I'm taking the plunge
After much umming and ahhing, I've decided to take the plunge and create a page dedicated to selling my photographs:
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/mjm-images.html
What made me take the plunge? Well, the past few weeks have been eventful, and gave me time to reflect on things.
I decided upon FAA because I liked the features they provided. For example, by providing the links below, I effectively 'sponsor' these searches, which promotes my photos higher up searches:
black and white photos
hampshire photos
newcastle photos
FAA also allow you to set the commission you earn per photo, giving me the flexibilty to set what I want to receive. I've went fairly arbitrary at the moment (starting off small and going up in increments depending on size), but it's a nice option to have.
Adding links like the one above is also straightforward, and even things like watermarking is handled by them!
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/mjm-images.html
What made me take the plunge? Well, the past few weeks have been eventful, and gave me time to reflect on things.
Miles Hilton-Barber
Recently, I was invited to an event through work where Miles Hilton-Barber gave a motivational speech. If you haven't heard of Miles or his achievements, I would strongly recommend checking out his site and looking them up. The title he gave himself on his pamphlet was 'blind adventurer', which still doesn't fully prepare you for some of the feats he has attempted. What followed was a fascinating talk delivered with great humour and fun. The tips Miles provided weren't certainly revolutionary; in fact, they were almost a little cliched if they had been delivered by most other people. However, coming from somebody like Miles who had tackled adversity head on, they suddenly took on new meaning.
The overriding theme was the notion of not holding yourself back when it comes to trying things. Okay, actively creating a website to sell my photos on doesn't exactly compare to flying a microlight from London to Sydney, but I always managed to find excuses beforehand like "that's a bit too serious" and "I need to get better photos first". I'm not proclaiming my photos couldn't improve, but in reality it came back to the fear of rejection; if people didn't buy my photos then that somehow meant they weren't good enough.
So following in Miles' words, I'm going to have a go at something I've always wanted to do!
Harry
As I posted in my previous blog, a close friend passed away recently, the man who got me interested in photography many years ago. His passing got me thinking about my photography and what I could learn from him, which I then wrote about in my blog. I have to admit, doing so was very therapeutic and the response to it was heartwarming.
In the blog, I discussed the fact I wouldn't be accepting money for photos I took of people and their family, and that the happiness they derived would be payment in itself. That hasn't changed, I won't be selling photos of people! However, I know Harry was a hard worker who would wanted people to achieve all they could. If I was to ask him about the photos, I know he would have encouraged me to sell them, to work at it, for it to be 'business as usual'. He'd also have reminded me that if they didn't sell, it didn't matter; what mattered was I'd tried and give it my all
Okay, so why FineArtAmerica?
The internet isn't lacking when it comes to sites that enable you to sell images. These range from stock photography (like Flickr), through to some options (like 500px) and finally the dedicated pages (like Redbubble and FineArtAmerica). The main benefit of using these services is that they handle all the printing, framing, delivery etc. All you 'need' to do is provide the photos and organise them on the site.I decided upon FAA because I liked the features they provided. For example, by providing the links below, I effectively 'sponsor' these searches, which promotes my photos higher up searches:
black and white photos
hampshire photos
newcastle photos
FAA also allow you to set the commission you earn per photo, giving me the flexibilty to set what I want to receive. I've went fairly arbitrary at the moment (starting off small and going up in increments depending on size), but it's a nice option to have.
So...does this make me a 'pro'? Course not
I'm not naive. The internet has made it much easier to sell photos to a worldwide audience, but it has also leveled the playing field in that respect. I'm up against photographers with larger networks already in place, with better images and with more time and energy to promote themselves. It isn't as if the only thing preventing me from making a living as a photographer was that I hadn't setup a site, far from it! In reality, if I sell 1 photo through FAA, I'll consider it a success.
What has changed is the worries I placed on it. Maybe my photos aren't good enough to sell, but that doesn't diminish my enjoyment in taking them. Maybe all I'll get is more people viewing my images rather than buying them, but that again isn't a bad thing. Maybe I'll get 'constructive criticism' (or downright abuse), but again I can learn from that. The point is, the worst that happens is I make no money at all, which is what I currently make.
And you never know...maybe this will be the start of a new career!
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