Nature Photography Business Tip #56

Art Consultants

One morning I received a phone call from an art consultant that worked for an art service company in Illinois. I didn’t know anything about the art consultant business before she called, but she had my attention when the call was finished.  She was calling to purchase twenty-seven prints that she viewed on my website for a new hospital. I asked her how she found me and she said she saw me at an art show. The sale for that job added up to 45 large prints by the time their were done with the project.

I asked her about the business of art consultants and found out there are many large art service companies across the country that purchase art for businesses. She was good enough to give me names of other art services that I could contact to be placed on their list of artists.

I shot off emails to these companies with my bio and website and asked to be considered for placement on their list of artists. Within a day after sending out the emails I received emails back from a few companies that liked my images and were already interested in presenting some of my artwork to clients they were meeting with for upcoming projects.

This is a great opportunity to sell prints and an ongoing business that could provide income for many years, and I will be looking to add my name to more of these companies in the future. You should be looking into this for one of your streams of income.

Stop back tomorrow for more on art consultants.

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Nature Photography Business Tip #51

Rules at the Art Shows

You may detect a little attitude about the enforcing of rules at the art shows in my last tip.  That’s because it gets very tiring seeing the rules ignored by the promoters at almost every show I participate in.  A  rule states that none of your inventory should extend outside of your 10×10 space, but I see this happening at all shows.  As I mentioned in the last tip that most shows require that you sell limited editions, but I don’t see that rule enforced.  You are not suppose to offer product that you don’t make which are known as “buy and sell” in the art show business, but  it appears in most shows.

When most promoters are told about artist breaking rules, they don’t want to deal with problems, so they look the other way and don’t enforce the rules, so like I said you do start to take on an attitude when you see this stuff going on. I have even heard of an artist that went to a promoter complaining about some of the rules that were being broken, and that artist never got back in that show again. So you have to be careful not to be considered a pain by complaining to the promoter, or you may find yourself black listed from a show.

There are a  few shows that do enforce most of the rules,  and I hear artist complain about them because they are tough and do enforce their rules.  I know one female promoter that some artist refer to as a “bitch” just because she does enforce her rules.  So some artists are really not happy when the promoters do enforce the rules, and also when they don’t enforce the rules.  Promoters have a tough job keeping everyone happy.  Personally I would rather they were tougher and enforce all the rules that are stated in their guidelines, but I don’t see that ever happening.

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Nature Photography Business Tip #26

How much will it cost to get started in the art show business.

If you have visited the art shows, checked out the competition and said to yourself, I can compete and make money here, then it’s time to take the next step.  To do it right it will take a decent amount of investment to get started.  I will break it down in out of pocket start-up costs.

Tent, 10 x10 with some bells and whistles,   $1,500 +
Walls, $1,500 +
Inventory, I carry about $10,000 retail of inventory, and my cost of materials for this inventory is about $2,000.
Misc. print bins, tables, artist chair, weights for tent, bags, receipts, Plastic bins for packing inventory for travel, etc. $500

You could try finding a used tent and walls to save some money, but they are not easy to find used, and from what I’ve seen, people are asking prices for their used tents and walls for not much less then buying it new.

Around the first of each year I have to apply to all my shows for the season.  There will be the cost of jury fees, in my case, 25 shows times an average of $25 per show = $625

Once accepted into a shows I will be asked to send in my booth fees.  Last year my booth fee totals for all my shows ran about $7,000.  Now this money is tied up until I get it back when all the shows are completed, which takes about six months, and when I get the $7,000 back, I can’t spend it, because I need it for the next year, so that money is always locked up.

Now once you have your, booth, walls, inventory, misc, you have to buy something to transport all this stuff.

The best vehicle is a commercial cargo van, but you could get by with a trailer if you have a vehicle that can tow it.

A new Van may cost up to $25,000.   You could buy a used one and save some money.  I’m not sure what a trailer cost, but it has to be at least $1500 to $2,000, and if you live in a subdivision you may not be able to store a large trailer in you driveway, so you will incur some cost to store it somewhere.

So if you buy everything new that I’ve listed, and buy all the right things to do it right and cover jury fees and booth fees for about twenty five shows,  it would cost you about (including new van) $38,125.

Now if you think you will buy all this stuff and do a couple shows a year, forget it, you would never recover you investment.  You would have to do at least a dozen shows or more a year to make it pay off.

Now there are cheaper ways to get started that I will explain in future tips, but if you want to look professional, and have a set-up that will protect your investment from weather, this is what it takes.

