[jyoti]

Ok, so this may be premature and it's not India-only, but I figured this was as good a place to start as any.  

So, once you have the great camera recommended by fellow Tree'ers, and once you've taken the great pictures using all the techniques everyone's suggested, what do you do with them?  Does anyone know how you start to actually sell your pictures?

[dani]

put the pix on a website and just wait.
If your shots are really that good, offers will come.

But there might be better marketing strategies..

[jjacquemain]

You may want to get in touch with Merchant, he may have some answers for you.  His stuff is Spectacular and I know he sells them.

[jyoti]

dani, on Jul 26 2006, 12:42 PM, said:

put the pix on a website and just wait.
If your shots are really that good, offers will come.

But there might be better marketing strategies..

Or they'll end up as millions of computer desktop pics and still not a cent to my name...

jjacquemain, on Jul 26 2006, 01:44 PM, said:

You may want to get in touch with Merchant, he may have some answers for you.  His stuff is Spectacular and I know he sells them.

Oh!  I knew he took beautiful pics... Didn't know he sold them. I'll definitely ask!

--Jyoti.

[dani]

jyoti, on Jul 27 2006, 05:43 AM, said:

Or they'll end up as millions of computer desktop pics and still not a cent to my name...

So what? It doesn't hurt if your pics are used non-commercial like that,
and it proves that people really like your work.
In contrary, you could use desktop background images as a marketing platform. Just make low resolution version of your pics and sign them with  your name and website.
You don't have to make available your whole collection for free, but do it with two dozen of your best shots, and put them i.e. under an attribution-noncommercial license like this one: http://creativecommo...nses/by-nc/2.5/

That's what I would do before actually trying to sell my shots. It doesn't cost much, but gives you some publicity and reference.

[Merchant]

Hi, folks.  Selling pictures is pretty tough.  The travel market is heavily saturated and, while your photos may be wonderful, there are a million more like them generally available through stock photo agencies and freelancers who are tapped into that market.  Or even availble for free on flickr.

Your best option is to write a travel article or personal essay and try to sell it to a newspaper, or even a website like Slate.  Your photos would be part of the package.  It's easier to sell an article if you have photos and much easier to sell photos if there's an accompanying article.

Alas, it's practically impossible to make real money as a travel photographer without long experience, extensive industry contacts, and a huge and varied archive.

[jyoti]

dani, on Jul 27 2006, 02:24 AM, said:

So what? It doesn't hurt if your pics are used non-commercial like that,
and it proves that people really like your work.

I could but I'd still have to find some way for the real buyers to get to my site.  It'd be a good way to have a portfolio, but not worth the time if I don't have a way to advertise it to someone who might actually pay!

Merchant--I'm not so worried about doing "travel" pics per se as just photography. I'd LOVE to get into the upper end stuff eventually, but now if SOMEONE wanted to publish one of my pics, I'd be thrilled--even if it just meant throwing my name in the hat under stock photography.  Heck, if I could make enough to cover the cost of film and developing, I'd be thrilled.  

But, yes, there is the problem that my great pictures are worthless if they don't fit the context or aren't exactly what someone wants....  So other than commissioned work, I'm not really sure how that works.  But, I found a couple of photography forums on the net, too, so will start from there.  

Thanks, all!    And if you have any more advice, feel free to put it out there!

--Jyoti

[ajayclicks]

There are also some stock agencies which will sell your images. They will typically take 60% and give you 40%. 40% sounds peanuts, But here, they will search for buyers, enter into an agreement and ensure that there are no copyright violations etc....

I am however not sure how we can monitor whether the agency has sold anyting or at what price? Would it be a function of integrity or is there some tracking mechanism....

Cheers
Ajay