Can money be made making and selling 8x10 B&W darkroom prints?

Something I have been wondering about for a while is the next logical question - could you build a marketplace for quality B&W prints? I think it's fair to say that for the above mentioned reasons (bulk cheap prints to tourists, inkjets, facebook, etc) there is little reason for the average consumer to desire a nice (ie, expensive) print. What if you focused on just those that would desire quality prints through an online marketplace? Does anything like this exist? Obviously you can buy prints from 500px, Deviant Art, etc, but those are places that photography "insiders" go, and those are just generic prints. Is there some sort of online, silver-print focused, semi-curated, fine art print marketplace? If so, would that be something you would consider OP (68degrees) and others?
 
jsrockit said:
Someone honestly thought this?
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Yes, on another forum!

But it is just a another sub-section of 'the world owes me a living' syndrome. I saw an advert for a wedding photographer who proudly said something to the effect of 'I use the best Canon pro-equipment', as a testament to how good he was,...... presumably.

To the OP, it is always a good idea to see if you can add something that sets you apart, or add's value, but in a dog eat dog world that should be the thing that makes the customer even happier, not something that increases the cost or is the raison d'etre. So if you can put out great photographs that somebody would buy anyway as an inkjet print, then you could very well go a step further and get one over on the opposition with archival silver bromide prints on baryta paper. But make it part of the package, not the package.
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
Oh I have never made 100k a year. Actually, I have never made enough to even be considered middle class, except for the couple years I lived in Santa Fe and that was mostly from commercial work (I did a LOT of very well-paid commercial work out there). Before I moved to Santa Fe, I actually ended up homeless. After coming back to Indiana, I have come close to ending up there a few times! It has been a terrible struggle. I'd be happy to make 30k a year right now. In Fort Wayne that is actually good money, since most jobs here pay less than $8 an hour. Housing is so cheap here that you can live well on 30k. When I was in high school, my father made 50k a year, and I was one of the 'rich kids', believe it or not!
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Don't give up, Chris!
 
V-12 said:
So if you can put out great photographs that somebody would buy anyway as an inkjet print, then you could very well go a step further and get one over on the opposition with archival silver bromide prints on baryta paper. But make it part of the package, not the package.
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Yes, I think that's what it comes down to...
 
68degrees said:
Is there any money to be made simply by making and selling 8 x 10 b&w darkroom prints of your own original interesting photos? As art. Like a musician may sell his homemade CDs and so forth.? Is anyone doing this?
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Not easily. Unless you're very, very good and put a lot of effort into selling.

Cheers,

R.
 
skibeerr said:
I personally know two guy's in Belgium who tried to make a difference with 8x10 alongside their normal activities as photographers. They both stopped because of lack of interest.

There is one who survives by selling contacts of 8x10 portraits of tourists in a 19th century heritage museum, Bokrijk.

In short, don't loose the day job.
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It's a mix of: a) knowing your audience, b) the audience knowing you, c) sales-pitch, d) knowing your audience.


Most people have an audience of one(self). Sometimes, that audience resonates outside the self, and if they don't know you personally before becoming "known" they'll feel more comfortable buying.

Once you get your foot in the door, it's a matter of advancing. Some doors have very sharp edges, though, and you gotta keep on trying --depending on how fast and well wounds heal.
 
Since your obviously an enthusiast now and spending money on your interest, the thing to do now while the market is down is to continue to work on your portfolio (and abilities) seeking to get a number of images available if and when the market picks up; It'll actually be when. I'd also advise to look thru some of the work over in the largeformatphotography.info forum (http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/) and scroll down to image sharing and discussion and pick a category of interest. Get a drink and cruise thru 40 or 50 pages and look at some of the work in any category. I'm sure it will enlighten you as to what one can strive to accomplish. Just be sure to watch out for Gas attacks.
What I have been able to determine over the years is that unless your in commercial photography and working for someone, most will probably just wind up a poor starving artist most times. Even some of the greats died poor. Keep a good day job and sell on the side.
 
That's a good suggestion, wayne. Unfortunately, the quality of the large format work over there has dwindled somewhat: a great pity.
 
There is some good advice here. I think it's true that it takes a long time to build up any sort of business based on your own creativity. Very very very few people in the world make a living solely on their creative work, and most of those who do have had to work at it for a long time to get there.
 