I will break down all the things you need in future tips.

See the next tip on selling in art shows tomorrow.

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Nature Photography Business Tip #22

Some galleries will have monthly gallery openings for their artists. They will send out invitations to all their clients on a mailing list letting them know about the featured artist and usually a Friday night reception to meet the artist. Find out if the gallery you are interested in has programs like this as it can help get exposure for your artwork.

Regardless of what business you are in, if you’re selling something you will have rejections to deal with. Since we’re selling something that we created, it can hurt a little more when that rejection comes.

You can be sure it will happen as art is so subjective that not everyone will have the same feeling for your artwork. It is a part of this business and you will need to have thick skin at times.

Stick through any rejections you may run into and be persistent. It may take time, but the longer you are at it, the easier it will be. There are tons of stories of artist, musicians, actors, that have been rejected only to become very successful when someone took a chance with them.

See the next tip on selling in art shows tomorrow.

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Nature Photography Business Tip #21

Questions the Galleries May Ask

Q. Do you display your images at other galleries in the area? If you answer yes, they may not be interested as they may want to be the only gallery in town to carry your artwork. They may ask if they carried your work would you be willing to be exclusive to their gallery.

Q. Do you display at any of the local art shows? Again if you answer yes, they may not be interested in carrying your artwork. If they don’t have a problem with you selling at the art shows in the area, they may ask if you will be selling for a lower price then the retail price the gallery is selling your work for.

Q. Are the prints and materials archival? This is something galleries expect, as they want to be able to tell their customers that the materials used to create your artwork is going to last for a long time without any problems.

Q. Are your prints sold as limited edition and signed? This means you will number each print in sequence up to a set amount and stop selling the print once the edition is sold out. Example, 1/150 – 2/150 – 3/150 and so on up to 150 and the edition stops not to be sold again. Some will sell limited edition in different sizes. So they might sell 150 at 16X20 and 150 at 11X14 and keep going in different sizes. Some artists will just sell 150 of that print regardless of the size. You can set the number on the limited edition to whatever you want. Some galleries will not want to sell limit editions in really high numbers like a 1000, as the larger the edition the less value the artwork has.

See the next tip on selling in galleries tomorrow.

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Nature Photography Business Tip #18

It’s Showtime!

Once you have an appointment and you set a time to meet, be professional and make sure you show up on time and present yourself well. I wouldn’t wear a suit and tie, but I would show up in a nice shirt and some khaki pants that present a more professional look then blue jeans and a  tee shirt. Along with your portfolio, bring a business card and a Bio about yourself and any accomplishments you’ve had with your photography.

Show Me the Money

Once you meet with the contact person and they decide your images are the right fit for their gallery, you now need to discuss how the sale of one of your images will be spilt. Most galleries will hang your work and pay only after it has sold. The larger galleries will take 50% and smaller galleries may take only 40%. There is no real industry standard, so make sure you negotiate up front.

See the next tip on selling in galleries tomorrow.

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Nature Photography Business Tip #12

Making  a living as a nature photographers requires you to wear many hats and be diversified in many directions in the beginning stages of your business.  I call this diversity my streams of income, and I use about fourteen streams that all drain into my bank account.  If I tried to live off any one of these streams it would be impossible, but by gathering a little here and a little there, it all adds up to enough money to make a good living if you work hard.

I have listed some of the ways to make money as a nature photographer

Sell your prints through,  art shows, art galleries/gift stores, art consultants/decorators, website.
Sell articles and images to magazines
Selling images through stock agencies
Workshops
Workshops Online
Write a how-to book
Write a how-to e-book
Produce a how-to video
Sponsors
Present at camera club/photo conventions
Open a gallery
Affiliate programs
Sell products.

I use all but three of these ways of making money.

Prior to my photography business which became full time three years ago, I owned two business which spanned over twenty years. First was a custom woodworking business that lasted seven years until I became tired of it, and then started a home improvement company which became Pro Painting Inc. that lasted sixteen years.  I liked the painting business and had four employees until 9-11 hit, and it was at that point when the economy started to slowly grind to a halt in the Detroit suburbs where I did all of my business.

In my two previous business I had to be diversified and offer as many options that I could as each business was starting out.  As the business grew I could cut back on some of the services I offered that were not as profitable, or jobs that I didn’t care for.  But in the beginning the more services I offered the more opportunity for work.

A good analogy is if you have a job you go to everyday and you don’t earn enough to pay the bills, then you get a second job,  and if that doesn’t cut it, then you get a third job.  So if your business offers one service and it’s not paying the bills, then you offer another service, and another,  and another, and the more services you offer, the more opportunity for the business to make more money.

