What I did to sell my first picture

What I did to sell my first picture

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So you have taken pictures and family and friends tell you how great they are and you think you can money selling them.

Well you can. But I for one aint gonna blow smoke up anybodies behind because the truth is it is not as easy as everybody that writes a book about it claims it is.

I don't shoot people so I have nobody to sell pictures to. I enjoy shooting everything but people so that leaves out family events or kids, etc. So that leaves me trying to sell to everybody and there is a whole lot of talented people out there to compete with.

The other thing is you have to be realistic. Ditch the family and friends because they don't want to hurt your feelings and tell you a picture isn't all that good.

Look around some of the websites out there that people share pictures on. Compare yours to others and give yourself an HONEST opinion of your picture. Can it stand up by itself along side other pictures of the same subject? If it can then great you may have something. If not then see what you need to do to make that picture better and go retake it.

Let me back track for a minute. There are no referral links in here. Any link posted is a direct link. Sure I can put them in but I personally don't like them so I won't use them. Just a personal preference.

Also I am by no means a professional. I have a regular Monday through Friday job and photography is a hobby.... for now.

Jan. 1st 2012 I set out to sell a picture. I wanted a picture to be hanging on somebodies wall that I personally did not know. I wanted it to be a total stranger. Not a friend of a friend.

I read all I could and everybody makes it sound so easy. And maybe for them it is. For me it is not.

I spent a few years admiring others peoples work. I would go on to http://www.fredmiranda.com , http://www.dpreview.com/ and a few others that I can't think of at the moment.

I don't participate that much because to me photographers are way too judgmental... mental being the key word there. LOL I've asked for advise and gotten some weird answers and I've given advise and got even weirder answers. So I just stay out of it.

I quit using Facebook and vowed not to post a thing to friends or family till I sold a picture. Facebook is nothing but a time sucker. And if I had time to waste that could be time used to figure out how to sell a picture.

So off to Google I went. I typed everything I could think of to see where I could sell my pictures at. Forget Ebay. For me its a losing situation. I have yet to sell a picture on Ebay and I'm done trying.

www.etsy.com seemed like a good place to try. I joined, put my pictures up there ( My Etsy shop ) and gave it a shot. Etsy is like Ebay but only handmade items are allowed.

Stock photography is an option also. This I struggled with because you are not really putting a price on your pictures that they are worth. To me you are a pimp and the pictures are the working ladies. I stayed away for a little bit but then realized why not try. I'm not going to be any where near successful as Yuri Arcurs ( Yuri wiki ) and have a net worth of 50 million but even he started someplace right?

Keep in mind stock photography is a hard thing to do. Rejection rates are pretty high and some you have to be approved before you can even join. But nothing ventured nothing gained.

So I joined Esty and submitted photos to every stock agency I could find on Google. I stayed with the more common stock sites and stayed away from the little guys.

Pictures I have on http://www.dreamstime.com are exclusive with them. The ones they reject are my working ladies cause I send them to wherever I can. I am not nor will be exclusive to any agency. For me the more exposure the better.

Keywords in your pictures are oh so important. If you don't have the right keywords nobody is ever gonna find your picture. Yuri was nice enough to created this site and it is a great tool for key wording in my opinion. http://www.arcurs.com/keywording/

So Jan, Feb, March, April go by. And I read and do and try. I went through Facebook withdrawal and got over it. And tried some more. Now May enters and I have pulled out ebery hair trying to figure out how to get somebody to buy one of my pictures. I don't have time for art shows or flea markets and stuff like that.

May 18th I finally sold one!

This Diner picture almost didn't happen. I wanted to travel into PA but some roads were closed for bad weather so I found this on Google Earth and headed out the door.

After the first one others sold. By far my best selling picture is this Thunderstorm cloud picture.

I haven't made a small fortune and I certainly have not even paid for the fuel to travel to all the places I have gone to. But it is fun.

I started a fan page on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/TedDeesPhotography and even started my own website. www.tedanddeesphotography.com

I joined www.redgage.com & www.shutterpoint.com and even www.pinterest.com all in an effort to try and get some more exposure.

I'll put a happy face on the calender on the days I sell a picture so when a lot of time goes by I get a visual reminder that it is possible to sell one and not get too discouraged.

There is no magic to tell you how to sell a picture and make a mint. You have to try and learn what you can and give it a shot. You have nothing to lose. Try it all. If you do nothing then nothing will surely happen that is a fact.

I bought books and read and the one thing that was so true is you will spend more time marketing yourself than you will taking pictures. I spread myself out there wherever I can. I don't mind all the keeping up I have to do. I don't have a large portfolio but I work with what I got and go from there.

Have you sold a picture or three hundred? Let me know what you did and share if you would. I'm sure others would like to know also. Every little bit helps.