

I won’t quit my day job. ;-)

snusmumriken · Thursday at 4:29 AM

Yeah, I think trade can be pretty slow :

xkaes · Thursday at 8:34 AM

That photo brings back memories.

In retrospect, I'd rather go fishing -- and I hate fishing.

Horatio · Thursday at 10:47 AM

xkaes said:
That photo brings back memories.

In retrospect, I'd rather go fishing -- and I hate fishing.

GregY · Thursday at 11:21 AM

xkaes said:
That photo brings back memories.

In retrospect, I'd rather go fishing -- and I hate fishing.

Graham06 · 2025-05-30T08:09:10-0400

I wonder what you would charge for a print. Some idle calculations: $10 for a roll of 35mm film (assuming 1 sellable frame per roll) $10 for 3 sheets of 8x10 Ilford WT FB $60 to pay yourself minimum wage for 4 hours to use all that material (seems very unrealistic). And then you have to drive your stuff to the art fair, set up tables and spend days selling it.

Then there's what people will pay: Random browser wants to pay $40 for something they fancy. $100 would not look out of place. $400 would be a framed investment in a @Horatio original print he printed himself. $4000 would be on a wall in a gallery rather than in a cardboard box out in the sun.

Charging for just barely costs seems like a jerk move considering actual artists need their sales proceeds to make rent. Perhaps I would sell $15 5x7 postcards of my whole portfolio for a few weeks or months to see what sells, and then print and frame 16x20 prints of the winners for $400 - $1000

I wonder how one gets data on what prices various markets support.

RalphLambrecht · 2025-05-30T08:39:52-0400

Horatio said:
I was unsure where to post this thread, so please forgive me if it is in the wrong forum. I've long had the desire to make and sell prints at arts and crafts festivals, etc., and was curious as to whether anyone else has tried this approach. There is a weekly event nearby that I might try when I've retired from my profession. Any insights and tips would be appreciated!

I'm not expecting to get rich doing this, by any means. Just as a way to fund my avocation.

Forget art fairs or craft shows. They have the wrong clientele. If you are good enough a gallerie is the right place to show yourself.

xkaes · 2025-05-30T08:56:41-0400

You could always take up fishing instead.

djdister · 2025-05-30T09:56:15-0400

Don't forget that some art/craft fairs charge money for you to have a table there, so when you combine that with the general trend that people at art/craft fairs expect to pay quite cheaply for anything, it is not worth the time and effort. A better objective is to enter into photography exhibitions/shows at an art gallery.

xkaes · 2025-05-30T10:05:57-0400

Don't forget the cost of renting a canopy -- pretty crucial in the summer heat or thunderstorms.

Horatio · 2025-05-30T10:09:44-0400

xkaes said:
You could always take up fishing instead.

I've actually considered that.

GregY · 2025-05-30T10:58:59-0400

Graham06 said:
I wonder what you would charge for a print. Some idle calculations: $10 for a roll of 35mm film (assuming 1 sellable frame per roll) $10 for 3 sheets of 8x10 Ilford WT FB $60 to pay yourself minimum wage for 4 hours to use all that material (seems very unrealistic). And then you have to drive your stuff to the art fair, set up tables and spend days selling it.

Then there's what people will pay: Random browser wants to pay $40 for something they fancy. $100 would not look out of place. $400 would be a framed investment in a @Horatio original print he printed himself. $4000 would be on a wall in a gallery rather than in a cardboard box out in the sun.

Charging for just barely costs seems like a jerk move considering actual artists need their sales proceeds to make rent. Perhaps I would sell $15 5x7 postcards of my whole portfolio for a few weeks or months to see what sells, and then print and frame 16x20 prints of the winners for $400 - $1000

I wonder how one gets data on what prices various markets support.

You left out the cost of the dry mount press, $1k matt cutter, matt board @ $30 a sheet. Not to mention the cost to be a vendor at these fairs. Any way you look at it is a losing proposition. By the time you buy paper, matt board and display materials in volume and produces enough prints to display, your sunk costs are pretty substantial.

xkaes · 2025-05-30T11:57:32-0400

We don't go fishing to make money, do we?

AnselMortensen · 2025-05-30T22:20:17-0400

But ya might get to eat!

Anyone selling prints at fairs, etc.?

Advertiser

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency