What you do with your photos?

João Paulo F Q · Sep 22, 2023

In the first five years or so when I started shooting I was already happy by only sharing my photos online, mostly facebook. The hole algorithm thing hadn't kick in yet back then and most of the times my friends and family would comment and or like the pictures and that was enough for me. Now not only I invested more in gear and improved in quality but my photos get run over by influncers, creators, big famous accounts and people doing strange dance stuff that get promoted by the ominous algorithm. So mostly I shoot to look at my photos by myself showing occasionally people close to me and have little to no interest in posting it online (I guees I could start sharing here at photorio at least...). So I was wondering what do you folks do with your photos that are taken just as a hobby or for the professionals, with the more authorial part of the work. Do you just gift your friends and family with prints, share online, try to sell some prints, submmit to photo contests or just keep by yourself an a photo-book or hanging in the wall? I would really enjoy knowing what you have to say!

Don_ih · Sep 22, 2023

I make prints and then put them in a pile....

Larryc001 · Sep 22, 2023

Fineartamerica.com

Kino · Sep 22, 2023

I put them in binders, so that disposal will be efficient when I snap my last shutter.

Sirius Glass · Sep 23, 2023

João Paulo F Q said:
In the first five years or so when I started shooting I was already happy by only sharing my photos online, mostly facebook. The hole algorithm thing hadn't kick in yet back then and most of the times my friends and family would comment and or like the pictures and that was enough for me. Now not only I invested more in gear and improved in quality but my photos get run over by influncers, creators, big famous accounts and people doing strange dance stuff that get promoted by the ominous algorithm. So mostly I shoot to look at my photos by myself showing occasionally people close to me and have little to no interest in posting it online (I guees I could start sharing here at photorio at least...). So I was wondering what do you folks do with your photos that are taken just as a hobby or for the professionals, with the more authorial part of the work. Do you just gift your friends and family with prints, share online, try to sell some prints, submmit to photo contests or just keep by yourself an a photo-book or hanging in the wall? I would really enjoy knowing what you have to say!

I took slides for decades and still keep the ones from Europe in the slide trays. Then with the advent of children I started taking color prints, putting them in albums and sending copies to grand parents. After the children were grown I started having large color prints made, joined APUG, bought the Hasselblads, built a darkroom, developed black & white and color film, and started making black & white enlargements too. I bought the color paper and the chemicals for color prints but I never made a color print at my place. I had gotten spoiled at Kodak with the Keronite machines.

koraks · Sep 23, 2023

João Paulo F Q said:
gift your friends and family with prints, share online

Occasionally.

João Paulo F Q said:
try to sell some prints, submmit to photo contests

Never.

João Paulo F Q said:
keep by yourself an a photo-book or hanging in the wall?

Sort of.

Most of the prints pile up in a corner of the darkroom until gravity intervenes. I then generally sort them, discarding most and keeping the remaining 10-20% in boxes. There might come days or civil unrest when the fuel for a fire might prove useful, after all.

I do send out some prints in exchanges through this forum. That's fun, actually, and I'd recommend it!

Don_ih · Sep 23, 2023

I also do the postcard exchange and blind print exchange on Photrio - both of which are currently open for anyone who wants to sign up.

Nopo · Sep 23, 2023

João Paulo F Q said:
Do you just gift your friends and family with prints, share online.

On occasion, but only to the family.

João Paulo F Q said:
try to sell some prints, submmit to photo contests

Occasionally I sell, I never send to contests.

João Paulo F Q said:
keep by yourself an a photo-book or hanging in the wall?

accumulate around the enlarger until I have to make room to continue enlarging.

Carlos

Alan Edward Klein · Sep 23, 2023

I have a Flickr page for photos I feel deserve to be in public. Other personal photos from vacation, trips, parties, I might make a video slide show to show on my TV or monitor. Some more public slide shows, I download to YouTube. If they're of a personal nature, Flickr allows you to create a password for selected videos which I would only give to relatives or friends. I sell nothing.

DWThomas · Sep 23, 2023

I have a series of galleries on PBase to share some images publicly. I also post some images on Facebook (yes, I admit that ) but those are only accessible to friends and family.

I generally only make actual prints of a few images that I consider "better" or "important" in some way. Many of those I enter in local art and/or photography shows. I have actually received some awards and sales through doing that, but it's not a major goal. I've even had a couple of solo shows along the way. (And although I did sell a few, I still probably have a lifetime supply of frames left from those exercises! )

A piece getting an award or selling does provide a certain sense of affirmation in knowing that at least one other person saw something good in my work!

albada · Sep 23, 2023

I've read that an important piece of equipment in the darkroom is a large trash can.
But it's hard for me to discard work prints that look decent.

Mark

Mike Lopez · Sep 23, 2023

albada said:
I've read that an important piece of equipment in the darkroom is a large trash can.
But it's hard for me to discard work prints that look decent.

Mark

You can use those to practice your spotting technique. Or you can test flattening and mounting methods.

João Paulo F Q · Sep 23, 2023

Don_ih said:
I also do the postcard exchange and blind print exchange on Photrio - both of which are currently open for anyone who wants to sign up.

This sounds interesting!

João Paulo F Q · Sep 23, 2023

And thanks for the thoughts and also the sense of humor

Pioneer · Sep 23, 2023

Hang them on the wall until I either get tired of them or print something I like better. Then I toss them in a drawer.

RalphLambrecht · Sep 23, 2023

João Paulo F Q said:
In the first five years or so when I started shooting I was already happy by only sharing my photos online, mostly facebook. The hole algorithm thing hadn't kick in yet back then and most of the times my friends and family would comment and or like the pictures and that was enough for me. Now not only I invested more in gear and improved in quality but my photos get run over by influncers, creators, big famous accounts and people doing strange dance stuff that get promoted by the ominous algorithm. So mostly I shoot to look at my photos by myself showing occasionally people close to me and have little to no interest in posting it online (I guees I could start sharing here at photorio at least...). So I was wondering what do you folks do with your photos that are taken just as a hobby or for the professionals, with the more authorial part of the work. Do you just gift your friends and family with prints, share online, try to sell some prints, submmit to photo contests or just keep by yourself an a photo-book or hanging in the wall? I would really enjoy knowing what you have to say!

I enlarge them(print them)on 11x14" paper as well as I can and then store them in archival boxes.

Cholentpot · Sep 23, 2023

Once a year I sort through my year's worth of photos and pick out the best and print a bunch of 4x6 photos and put 'em in albums. I'll print a handful larger and hang them on the wall. The rest are scanned and on harddrives.

Daniela · Sep 24, 2023

Up until this past year, I just shot, printed and put most of my prints in a box (occasionally gifting some to friends/family). Since last year, I've started offering them to co-workers and started selling; and just last month, I opened an etsy store. So far, it seems to work as shopping window for said co-workers, but I hope that at least one stranger will buy at some point Honestly, I just sell to be able to buy more paper and film because, as a hobby, photography has become too expensive.
Oh, and just like @Don_ih , I participate in the postcard exchanges and I'm lucky to own some of his prints! I highly recommend joining in. There's still a week left to sign up for the next round.

snusmumriken · Sep 24, 2023

I am very interested in everyone's replies because the thread coincides with a spell of "Why the hell am I doing this?" for me. I finish my 'keepers' fully including dry-mounting, and put them on the wall to enjoy. But I only have wall space for 3 at a time, so most of the time the prints live in two boxes, and as I slowly add to the pool, each one comes out less and less. I do share with the world via a website, and would be bucked if anyone ever wanted one of my photos - but the closest I ever came was to exchange a photo with a farmer for some (excellent) cheese! So I suppress that ambition and acknowledge that I do it for myself. But viewed objectively it is quite a strange hobby, and I'm sure there will be a big bonfire when I croak.

Don_ih · Sep 24, 2023

snusmumriken said:
I'm sure there will be a big bonfire when I croak.

Then at least your work will warm them for a while

Kino · Sep 24, 2023

snusmumriken said:
But viewed objectively it is quite a strange hobby...

Yes, but objectively most hobbies appear strange in our materialistic society, because their only goals are to make people happy.

"Practical" hobbies that produce goods or services that benefit others are IMHO just rebranded/rationalized work.

So, do what makes you happy.

I once had a distant relative who collected salt shaker sets only in the form of Pelicans, but it made her happy.

Be happy.

VinceInMT · Sep 24, 2023

I makes prints because I enjoy the process. Once done, I have sold some, have given some away, have some on display in the house, and the ones that survive a purge get put in boxes on a shelf in the darkroom.

Peter Schrager · Sep 24, 2023

snusmumriken said:
I am very interested in everyone's replies because the thread coincides with a spell of "Why the hell am I doing this?" for me. I finish my 'keepers' fully including dry-mounting, and put them on the wall to enjoy. But I only have wall space for 3 at a time, so most of the time the prints live in two boxes, and as I slowly add to the pool, each one comes out less and less. I do share with the world via a website, and would be bucked if anyone ever wanted one of my photos - but the closest I ever came was to exchange a photo with a farmer for some (excellent) cheese! So I suppress that ambition and acknowledge that I do it for myself. But viewed objectively it is quite a strange hobby, and I'm sure there will be a big bonfire when I croak.

you can use some initiative and find places to show your work. I'm hanging in NYC right now in a coffee in the busiest train station in the USA. I have another in a small cafe here in Connecticut.
What about hospitals; old age homes etc...just get creative and stop making excuses why no one sees your work...

faberryman · Sep 24, 2023

Peter Schrager said:
you can use some initiative and find places to show your work. I'm hanging in NYC right now in a coffee in the busiest train station in the USA. I have another in a small cafe here in Connecticut.
What about hospitals; old age homes etc...just get creative and stop making excuses why no one sees your work...

There are no train stations around here. I've done the upscale coffee shop thing, so been there done that. I don't have any interest in showing my photos in old age homes. Why would I? Why do people feel a compelling need to show their photographs? Is it validating or something? If you are a woodworker, should you want to display your latest Sheraton end table in an old age home, or is putting it in your living room enough? Should I tell you what I think you should use some initiative to do?

snusmumriken · Sep 24, 2023

Peter Schrager said:
you can use some initiative and find places to show your work. I'm hanging in NYC right now in a coffee in the busiest train station in the USA. I have another in a small cafe here in Connecticut.
What about hospitals; old age homes etc...just get creative and stop making excuses why no one sees your work...

Hm, thanks for that. I thought I was just giving an honest and realistic answer to the OP’s question, not making excuses for anything. But I love the idea of exhibiting in an old folks home: genuinely a captive audience!

How do you display your photos at your venues? Isn’t there a pretty big outlay in frames etc?

What you do with your photos?

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