Any Advice for Pricing Prints for my own Gallery?

[ryan_bolger]

<p>So I am opening up my own fine art Landscape and Urban photography gallery. My initial vision was for it to be more like a print store. A ton of Great Photography blown up printed on metallic Paper and then displayed on Gatorfoam. Small prints from 5x7 to vary large prints of 24x36 and also 5x30 panoramics. I like the simpleness and the look of the Metallic prints on Gatorfoam or foam core. I'm torn on how to price my work. I want everyone to be able to purchase my work. I don't want to be too low and come off as cheap. But I don't want to be super Fine Art and price to high. However, over the past 10 years I have put my all into my photography. I went through Columbia College Chicago and The Brooks Institute of Photography. Photography is my life. It's not just my passion. I work hard and I only continue to get stronger and better. I have a nitch because there is no other photography galleries anywhere around where my gallery will be. Any adivice. For what it's worth the gallery is going to be in a beach town that gets very very busy in the summer and it's 1 hour from downtown Chicago on the shores of Lake Michigan. I mean I know I'm not on Peter Lik's level, not yet but I hope and aspire to be one day. There is another Photographer who has a gallery on Michigan Ave in Chicago named Cesar Russ and he sells great photography prints printed on cotton paper for prices that don't break wallets you know. I like that Idea. What do you think? Any advice would be very much appreciated. I look forward to your comments.</p>

[JAPster]

<p>It sounds like you need to at least make enough $ to cover the costs involved in making the metallic prints and running the gallery. So I would suggest you sit down and carefully calculate as accurately as you can what those costs are. Try to be as realistic as you can. If you sell enough prints to make enough $$ to cover that amount, then you are just 'breaking even', you are not making a profit. If you make more $$ than that cost, then you are in the black (ie, made some profit. If you make less than that amount, then you will be in the red (losing money). Unless you have a large cash fund to keep the gallery afloat, you will not be able to keep losing money indefinitely before reality sets in and you have to close your gallery. So a starting point might be to figure out all the costs associated with making the prints you plan to display, and the costs for operating the gallery on a monthly basis. That will at least give you a basepoint.</p>

[ryan_bolger]

<p>Thank you Alan. I really appreciate your advice. I have done that. I'm not so worried about the expenses of keeping the gallery open as I am of creditability and being respected as a passionate creative hard working person. ya know. Basically I want it to be a hit and i know it will be. It will be very unique and original. But my frustrations comes to decide on sell fairly low for all people or sell high and market it to a certain type of people. Ya know. Should I start High and work low if I have to? I mean I guess it's better then starting low and going high ya know</p>

[JAPster]

<p>To offer another suggestion, I had an old friend tell me onetime, when considering the question of how much to charge people for taking pictures, he said - figure out how much its going to cost you, then multiply that by 2.5X and charge that much. Then, take out 10% and put that into savings to buy future equipment. So, a rather arbitrary way is to simply charge 2.5X what it cost you to produce the photo. Whether or not that's high-end or low-end, somebody else can figure that out.</p>

<p>You also should consider the consumer demographics of the area in which your gallery is located. For example, if you are seeking to establish a "high end picture shop" in an area that is dominated by low-middle-class people, then you might be making the prices too high. You have to remember that many middle-class people are still very cautious about spending, since we are just now beginning to come out of the worst recession since WW-II. If I walked into a nice photo gallery, and saw some great pictures, I still would look quite carefully at the sticker price. And if the sticker price seemed too high, I simply would not buy it, no matter how great a photo it was. Because the other side of my brain is still concerned about paying for things that are essential like gas and electricity and water. You can probably get some good statistics about the consumer demographics of your county by going down to the local courthouse and/or public library and asking around.</p>

[ryan_bolger]

<p>I totally agree with you. I had this very long conversation with another gallerists last night and we talked for hours about it. It's going to be my work, not other artist's work in my gallery. I'm a man of the people. Fine Art cool Photography for people's homes and offices and whatever they want without the Fine Art Price. But I still don't want to sell myself short. I mean I feel I shoot quality work just because I care a great deal about what I do and take it with pride to be the best I can be and get better. I'll figure it out. I'll test things out It's always been the hardest thing for me to price my own work. I've taken the time and sacrificed a lot to decide to make this my thing. And in some other galleries I go into a person who one day picks up a camera photographs a flower prints it up and frames it tries to sell an 8x10 for 200.00 with no professional or education experience. Ya know? I worked really hard to have my name have a value to it. And I hope my work emits a quality to it. I just want to make sure I respect all my hard work I've put into my thing the last 10 years and into the future.</p>

[tonybynum]

If i'm being completely honest with you Ryan, i did not see anything in your landscape or fine art

galleries on your website that would sell very well (my opinion as a gallery owner in the west - Glacier

Park) - or at least I dont know what market youre trying to appeal to. In the galleries i looked at, your

colors are way off and your images are way over processed, particularly in your images of the west.

