Amateur - Selling prints via SmugMug (or another site)?

[CharlieJ]

I am an amateur photographer, who's been shooting off & on since I was a kid -- seriously, my first camera was a Mickey Mouse head 126, where Mickey's nose was the lens.

Over the years, I have had people offer to buy some of my photos. When I lived in Hawaii, I sold concert photos and scenic shots through the camera store, where I was employed. Lately, several *local* folks have offered to purchase my flower and dragonfly macro photos, to use on their personal computer. And, one guy wanted a shot I took in Huntington, WV to use in the menu for his restaurant.

Other than Hawaii and a wedding I shot for a friend, I've never tried to sell my photography. But, times are tough... and people are asking... so, I'm thinking about setting up a SmugMug gallery (or some other site) and offering some of the best of my photos for sale.

First, is that something amateurs, semi-pro or pro's do normally? I mean, NOT photos of people or photos the photog was hired to shoot... but just their artistry? I recently saw two photogs setup at area festivals - selling matted prints, framed prints, etc. I'm curious about online selling, tho.

Second, is there a norm for what to charge for something like a landscape or flower photo? It's not photojournalism, portraiture or lifestyle photography - just pictures of various things. I see SmugMug Pro allows photogs to set their own price. ???

Lastly, I'm still working towards starting my "A Day in the Life" photography (side-business) for Myrtle Beach and surrounding beaches. Would this type of offering enhance that idea or possibly, somehow cause issues?

THANKS for YOUR input!

I use Zenfolio, and haven't had a whole lot of success selling artsy prints. A few here and there, but nothing significant.

Also tried to sell some in a local shop, and haven't been very successful there either. The shop owners say they get good comments about them all the time (the last time I was there I even heard a customer say "wow, those are incredible"), and have even requested more photos (despite their lack of sales).

I've actually had better luck in the stock photography area. I always take several (sometimes hundreds) of similar shots during my studio sessions, and keep the best for art and dump an extra few on the stock photography sites. Again, it's not huge, but a few dollars a day is enough to keep me in lenses.

I did see someone at a local art fair do really well selling photos. I can't remember his name, but I remember thinking "All I have to do to sell a lot of prints is photograph flowers and fruit with a black background?" Simple, easy shots, and he's selling a ton of them. Makes me think I should start selling-out and start taking generic flower photos.

[Niresangwa]

I think for the initial investment in a prosumer account/shopping cart site, it's worth a try. That said, there are literally hundreds of thousands of people doing this. What is going to make your prints different than anyone else's?

Though in theory this seems like the easiest way to make a little pocket money in photography, by default that makes the toughest market. Even if your shots are spectacular, as PBG pointed out, people may coo over them and still not drop a few dollars to purchase it.

You can maybe count on the impulse buy of the physical print being in front of someone, but you dont have that in an online gallery. Unless you have a marketing system in place to steer people to the site with a mission to purchase, chances are it won't do much for you. Still, it's a low maintainance, low cost venture, so worth a try.

On another note, branching from your last post on the 'day in your life' project... it seems to me as a casual observer that though you wanted this to just be a sideline, you're constantly adding more and more work for yourself in order to keep it low key