How much do i sell my photos for at new art gallery?

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gerbilthemistake

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OK so a coworker of mine and his wife are leasing a place to open a small art gallery. the gallery will have different forms of art by local artists, he has accepted some of my photos. I will be printing out 12x18 of them and putting them on matboard. The gallery takes 35% of each sale so i am trying to figure out how much i should sell the prints for and what is reasonable for a photographer that is unknown.
 
most artist start at the low end. Ed Weston used to give his stuff away. Ansel sold for $25/per. An HCB will set you back $5000 (US) today.

Alot of famous photogs are going big prints today.

What is yours worth? I could not possibly tell you. You may want to consider pricing relative to the other exhibitors.
 
thanks everyone, yeah i am definitely not looking to make a profit out of this, so i think $50-100 is going to be fine with me. I guess really i'll just wait till the meeting i have with the owners and discuss what the average price range is to make sure im not out of the ballpark.
 
leicasniper said:
I would agree with Fred. Price them at $250 and see what happens. I usually gallery frame (black metal frame) and mat mine. Seems like a lot of people prefer these simple frames to fancy wood ones for photos, even if they buy them unmounted and have them mounted themselves.

Even if you don't end up selling many, pricing photos too low simply cheapens your art and encourages the too widespread idea that photography is not a serious art form.
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Exactly! When I started I priced my prints low. The gallery owner told me that was why they weren't selling - customers didn't value them. When I raised prices they started to sell. Just my HO.
 
gerbilthemistake said:
thanks everyone, yeah i am definitely not looking to make a profit out of this, so i think $50-100 is going to be fine with me. I guess really i'll just wait till the meeting i have with the owners and discuss what the average price range is to make sure im not out of the ballpark.
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Why don't you want to make a profit?
 
Well i'm not out to make a profit because i am new to all this and am right now just happy that it'll be in a gallery for people to see. I do not want to cheapen my art and your point does make a lot of sense. I will inform the owner of the gallery that the prices will start at $200 depending on size of print. Thanks again everybody, this experience should be fun.
 
gerbilthemistake said:
Well i'm not out to make a profit because i am new to all this and am right now just happy that it'll be in a gallery for people to see. I do not want to cheapen my art and your point does make a lot of sense. I will inform the owner of the gallery that the prices will start at $200 depending on size of print. Thanks again everybody, this experience should be fun.
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Sounds like you're headed in the right direction.
My limited experience has been that I tend to undervalue my work. I've been told a number of times that I was asking too little and only once have I had to lower a price to make a sale...and that was in a negotiation where the buyer wanted two prints and a discount based on that.
 
I almost lost a job because I was not charging enough. People said they were going to go with a studio more than twice my price, and then I told them I still might shoot the wedding as I worked for that studio.

I really do not think you will actually realize a profit, even at $250 a print when you figure your real bottom line, and do you want people leaving with a $100 print to hang in their house? Neither you nor they will end up satisfied.

What is the price of other work selling at this gallery? Are you paying part of the opening costs? The owners may well give you good advice.

Perhaps the real money these days is in matting and framing, probably, probably equaling the cost of the print in many places.

And I do recall that I could not afford an Adams original, at $500, but I am guessing that is saying more about my age. ;-)
 
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