Now no one can offer all of these services that I’ve listed above in the first year.   I started with a few in the first year, and at the end of each year, I would decide which ones to tackle next.  In my first year it was just a part time business and after two years it was doing well enough to give up the painting business and do it full time.  The first full time year was tough, but as with any new business you expect it will be that way.  Each year the business income goes up, and I expect it to keep going up each year.  Even in this bad economy, by the third year of being a full time nature photographer my personal income  has reached the level of my painting business at it’s peak.

So start out part time and build each year until it becomes profitable enough to give up your day job and do it full time.

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Nature Photography Business Tip #8

Nobody knows your alive and in business unless you tell them.  Nobody is going to do it for you, so it’s up to you.  You need to be visible in as many places as you can on the net.  The more times people see your name, the more likely they are to remember it.  Post on the many nature photography sites online, and build relationships with the photographers on these sites. Join the social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.  Many of you that are reading this may have come through the connection we have on these networks.

You never know who’s watching.  In 2005 there was an employee from Fujifilm who saw my images being posted on one of the nature photography forums and told the marketing manager at Fuji about me, and it began a sponsorship from Fuji.  That connection led to a contact at Tamron who also decided to sponsor me, and the marketing manager from Fuji that I worked with is now at Panasonic who is interested in working with me on some projects. So you never know what will come from being visible online.

I’ve sold multiple  images to Hewlet-Packard from posting on these forums.  I even sold an image to someone at the White House that wanted one of my leaf images for a card that was given out at someones retirement party.  I’ve been asked to speak at photo conventions/conferences and camera clubs from people that have seen me online.  Many other connections came from just being in as many places as I could.

I as mentioned in Tip #7 I don’t sell many prints online, but I do a fair amount of sales to use images for commercial purposes.

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Nature Photography Business Tip #7

If you wondered why I didn’t mention selling prints on the internet in Tip #6,  it’s because print sales online suck!  Sorry about the language,  but that’s the sorry truth.  If I’m lucky I might sell two or three prints a year to individuals online.  I can sell hundreds of prints a year through the art shows, but online, nil.  I’ve talk to many other good photographers and have heard the same story, very low sales.  Not to say you won’t ever make any sales, just not enough to pay many bills.    You may see lots of hits on your websites stat counter, but almost all of these hits are from other photographers checking out your images, and photographers are not interested in buying your prints.

I’ve been posting images on nature photography forums online for six years, and do you know how many of those photographers that have seen and commented about my images have bought a print from me, ZERO.

Could you imagine yourself hanging another photographers print on a wall in your home, and having friends and family coming over and saying, “what a great shot” and you have to tell them you didn’t shoot it, that sure will deflate your ego.  If you’re one of those rare photographers that buy other photographer’s prints, I apologies for that, but you are in the minority.

People that are looking for art to hang on their walls just don’t seem to randomly end up at photographers websites, and if they are, they are not buying. I think they need to see it in person before they will buy.

So just wanted to pass this tip on, so you don’t feel like a loser because you have slow sales from your website.

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Nature Photography Business Tip #5

Once you have established that this is something that you really want to pursue,  do it right. You will need to establish a business name and go register it with the county you live in. In my county it costs $10.00 for a DBA (Doing Business As). Once you have your DBA papers go to your local bank and open a checking account.

I set up my business as a sole proprietorship, if you have a personal accountant or know one, get their advice on what is best for you, some businesses incorporate (Inc.) or do a limited liability corporations (LLC). The sole proprietorship is the easiest to set up as all you need is your DBA and a bank account, but offers the least protection from a lawsuit, which can take your personal property if you lose a case. Incorporating will help protect your personal assets.

I personally don’t know any nature photographers that are incorporated, not to say that they don’t exist, just that I don’t know any. Some carry liability insurance for their workshops and feel that is enough protection, and I don’t know anyone that has been sued from selling a print. This is something that each individual has to decide for themselves on which way to go and their comfort level, and I’m not here giving advice on the law so talk to an accountant or a lawyer to advise you on the best options.

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Nature Photography Business Tip #2

I recently posted a poll on my macro nature forum asking, “Where are you going with your nature photography”.

Shooting for fun

Sell some images

Become a pro nature photographer

To my surprise almost thirty percent of the people polled said they wanted to be a “pro”, and over thirty percent wanted to “sell some images”. So sixty five percent voted in some way to make money off of their nature photography.

