Weekly Poll: Do you sell your photographs?

[WooD]

Strange this thread came up when it did. I got home from work about an hour ago, checked my mail, and found that a surfer bought ever shot I had of him. I had 20 in all. He bought only 4x6 shots but after smugmug took their share I still ended up with a profit of $47.80. Not bad considering I ended up getting paid for enjoying a day at the beach doing something I love.

I sell alot more shots than I ever dreamed I could.

How I started:

I was sitting around one day thinking how I could make a few bucks with my photography. Nature shots are my all time favorite, but its hard to get them out there for people to see. Then it hit me.......KIDS! Everyone loves to have pictures of their kids. Sure almost everyone has a digital of some kind, and already has thousands of pics of their kids. So I was kinda back to square one. Then I thought kids, and sports. Not many average parents has the equipment to get decent sport shots. So I had some cards printed up, and headed to the ball field one day. I asked one of the coaches if it was OK to shoot their game, no worries.

Within an hour I had over a dozen parents come up to me asking who I was, if I sold my pics, and if I could get some of their son. Before that game was over I had a coach from another field ask me if there was anyway I could shoot his game that next morning. That's pretty much the way I got started.
I've never approached anyone trying to make a sell. I just show up, and let them come to me. Seems if you show up anywhere with a long lens people get interested. I've honestly had several people ask if I was with ESPN.

I could triple my sells if I ever take the time to learn about soccer. Its really big around here, but to get good shots you need to know the game well. So for the time being, I'll stick with baseball, and surfing.

I don't ever see myself being able to make a living with photography, but its nice to be able to offset the cost of my gear.

[Claggy]

I've seen a few people say they are selling their photos to iStockPhotos or something like that. Selling your photos as stock? That's odd XD

[TerryL]

Don't forget, if you are selling photos, or using your camera in your business, you can take your expenses off your taxes, that includes cameras, lenses, gas, travel and lots more, I think you have 3 years to make a profit.

[Claggy]

Originally Posted by WooD

Strange this thread came up when it did. I got home from work about an hour ago, checked my mail, and found that a surfer bought ever shot I had of him. I had 20 in all. He bought only 4x6 shots but after smugmug took their share I still ended up with a profit of $47.80. Not bad considering I ended up getting paid for enjoying a day at the beach doing something I love.

I sell alot more shots than I ever dreamed I could.

How I started:

I was sitting around one day thinking how I could make a few bucks with my photography. Nature shots are my all time favorite, but its hard to get them out there for people to see. Then it hit me.......KIDS! Everyone loves to have pictures of their kids. Sure almost everyone has a digital of some kind, and already has thousands of pics of their kids. So I was kinda back to square one. Then I thought kids, and sports. Not many average parents has the equipment to get decent sport shots. So I had some cards printed up, and headed to the ball field one day. I asked one of the coaches if it was OK to shoot their game, no worries.

Within an hour I had over a dozen parents come up to me asking who I was, if I sold my pics, and if I could get some of their son. Before that game was over I had a coach from another field ask me if there was anyway I could shoot his game that next morning. That's pretty much the way I got started.
I've never approached anyone trying to make a sell. I just show up, and let them come to me. Seems if you show up anywhere with a long lens people get interested. I've honestly had several people ask if I was with ESPN.

I could triple my sells if I ever take the time to learn about soccer. Its really big around here, but to get good shots you need to know the game well. So for the time being, I'll stick with baseball, and surfing.

I don't ever see myself being able to make a living with photography, but its nice to be able to offset the cost of my gear.

That's a GREAT idea! I may have to do that when I get the energy for it... and as soon as our house sells I'll be living right next to all the baseball fields What type of gear would you use for something like that?

[waffles]

Originally Posted by TerryL

Don't forget, if you are selling photos, or using your camera in your business, you can take your expenses off your taxes, that includes cameras, lenses, gas, travel and lots more, I think you have 3 years to make a profit.

What happens if you don't make a profit?

[WooD]

Originally Posted by Claggy

That's a GREAT idea! I may have to do that when I get the energy for it... and as soon as our house sells I'll be living right next to all the baseball fields What type of gear would you use for something like that?

Nikon D80, but any body wood work OK. The lens I started with was a 80-200 F/2.8 which works perfect for the little kid ball fields since they play on a much smaller field. That lens also works too good on a full size field if you can get a spot right behind 1st or 3rd base. Then I bought a 300 f/4 for the times I have to shoot from the outfield.

[WooD]

Originally Posted by TerryL

Don't forget, if you are selling photos, or using your camera in your business, you can take your expenses off your taxes, that includes cameras, lenses, gas, travel and lots more, I think you have 3 years to make a profit.

This is most interesting news. Since this past April I've spent........well its shocking!

Wood a person have to have some sort of business license to claim these expenses?

[Claggy]

Originally Posted by WooD

Nikon D80, but any body wood work OK. The lens I started with was a 80-200 F/2.8 which works perfect for the little kid ball fields since they play on a much smaller field. That lens also works too good on a full size field if you can get a spot right behind 1st or 3rd base. Then I bought a 300 f/4 for the times I have to shoot from the outfield.

Alright cool I may be getting a 70-300mm lens soon, so that should work OK until I get a higher quality one.

[TerryL]

Originally Posted by waffles

What happens if you don't make a profit?

From what I understand if you don't make a profit in three years, than you can not take any more deductions from your taxes, you would want to check with a tax person to get all the info, because I use my camera and lenses in the course of selling Real Estate, I write it all off, but I have always made a profit.

[hitkaiser]

Most of the shots are on flickr, there is a little note on my flickr profile mentioning that prints are available alongside an email address to contact me.

I made my email available on flickr since september which resulted in 2 sales (which were used by large companies) making me a decent amount (enought to buy me a manfrotto tripod which some left over).

However no-one has ever approached me again. Perhaps I could market my photos better by making my account more attractive (keeping only the best best photos) but photography is more of a hobby right now and I'm not too concerned about it (I still however always welcome an extra income to buy me some new lenses!).

I've tried a couple of stock websites, istockphoto kept rejecting my images and bigstockphoto accepted most of those submitted... but they are't being sold - I've had one download in months meaning I've earnt $1 !! I'm not just a stock photographer, I'd rather sell a few random images for a higher price than count my pennies on stock sites.

As mentioned, most of my shots are on flickr and could perhaps benefit from some "editing" to make my photography look more attractive... I've been sort of trying this approach on zooomr (http://www.zooomr.com/photos/hitkaiser) uploading a smaller number of photos and only those which were popular on my flickr account.

I think the biggest problem with selling photos on sites such as zooomr/flickr is that it is not convinient to sell them. Individuals have to know how to find an email address and spend time writing an email and waiting for a response. A number of emails could be sent back and forth before the sale is made. It would make more sense if it was automated, where users could directly purchase them directly on site - zooomr has "promised" to provide this sort of functionality but it probably won't be ready in the near future.