Bill - I'm not saying that the market is not changing. I'm just stating that this is a risk of selling your work on ebay. I think it would also depend on the pricing you set, and if you are selling via Buy It Now or are auctioning your work, if it is limited edition or if it is open editioned. It will be very interesting to revisit this issue in 10 years and see if the art market has caught up, or if it has changed for everyone.
It's all in the branding Brian and it is not as if you aren't getting your % out of each and every one of those that appear out there. You never should have licensed images to those poster companies if this bothers you. Personally I am happy these get out there in my case. I license very few images and the ones I do seem to sell well. More than that, they have done a better job of spreading my name than perhaps any other. I am happy for each and every exposure of my work. As for "confusing" collectors... true collectors of original work will not be confused and will not buy them. People who buy posters will. That is a dollar from someone who never would have seen your work if not for IKEA and those inexpensive repros.Posters of my work routinely appear on eBay which is something that I do not appreciate because they tend to advertise them as "art prints" or "art photographs"...
Brian is very correct here. Many of my sales have been in large multiples for just such use. However, where consultants used to go to my galleries for this, I find an increasing number come directly to me because the information world we live in allows this. In such cases, I do not undercut my galleries. I charge the same price leaving the client no incentive to come to me for cheaper pricing. If one of my galleries is where they were introduced to my work, it is a different story. I am finding more and more that the gallery as a means of presenting your work to the world is far less important in this new world.A huge part of the art market today are sales generated by art consultants and interior designers.
It's all in the branding Brian and it is not as if you aren't getting your % out of each and every one of those that appear out there. You never should have licensed images to those poster companies if this bothers you. Personally I am happy these get out there in my case. I license very few images and the ones I do seem to sell well. More than that, they have done a better job of spreading my name than perhaps any other. I am happy for each and every exposure of my work. As for "confusing" collectors... true collectors of original work will not be confused and will not buy them. People who buy posters will. That is a dollar from someone who never would have seen your work if not for IKEA and those inexpensive repros.
Bill
This is exactly why eBay or any venue will not work when photographers basically pay someone to take their prints off their hands or in other words give their prints away.
I cant even make a print for $13 unless of course it is digital, then maybe if I took the shot in my front yard but not having to travel anywhere, up-load the image to the computer, Photoshop using no more than 5 minutes of my time as time is also money and then print it on ink on a inkjet printer with one shot only. I couldn’t matt it or mount either in order to make any profit from the print.
You need to realize that as long this selling low mentality and photographers continue to give away their work, no one and I mean no one will take them serious as they are only hurting themselves and the photographic community in the process.
Sorry for being brash, but this mentality is the problem with the market place today.
And I don’t want to hear the crap that Brook spews out that Weston sold print for $20 and so therefore $20 is good for everyone. That was in the 20-30 and $20 back then would equate to over $100 today so that whole $20 is a bunch of crap.
Instead of paying eBay to sell prints at $10, 15 or $20 just put them on a photo site and tell people here are my prints, just pay shipping and I will give them to you.
This just irritates he and I am not trying to vent but a lot of us make a living from selling prints and this type of things really hurts the marketplace.
Done ranting.
I do however applaud your effort to try earn a little extra from what you love, but don’t give it away, your time is worth more than $13 especially when you add in all the time to find the image and print it. At $13 you are looking at less than $1 hour for your time.
I realize it is a free world and you can do whatever you please I just wish people would realize that cheap prints is hurting the market as a whole.
Good luck and keep plugging away. I do however seriously congratulate you on your sales.
Answer here is simple Brian. Don't do it. No one is twisting your arm or making these "poorly reproduced" posters without your permission. If you know they will end up this way and it pains you so, why do even more?Bill, the poster publishers aren't selling them online, however almost anyone can become a customer of a poster publisher, buy posters and then sell them online... But still it pains me to see poorly reproduced versions of my work in huge numbers, and selling so cheap!
Answer here is simple Brian. Don't do it. No one is twisting your arm or making these "poorly reproduced" posters without your permission. If you know they will end up this way and it pains you so, why do even more?
B.
I do. I'm just realistic. I know this may sound trite, but after all these years I am still grateful to be in the position where someone wants to publish my work at all. I meet many deserving artists that never get the chance. I know it doesn't happen for everyone and am reluctant to sing my praises for fear it will all come crashing down. I have seen many people who think they had, or were going to "make it" just disappear. It can and will happen to any one of us trying to make our way like this. What I write here and in other threads is not designed to blow my own horn or boast of accomplishments, it is to give some perspective to those who think all is glamorous simply because you have gallery representation. You know the numbers Brian and you know as well as I how hard it is to make even close to a living doing this. Back to the original point, if you can do it by subsidizing your income on eBay... more power to you.You don't feel the same way when it happens to you?
Again you are right on Bill.
I too believe that every sale is a gift, and I feel lucky to have it.
Ray
Sure you work hard, travel 5 months a year, sleep in cheap hotels, etc, etc, etc.... you've said so many times here. No one could possibly accuse you of not working hard. We all do. But the way I see it, anytime someone can do what it is they love to do, it is a gift. As I said, there are a great number of photographers out there that are equally deserving. The fact you and I are where we are and they are where they are has as much to do with luck and a gainfully emplyed spouse as it does hard work. Take that away and we are in the back of B&W buying ads to self-promote with all the other want to be's.The way that I view my print sales is not as a gift. I work extremely hard at what I do and spare no expense or effort. However I do view it as an honor that people would choose to make my work part of their home and their lives.
Good point... great post. You had me all the way... until Brooks.I love the nonsensical notion that, by pricing photographic work at a level the market will bear, sellers are somehow hurting higher-priced sellers, and should therefore desist.
Sure you work hard, travel 5 months a year, sleep in cheap hotels, etc, etc, etc.... you've said so many times here. No one could possibly accuse you of not working hard. We all do. But the way I see it, anytime someone can do what it is they love to do, it is a gift. As I said, there are a great number of photographers out there that are equally deserving. The fact you and I are where we are and they are where they are has as much to do with luck and a gainfully emplyed spouse as it does hard work. Take that away and we are in the back of B&W buying ads to self-promote with all the other want to be's.
Bill
...doing what you love to do for a living is not a gift, it's a choice, and a harder choice as well. Most people choose the easy route, they go for the safer job or the job that suits their skills....
Its good to have an ER around with all the BS. Now if I can RAP in a few thoughts
BrownTrout Publishing had been doing my New England Black and White calendar from 2003 to 2006. But it was cancelled in 2007, along with all of the other b&w calendars, including David Muenchs, Kim Westons and Keith Carters. WOW, my name in with these guys? I did manage to contract for the 2008 NJ Wild and Scenic calendar in color.
But the b&ws were cancelled because they just were not selling. I think the main reason was because the reproductions were just not up to par. I enjoy working with them and I tried to get them to put 2 inch borders instead of bleeding to the edges, but they would not change.
I doubt it, but you are playing in a different world now. I have been told credentials as a commercial photographer mean nothing in the art world. In fact speaking with other dealers, I have learned it can be a disadvantage except in the case of a very few. Have you found this to be a problem? PDWas that 25 year career all luck?
I doubt it, but you are playing in a different world now. I have been told credentials as a commercial photographer mean nothing in the art world. In fact speaking with other dealers, I have learned it can be a disadvantage except in the case of a very few. Have you found this to be a problem? PD
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