selling photos are "Arts and Crafts Shows"

[Ted Harris]

Kirk and Tim are right on the money. My total sales at the two big Christmas fairs I go to generally cover my production costs to make stock for the shows and maybe a few dollars more, when I say a few dollars more I mean like at best $100 or 200. If it were not for the exposure the shows give me, exposure that leads (usually) to more profitable work, I am not sure I would keep on doing them. For example, I did get several thousand dollars worth of commissions from people who viewed my work at these shows and chatted with me, people I otherwise probably never would have met.

Many years ago I used to do a lot more art fairs, etc. However, it didn't take long to realize that 1) the cost of producing fairly large framed and matted prints was seldom, if ever, recovered ... tht along with the fact that people frequently expect to pay less at one of these shows than they would pay in a gallery. At the time, some 25-30 years ago, I was represented by a good gallery in Georgetown, DC and I soon realized that all I was doing was undercutting my own sales.

[Bill McMannis]

The art show is a tough way to go and many drop out after a season or two. My key reason for pointing out Mr. Parshall is he has been at it for more than a decade. He must have something going to stick at it.

[Mark Sampson]

Tim, you were right, it was Phil Borges. I was quite impressed by his work from Tibet. Perhaps he said that he used the income from his orthodontia practice to *start* his photojournalism career, (this lecture was 5 or 6 years back) but even so... more power to him.

[darr]

"The art show is a tough way to go and many drop out after a season or two. My key reason for pointing out Mr. Parshall is he has been at it for more than a decade. He must have something going to stick at it."

He probably writes off his travel expenses through his craft show business. As long as you show a profit once in five years, IRS will legitimize this type of art business as a *business* and not as a hobby. A good CPA can give a lot of good guidance about this, but with his background as a banker I am sure he is on top of the best way to spend his retirement dollars to his advantage.

[Bill McMannis]

Darr,

You are correct about the accounting and writing off travel expenses.

I am convinced, however, that he is covering his expenses including travel to Europe. One only needs to attend an art fair and see his prints being carried out by happy fair goers. He is usually the top seller at any fair he attends.

Is his work art? That is very subjective. Should other photographers be annoyed with his success? He is producing images that people are happy to hang in their homes. I personally really like my large print he created of Toledo Spain. I would like to photograph the city myself, but it is unlikely I will be able to go there.

[Paddy Quinn]

You are correct about the accounting and writing off travel expenses.

I am convinced, however, that he is covering his expenses including travel to Europe.

I think it depends on what you mean by "covering his expenses including travel to Europe"

Is it covering all his photographic, equipment and printing costs? Is it covering his air fares/hotel/apartment/travel/vehicle rental bills etc? Food and other expenses? Presumably he has a home in the US (probably mortgage free?) - is it covering all the associated costs of that while he is away? Is it covering a realistic monthly stipend (or are we living off savings/investments here?).

I may be wrong, but I doubt it is covering all those. No doubt a nice chunk gets covered by the sales, and other expenses are probably also tax deductable, but I would venture the work is still being subsidised by his other investments and savings and that he could not otherwise make a living from print sales alone.

[Wayne Crider]

I am a frequent attendee at most local shows and try to watch and follow the action around the booths. Sometimes I will return at the end of the show and see what has been sold, and I always try and talk to the photographer when there is no one around. You can gain alot of information just standing around bs'ing for awhile while praising the work. There are those that do well and those that struggle. I many times find that it is the decorative art that sells better, and the scenes such as shown at Parshall's site is exactly what women are looking for, women being the largest group of buyers. Other booths that attract crowds and buyers are nature oriented.

One particular photographer that I had seen, had scenes such as Parshall's, with some prints as large as 30x40 and business was brisk. His 8x10's were priced at, from what I remember, something like $60 ea or 3 for $100 and the ladies were snatching them up. European scenes are the favorite from what I have noticed.

[Kirk Gittings]

Wayne,

To cover your equipment, shooting, travel, printing, framing, show travel, taxes, insurance and booth fee expenses you would have to sell a boat load of prints at those prices at every show you go to.

[Brian Ellis]

Ted Harris said" "If it were not for the exposure the shows give me, exposure that leads (usually) to more profitable work, I am not sure I would keep on doing them. "

Ted brings up a good point that I should have mentioned. In the course of my investigation I met a guy who spends a month or two in Spain each year photographing, then sells the results at fairs and craft type shows for four or five months each year. He said that he doesn't make a lot of money from sales at the shows but he's building a list of people who like his work and he then sells more work to them with mailings. His goal was to build up a big enough list so that he could quit the fairs and sell only to private collectors.

And to w.g., thanks very much for the kind words.

[bglick]

When many of us start out in the field of fine-art photography and visit art fairs and galleries, there is a mindset of "wishful thinking" that occurrs. It's hard to beleive people would do all this work and expend all this money in time and equipment for any other reason then to make a profit.

Yet, like so many other artist in other fields, in the end, if the artist can afford it, are happy to have an audience at any cost to them. 10 years ago, this was a hard pill for me to swallow, but now, I have come to accept the reality of just how hard it is. Not much different then musicians who will play gigs in clubs for less money then the it costs them move all the equipment in / out of the club....