You don’t have to be a pro to make money, you may be only interested in adding some extra income to help offset the cost of your equipment, or pay for a few trips. Making a few bucks is pretty easy, but if you have ambitions of going pro, understand that nature photography is one of the toughest areas of photography to make a living at. People need, wedding photographers, portrait photographers, news photographers.    Industries need, commercial photographers, fashion photographers, sports photographers, but only a small percent of the population needs nature photographers. So our slice of the pie in dollars is much smaller.

But for those who have top notch images, passion, and a strong work ethic, there is enough money out there to make a living, and surely enough to help pay for some equipment or trips.

This business series will be posted on an almost daily basis, so check back often.

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Fun With Feathers

My cure for the photographer’s cabin fever is finding interesting subjects to shoot indoors.  It’s not that I’m a wimp and don’t want to brave the cold, its just that what sells the best for me is images with color, and winter takes its toll on any color in nature here in the north. 

I can better spend my time marketing during the winter then out shooting images that won’t sell.  As much as I like winter, most people that view my images at the art shows tell me they don’t care for winter and they don’t want to look at it all year hanging on their walls.  I’m always looking for something interesting to shoot indoors.  Probably the most used indoor subject is flowers, and I do my share of flower shots, but I’m always in search of something new to shoot. 

I’ve always liked the look of bird feathers, the lines, texture and patterns have always interested me.  I have some turkey and sea gull feathers I’ve picked up locally from the parks I shoot in, but I wanted some feathers with a little more design and color.  I went online a couple weeks ago and did a search on feathers.  I found sites that were sellling a vareity of feathers mainly used by decorators for home decor arrangments. 

Here’s are some of the feathers I recieved yesterday, and had some fun setting them up and shooting.

I arranged these three feathers at slightly different angles as to not have them looking to composed. Shot at my favorite f/stop, f/32 with the Tamron 60mm macro lens. 

With this group I used two colorful feathers to flank the center feather which is more earthtone.  The contrast allowed the center feather stand out.  Shot with the Tamron 60mm macro at f/32.

These are tiny little feathers that I arranged in this group. I added a 25mm extension tube that would allow me to focus in closer on this small grouping.  I wanted a different and more abstract look, so shot this one at f/2.8.  The Tamron 60mm set at f/2.8 blurred the edges really well and I placed the point of focus on the center feather.

The Artist Statement

If you have displayed your photography at galleries or art shows you may have been asked to give an artist statement.  A written statement by an artist expressing their personal art philosophy.  If you’ve read some of the artist statements out there, they are usually written with some deep thought process that goes into creating their art, and I sometimes feel like the artists are trying to out do each other coming up with the most profound thought-provoking statements.  I will admit that I’ve tried to write mine in this form as I think people want to perceive the artist in this way.  I believe most of this is a lot of fluff and one of these days I going to write one that reads the way I really feel when I create my art.

Hi I’m Mike Moats, and I just like to take pretty pictures.

The End. 🙂

Ckeck out the Pro Advice link in the top right of this blog.

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New Life for Your Old Light Table

Dig out and dust off your old light table and put it to use as backlighting for macro subjects.  When I started in photography in 2001 I bought a few nature magazines and noticed all the pros were using Velvia slide film,  so I used slide film which required me to buy a light table to view the slides. 

 I only shot film for three years and then made the change to digital.  The light tables has been dark until I found a use for it.  It works great for backlighting which creates a special look to your images.  You need subjects that are somewhat transparent for the best results.

Here is a group of Beech leaves I arranged on the light table and below is a Turkey feather I found in my local park. I added a drop of water to the feather to add a little interest.

See my new Pro Advice link in the top right side of the this blog.

Pro Advice

I have added a new link in the upper top right of this blog where visitors can go and ask questions that I will answer about macro photography.  It can be anything from what type of equipment to buy, technique, composition, selling your photos, or running a nature photography business.

 I have people from time to time email about some of these subjects, and decided it would be a good fit here on the blog. Hope to help with any of your questions.   Don’t be shy.

Winter Ice Abstracts

When December rolls in the cold weather here in the north I start getting excited to shoot abstracts in ice. The first ice is when these abstracts form. I find small streams in the woods where I live and follow the edges in search of this interesting artwork. It happens in the first ice formations at the edges of the streams. As the ice starts to thicken you lose the patterns. I shoot these using a longer focal length macro lens like the Tamron 180mm. You will be shooting from the bank and need the extra reach of the longer focal length. I shoot these in the highest f/stops to bring in all the details. Very cool stuff.