Gallery art is very very tricky and art buyers are finicky, you need to focus and produce more material

that has better appeal and more sales potential. Great schools and shooting from the heart and making

photography your "life" is not the same as running a business, even if it's a art gallery, especially if you

want to make a profit. If you dont need to make money none of it matters so hang what makes you

happy.

 

Having a gallery all on it's own may seem like a good thing but in the gallery business more is better,

not less. In other words, 5 galleries all having different material is better than one having some prints. . .

I also dont know of anyone buying prints on gator board and while metallic paper is cool, and I use it on

a few of my own images, I dont see that as a real selling point. . . I think you would be better off putting

your efforts into the web and selling to a much larger pool than building a physical art gallery.

[ryan_bolger]

<p>Thank you for your advice. It means a lot. I'm determined to make it work. I respect your opinion. I really do. I like the look. I'm sorry technically is doesn't please you. But I will use your opinion to look deeply into what Im doing and push to get better. Thanks Tony</p>

[ryan_bolger]

<p>Tony do you have any advice on trying to sell on the web?</p>

[tonybynum]

yes, as for the web, you cant do just one thing. . . you have to put together a great body of work then

sell it . . . there likely are lots of models but the only one that i know is the organic way. . . start small,

with your friends and the people you know would be interested in your images. Get a nice online gallery

together and put it up on a blog - with a link to you website, you also can get a facebook account and

start driving traffic to your images.

 

It's a long haul for most . . . you really should start with a simple plan in the beginning - start small,

with the people you know and the people who will buy your images. Hit some local trade fairs, do some

editorial work, get your images out "there" so people can see them. You'll soon find out what people

like and what they are not so much inclined to buy. . . it's always surprising what people want vs what

you might think is good. . .

 

I'm sorry for the harshness of my first post, it sounded a bit too mean spirited but i assure you it is

meant to good spirit. . there's NO sense in watching a ton of money do down the drain - i'm not saying

that's what would happen but when you look at the number of gallerys and what's selling and what's not,

now more then ever you need to be very careful. . . you need an outstanding slate of work and it should

be well organized. . . I'm not as well organized as I should be, in fact my site was built just for editorial

purposes and it's poor at that, the point is get a plan, ask more questions do some google searches

there's hundreds of great webinairs out there for free and a tone of great advise, much of it good in fact!

 

Tony

[ryan_bolger]

<p>Awesome Tony thanks buddy. It's all good Tony honesty is integrity. I would much rather have someone tell me my work isn't solid then to have someone lie and tell me they like it. I value people's opinions on my work and how I can get better. I do have a facebook account both personal and a Photography Fan Page. I also have a lot of work that is not on my website or blog. I'm going to be updating my website and critiquing better and stronger so that hopefully what is left is nothing but the strongest. And I will only continue to go out and shoot as much as I can. The beauty of being a photographer is that I'm sure you will agree every time we go out we get better. I've been working up a solid following and I only hope it grows. An image of mine was published in the sunday Chicago Sun Times recently so that always helps. I've been written up in newspaper a few times and have been featured on the radio a couple times. I just enabled a print store on my website so people can buy my work. I need to market it better and get it out there in the world. But first I have to update all the work and take some down that I no longer feel cut it. I'm a hound for information especially when it comes to photography. I will scour the web for more information on how to get better. Knowledge is key. I totally agree with you on what you said about "it's always surprising what people want vs what you might think is good" I have tens of thousands of Images. I just want to get some of them out there for the people to enjoy. So I can continue to do what I love most. Thanks for all of your great info.</p>

[Sunset-Lounge]

<p>It sounds like you're putting a gallery into a destination travel site? A beach town. Yes? Is so, I would emphasize photos of the area - recognizable sights of the place your gallery is in. People look for memories of the places they've been. Beaches, streets, board walks, restaurants... what ever can be made recognizable and beautiful photo at the same time.<br>

