Saturday, July 17, 2010

Your Family and Friends Want to Buy Your Art

I went on a printing / matting binge with the smoke images.  I had stacks of matted prints laying around the office.   I had recently listened to a podcast at Lenswork titled "What to do" (podcast #640) regarding a photographer that had stacks of images around the home and was wondering what to do with all the images.  Brooks Jensen suggestion: Distribute it.  Get it out there.

I decided to try and sell a few at the office. 

I brought a few of the large prints to work as they are pretty eye-catching.  It was nice to have people stop by and look and talk about the images.  I received many compliments.  It was a nice ego boost!  I stacked some smaller prints near by.  When people would stop and look at the larger prints, I would mention they were for sale and point at the smaller prints.  Invariably, they would shuffle through the prints.  The funny thing is, just because a few images were displayed, it doesn't mean they are for sale.  People didn't ask.  I had to tell them.  It felt awkward to say "They are for sale."   A few sold.  As prints were now in other offices, it was like advertising.  Word starting getting around without effort on my part and more people stopped by to look.

I let my coworkers know that I really appreciated their purchases and how important it was to me.  It still feels a bit awkward and embarrassing to sell my prints, but my friends, family and a few others continue to demonstrate to me that they value and enjoy my work.

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