Once the stream ice thickens and I lose the cool patterns, I move to the lakes. Search out the edges of frozen lakes where fall leaves have blown into the lake and froze. On a warm sunny days you will get melted patterns in the ice above the leaves. You can shoot these with any macro lens  as you will be nice and close and you’ll be shooting a flat subject so just position your tripod directly over top of the leaf and shoot in the F/8 range.

Comparing Photography To Other Art Forms

I was at the movies the other day and while the previews were running I was thinking how cheap it was to go to the movies.  To me movies are a form of art just like photography.  I would consider actors as artist, the writers as artist, the directors that films the movie, all the set directors, lighting people, everything that goes into that movie in my opinion is  artistic.  The movie makers spend millions upon million of dollars and the product they produce is created by some incredibly talented artist.  So with hundreds of people and millions of dollars to produce this one piece of artwork why are they selling it for only $8.00 to view and when it comes out on DVD it may run $20.00.   photographers go out and capture an image, do a little processing, let a printer do the work to make the finished product and then they want to charge $500 to $600 for a 30X40 gallery wrap.  Photographers want more for an 11X14 print then the cost of buying the DVD of a movie.  This doesn’t make any sense to me, this is way out of balance.   Why don’t the movie companies do like the photographers and sell the DVD for $500 or $600 like the photographers are asking for when they sell that 30X40 gallery wrap.  It seems much more logical since the movie cost millions of dollars and tons of people to make it happen.  Why do photographers think their art has so much value for so little effort and a piece of photo paper.  How many people would buy that movie if it was 500 to 600 dollars.

I also looked at the music business. The musicians which I also consider artist have to take the time to write all the songs for their album, rehearse all the songs, go into the studio and record.  They need producers and techs to work the recording equipment to get that perfect sound.  The record companies spend huge bucks to pay all these people and to produce the CD’s.  What does it cost to you and me, about $16.00.  They would have every right to charge hundreds of dollars for this artistic product , but they don’t.  Would most pay hundreds of dollars for the latest CD, I doubt it.

If the movie people and the musicians charged what photographers charge for their art they would also become staving artist like most photographers.   Are staving artist starving because they charge too much for their art?

More On The Business Of Nature Photography

A few weeks ago I wrote a post on my blog called So you want to be a nature a photographer.  I also posted it on two  online nature photography sites, NaturePhotographers.net and BirdPhotographers.net which I moderate the macro forums.  The view counter on the post has soared to almost 900 views while most posts attracted well less than five hundred views with a few highly controversial subjects that have reached this high or slightly more.  The amount of people commenting was also very high compared to the other posts.  The one thing I’ve learned in over twenty-five years in three different businesses  is you listen and pay attention to what going on in that business.  The attention and curiosity of this post made me think that there are a lot of photographers interested in the business side of nature photography.  I will post more on this subject and sometimes it will be subjective and controversial, but hopefully a learning experience.  So stop back and check it out and hopefully post your opinions.  It’s okay to disagree with my opinions as long as you do it in a civil way, if not I have the delete button. 🙂

E-Books At Outdoor Photo Gear

Outdoor Photo Gear is now carrying my e-books for sale.  http://www.outdoorphotogear.com/blog/

Here’s some info about Outdoor Photo Gear http://www.outdoorphotogear.com/store/

Our goal at Outdoor Photo Gear is to provide you with the best selection of quality photo gear at the best prices, while giving you the very best customer service you will find online anywhere.

At Outdoor Photo Gear, we work right next to the products we sell and our shelves are always fully stocked. Having inventory in-stock, and close at hand gives us, and you, a real advantage. We can answer your questions while physically holding the product so you can get the answers to your most-important questions. Also, when you call or email us we can double-check stock-levels for you when delivery of a time-sensitive order is critical. At Outdoor Photo Gear we personally pick, pack, and ship the products to your door; according to your specifications.

We believe that running a great store is the same as taking a great photograph: you have to— “be there.”

To us, “outdoor” photography encompasses all types of photography: wildlife, nature, avian, landscape, travel, journalism, adventure and event photography. We want to bring you great products and advice that moves you outside and into the wide world of outdoor photography. We invite you to capture your world, and bring it inside to us all through your images.

How To Sell Though Art Galleries

My new e-book will teach you the process of selling your photography though art galleries. You will learn how to find the galleries, picking the right gallery, make contact, set prices, and more. After you purchase, I will send you an email within twenty four hours with the PDF for your computer download. Cost $9.95 

Go to  www.MikeMoatsBooks.com