How to get into a gallery

**Don Miller** · 30-Sep-2007, 09:07

The closer you are to the mass of new photographers, the harder it becomes. Landscapes from a dlsr printed at 13x19? Your work needs to be at the very top of a huge "pyramid" of competitors.

Being capable of producing professional standard fine art photography is just the first step. (Much of what is shown at juried fine art fairs does not meet this standard). You also need to be differentiated and desirable to the galleries' customers.

It's very important to define goals: To have a profitable photography business? To say "I'm in a gallery"? To make some money by letting others sell your work? To have the satisfaction of having your work hang in homes and offices? To be "discovered"?

There's the art world, and there's the end customer. It's important to be able to define how your work realistically exists in relation to both.

**Jeffrey Sipress** · 30-Sep-2007, 09:56

You are wasting your time. One tenth of one percent of us get gallery space, at best. And even then, rarely does the photographer sell enough to recoup the costs of the printing, matting, framing, promotion, and all the expenses of searching and promoting, the reception food and drink, not to mention the commissions. If you don't personally know the gallery owners or his friends, the chances are near zero. You will lose money in addition to hundreds of hours of your life.

Sorry to be so blunt, but that is REALITY.

**tim atherton** · 30-Sep-2007, 10:24

Originally Posted by Jeffrey Sipress

framing, promotion, and all the expenses of searching and promoting, the reception food and drink.

although it varies - even at the high end - those are (or at least should be) gallery expenses

Interesting little piece on this in the recent PDN mentioned above . Two out of the three galleries in a detailed budget breakdown basically cover all of this. One covered very little of it, one covered quite a bit more than this

Which pretty much reflects my experience