Beach towns and areas like that often have web sites put up by a chamber of commerce or other local business group. You could link up with them - offer some photos for their use in exchange for a place on their web site.<br>

As for your "already shot" 10,000 pictures I'd suggest putting up a running show. Slide show or computer display. You could do one in the window and one in side. (I'd use more upbeat music than on your web site - music that will keep people actively involved in viewing your slides, or your walls).<br>

You could also put up something friendly - like a photo booth with local scenery that can be "green screened" in. I prefer the old fashioned way - a crudely painted picture with holes to stick your head(s) through... but that's probably. One idea I've toyed with (if I was ever to own a gallery/studio) is to put a video camera facing out the front window. People looking into the camera would see... well - you could do all sorts of things with that.<br>

I guess what my main point is - it's nice to want to be considered a serious artist. But art speaks for itself... and the really good guys make it look easy. When you go on the street retail, even better than being well thought of is to keep the doors open - as in "make the rent" - as in make some money. You an only make money if you sell things people want.<br>

If low price/low margin things - you need to sell a LOT of them. If high price/high margin things - not so many... but you do need to sell things people will buy.<br>

I wish you much luck. A studio/gallery has always been a dream of mine, but in my area I would only do it if I could own the building. And then... there's the problem that I don't like interruptions... ahhh, but the dream lingers on...</p>

[ryan_bolger]

<p>Tom- I thank you for your wonderful and grand advice. Yes,A total beach town. I agree. I'm going to have a widescreen computer screen running a solid slide show. I'm also going to have a couple very nice digital frames running both Landscape and Urban shows as well. I was even thinking maybe a station for with an IPAD so people can easily browse images that aren't going to be on the walls. Just to make it a little more interactive and bright ya know. The area does have a Chamber of Commerce and also a County Visitor Center with a gallery in it and I will have a couple images in there. I will also talk to them about linking a website of info about my gallery on their website. I agree about having work that will sell. It's totally my vision to showcase the local landscapes. It truly is in a beautiful place. The Indiana National Lakeshore is stunning and filled with wonderful beaches,sand dunes, and great visuals. The locals and visitors love that kind of stuff. I have a bunch of work capturing those landscapes and those will hang on the walls along with the best of the best of my Landscape work. The space is two levels. The street level which I'm going to be showcasing Landscapes of bold colors and black and white in prints of all kinds. And the the lower level will be all Urban. The location especially in the summer is a huge hot spot for Chicagoans and I think it will be a great market. I'll work out the price. The fun part will be once I'm open finding out what people really like, want, and want to purchase. I'm sure I'll find a good starting price. Once I have all my work in my hands on my walls then I think it will be a lot easier to decide a price. I'm going to be offering Prints large and small wide and tall so I hope to cover a wide range of demographics and income levels. Thank you once again. And I shall keep you posted. I also have to so a lot of updating to my website. I have a lot more stronger work that needs to be on there. Life is all about living dreams. I hope that one day it all works out for you Tom.</p>

[theicon]

<p>I think you received very good advice from all the responses. Getting back to your initial inquiry regarding pricing, I think you may need to look at yourself through two roles: one as a photographer, one as a businessman. Once you separate the product from the business, focus on selling the product. First, I would recommend seeking other people's aesthetic advice (known friends <strong>and</strong> unknown persons) as sample survey (a starting point). When estimating costs of production, I think people tend to underestimate their labor. By this, I mean it's easy to come up with the costs of goods to produce a product, but you also need to look at how much time all this takes you (and/or the people working with you) to put it all together. Also, you may want to have various price points, whereby a person may love one of your pieces, not have the sufficient funds to buy it, but you don't want them walking out of you gallery empty handed. For example, you may want to offer a limited run in smaller sizes or printed in a different medium (printed with ink vs. photographic material or vice versa). As a business owner, you want any potential client to leave with something, even if it's just your website or a printed handout. I wish you good fortune.</p>

[ryan_bolger]

<p>Great advice Luis thank you very much. I agree I want to appeal to all people with budgets small and large.</p>

[Sunset-Lounge]

<p>You did not mention if yours will be the only gallery of its kind in the area. that would make a big difference in how much leeway you have in pricing certain items. also, if yours would be the only place to buy certain kinds of pictures (I'm thinking postcards,etc... low priced souvenirs). you need to be aware of where you fit in the local mix... and in that way, also what part you play in that mix.</p>