Snowbuzz said:
That's a good suggestion, wayne. Unfortunately, the quality of the large format work over there has dwindled somewhat: a great pity.
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If you start at the front of just about any thread, especially Landscapes and Flowers, you'll see some work for me that would define what a sale-able art print can be. Not all are great obviously, but there is a lot of very good images there that exhibit some nice compositions and tonal ranges in b&w. For an artist that wants to sell I beleive it's important to talk to other artists and to review other work often. It always inspires me to shoot, and I gain alot by seeing what is being produced.

I might add that the trend for some to move into antique lenses over at LFF.org didn't do anything for me per se' and I agree with you. Some of the work is too swirly and soft for me, although in the right hands some of it is very nice.
 
Someone made a comment earlier about the photograph being hand-crafted as being a viable marketing tactic for silver gelatin over inkjet. I'm not so sure if that's a viable approach, especially given how close inkjet can look to silver prints once matted behind glass, and the distance that a framed print represents, a kind of barrier between the viewer and the work, since the print isn't presented as a tactile, physical object.

Given a resurgence of interest in historic photographic processes, I'd think doing wet plate collodion commercially would offer an opportunity for presenting a type of photography that digital can't easily imitate, a real physical object created with a very hands-on approach, especially if offered as portraits.

~Joe
 
JoeV said:
Someone made a comment earlier about the photograph being hand-crafted as being a viable marketing tactic for silver gelatin over inkjet. I'm not so sure if that's a viable approach, especially given how close inkjet can look to silver prints once matted behind glass, and the distance that a framed print represents, a kind of barrier between the viewer and the work, since the print isn't presented as a tactile, physical object.

Given a resurgence of interest in historic photographic processes, I'd think doing wet plate collodion commercially would offer an opportunity for presenting a type of photography that digital can't easily imitate, a real physical object created with a very hands-on approach, especially if offered as portraits.

~Joe
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Dear Joe,

How different would a contact print from a 12x15 inch wet-collodion negative look from a contact print from 12x15 inch dry gelatine negative on the same paper? Especially behind glass?

Cheers,

R.
 
Thinking of USPs, is there any inkjet or laser paper that can match a well glazed single weight bromide?

I ask because I used to work with a bloke who consistently out-sold the rest of us on the same patch. He put his his success down to continuing to hand in SWG prints, when the rest of us had changed to resin coated.

Of course, he could just have been winding us up...

😉
 
68degrees said:
However my curiosity was more digital vs analogue preferences among buyers and computer made vs human hand made.
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Does optical wet print really have more human element than something that has been digital at some point?

Neither of those technologies create the images by themselves. Computer and enlarger are just tools that are used by people to achieve the goals they have set for themselves. If digital inkjet prints are just something machinen made, then I'd say that wet prints are also machine made.

That said... I feel that there is some value to wet prints, but it isn't that they have somehow magically more human element involved. It's just that I like them. I quess that for over 95% of people there is no difference at all though.
 
bigeye said:
Great member name!

90% of commercial success is creating good artwork. The other 90% of the effort is selling it.

- Charlie
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So it takes 180%? No wonder I haven't achieved success -- I've only been putting in 110% 😉
 
I'm in a half dozen high end galleries and sales have dropped dramatically last year. Individuals are tightening up on the purse. On the other hand corporate sales are better than ever. I'm in the process of producing over one hundreds large prints from my vintage documentary stock for a hotel and will be doing a second one. I'm also selling images to decorate the bar in a restraint / bar chain in new England. I also just sold images to two Westin hotels that will be reproduced 13' in size and another coming shortly.

Sales come from my galleries For individuals and corporate. My website generates more corporate sales than anything. It's the individual sales that are hurting.

My wife is a very established oil painter and had a good show in Nashville TN last Nov. it was good but not up to previous shows.

Part of the problem is tight money and a lot of folks out of work. There's also a lot of fear of another recession. Previously many people lived on credit for the extras. When the crash came they found themselves tighter on money and got in credit card trouble. Many two income families lost one income and people with good incomes like $50 up an hour jobs got laid off and if they're lucky enough to get a job it's ofte. At $8-10 an hour. In general the cost of living is rising faster than incomes.

Corporations on the other hand are richer than ever if they survived the crash. They've cut costs through layoffs and working the remaining employs harder. They have money to spend if they want to.

Just my take on the situation.
 
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