subject: Printing For Profit in Platinum From Digital Negatives - The Concise Guide - Part 7/7 [print this page] Printing For Profit in Platinum From Digital Negatives - The Concise Guide - Part 7/7
Part 7/7 - Selling platinum prints and final words.
Selling platinum prints.
If you are not interested in this section consider yourself lucky, because this is by far the most difficult part of the entire "process". Assuming that you are all set up to sell, meaning you have the skills, a portfolio, the equipment, the materials to print, mount and frame and so on, there are basically two choices, selling online or selling in the real world. The former gives us another three sub-choices: selling on eBay or/and through our own web site or/and other online galleries.
Selling on eBay has proved for me successful, but it is a hard job that requires dedication. (There are other auction sites of course but they can not compete with eBay). eBay's advantage is its great visibility, which I have found useful also to meet many other fellow artists and photographers and share experience, prints etc. Unfortunately it is a low price market, and if you want to be seen among thousands of listings you must invest some money. eBay and Paypal fees combined are extremely high. To make things worse, if you plan to start selling from zero (i.e. with no feedback and unknown) and at a decent price, say $100+ per print, you can be quite sure that no one is likely to buy your work. You may want to try, if you can, with nudes, which is a genre that works certainly better than landscapes (on the entire internet not only on eBay of course). If you are seeking gallery representation you may hope that you will be noticed on eBay but in my experience it is unlikely. As said in the first part, the good news is that if you bite the bullet and start offering your work at a low price you will make some sales, you will be able to print and learn etc., and slowly be able to raise your price. This does not mean that one has to compromise his/her integrity, for I have seen more that one talented photographer selling palladium prints at as little as $15, which I disagree with. As said in Part 1 a good selling point is editioning your work. I have several images in my portfolio which are now sold out, but the image must be really outstanding. Until 2005/2006 the photographs category on eBay was quite an exciting place, with many talented artists and several keen collectors. Since then, as eBay is getting worse, especially for sellers, so is the photography category.
Selling through a web site, either yours or other online galleries, such as Artbyus etc. is another way. In my experience, proposing a specific work (maybe a niche such as landscapes or architectural photos etc) and advertising with Google Adwords (and on collectors' magazines such as B&W Magazine at the same time) has proved successful but of course it requires financial exposure. Ironically, I sell from my web sites at a higher price than eBay, and despite having obviously no feedback on my web site, people are willing to pay more. Well obviously on your own site you have no competition, but it is also true that sales happen more frequently on eBay. The two magic words on the internet are niches and keywords. Just try to do something very specific and push it with the correct tools (you need to be a bit of an internet geek to sell online) and you will probably be successful. Proposing you work with a more generic approach is more likely to be a failure. If starting to print in platinum is for you a breakthrough, it obviously does not mean that you are the only one doing it.
A third approach that has been working for me well is printing for others. There are many out there willing to pay to have their important memories well printed and presented with the advantage of the long permanency. In this type of business (which has the added advantage that you can see other artists' work, which is refreshing and inspiring) you may be lucky and find the big customer, i.e. art galleries or corporate in general. I started this service not long ago, and I have been lucky to meet an important art gallery as well as a few famous photographers. I have one price for the first print, which requires of course making a negative, and a slightly lower price for additional copies from the same negative. I generally give a bit of my personal interpretation to the image (well sometimes to the point of even cropping it) unless the client is rigid. If the job is big (i.e. gallery) I have a third price for proofs, for they usually want to see different versions of the same image, maybe on different papers etc. Of course, if you want to succeed as an artist, that is, with your own work only, this is not the way to go, but this book is also about selling pt-pd prints for profit and I think this method works.
Final choice, as said, is selling in the real world. This is entirely up to you because it depends on the circumstances, finances etc. Personally I have a small studio/gallery where I can show my work upon appointment. In the past I have been busy with local exhibitions but I find these an annoyance because making and framing say 25 images and selling maybe ten leaves you with 15 unsold, framed, numbered prints (often scratched or damaged from transit), which is a waste of money. Also frustrating the fact that many people do not know anything about hand crafting a fine print in platinum, and comments such as nice photo, is that an ink-jet? are not rare.
Proposing your work to art galleries is a different matter altogether and probably the best way to go, of course seeking and obtaining gallery representation goes beyond the scope of these articles.
Final words.
Printing in platinum is very rewarding and all it needs is to be consistent with the process and careful when mixing and handling chemicals. The cost is easy to keep under control, and similar to printing digitally (ink-jet inks and papers are extremely expensive plus the cost of a professional printer, software etc.).
You will not become a master printmaker overnight, however, the difficulty is not in the technique, which is relatively easy to master, it is in you whether you will be able or not to critically assess your own prints. This can be improved viewing work from others, visiting art galleries or trading pt-pd prints with other photographers, and developing your own artistic vision. The second issue is purely financial. If you manage to sell your work, you can make enough money to try different techniques and experiment with different papers, double coating, different mixtures etc.
Making fine art images will also teach you conservation mounting and framing, editioning and, for those interested, custom printing for other fellow photographers and artists, further enhancing your skills. I find my own experience in platinum so far extremely satisfying and I wish the same for you. Feel free to let me know what you think of these articles and in case of problems or doubts please do not hesitate to contact me through my web site.
