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Thread: Marketing Platinum Portraits in 11x14 , Is this posible and then How?

  1. #11

    Join Date
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    Re: Marketing Platinum Portraits in 11x14 , Is this posible and then How?

    The marketing hook for this is taking people's photo with a ULF camera. You are selling an experience and that is the crucial part of it, not any of the method that happens behind closed doors. I don't think any clients will know or care about the difference between a platinum or selenium toned silver print. Both will last 100 years + so you'll be long dead before there are any issues with either.

    The only portrait photographer who's model I would recommend studying is Bradford Rowley https://www.bradfordportraits.com/

    He has a facebook group called 'the gold group' that gives a lot of information on how to create a high level experience.

    Not because his work is good, because it really isn't, but because he has developed a model that seems to take lots of money out of rich people's pockets very effectively.

    First lesson - most clients don't really know genuinely good work from a hole in the ground.

    Second lesson: Create a product that adds value from the typical portrait experience. In his case digital portraits printed onto canvas and the over painted with oils, I actively hate his work but it seems to sell.

    Third lesson just look at how awful this work is https://www.bradfordportraits.com/copy-of-dress-code but it full of signifiers of wealth and status. If you want to run a successful portrait business there is a lot to learn from this approach.

  2. #12

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    Oct 2013
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    Re: Marketing Platinum Portraits in 11x14 , Is this posible and then How?

    Quote Originally Posted by Tobias Key View Post

    The only portrait photographer who's model I would recommend studying is Bradford Rowley https://www.bradfordportraits.com/

    Third lesson just look at how awful this work is https://www.bradfordportraits.com/copy-of-dress-code but it full of signifiers of wealth and status. If you want to run a successful portrait business there is a lot to learn from this approach.
    Yikes! They look like overpriced digital shots, heavily retouched in Photoshop.

  3. #13

    Join Date
    Aug 2011
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    Los Angeles
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    Re: Marketing Platinum Portraits in 11x14 , Is this posible and then How?

    Oy, he should get a couple of different backdrops! Definitely a style… repeated again and again and again. It doesn’t even look as though the “team” directs or takes enough shots to be sure everyone looks good. I’m sure Bradford is very well compensated.
    Here’s a thought: it sounds like this business activity is something you really want to do. Does it need to earn income? I ran a photo related side business for a few years. I had fun, I think I broke even when i decided to quit. Completely worth it to me personally.
    If you’re planning on trying to make this your main gig, that’s going to be challenging. Write a business plan, do a ton of market research and hustle hustle hustle. As mentioned above the techniques used to arrive at the final presentation are not likely to be of much importance to your potential clients though they are to you, IMHO.

  4. #14

    Join Date
    Jan 2019
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    775

    Re: Marketing Platinum Portraits in 11x14 , Is this posible and then How?

    I don’t know if there’s a wide enough market that will appreciate pt/pd so as to seek it out and pay for it. Maybe something more different, like collodion portraits, would attract more people. I get that may not be what you want to do but I think you could sell 11x14 collodion positives on glass for a pretty penny.

  5. #15
    multiplex
    Join Date
    Feb 2001
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    local
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    Re: Marketing Platinum Portraits in 11x14 , Is this posible and then How?

    the idea that a regular person on the street would be some sort of connoisseur about photography is kind of strange. most people where I live ( near RISD and Boston )
    that I have run across don't really care about most of the things that photographers tend to argue about, they don't put their nose to the glass and examine grain &c.
    Last edited by jnantz; 3-Nov-2021 at 20:37.

  6. #16
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Dec 2011
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    22,319

    Re: Marketing Platinum Portraits in 11x14 , Is this posible and then How?

    All sales, especially face to face are actually mesmerism

    Charismatic people can sell any product

    How good are you at that?

    I prefer to give away a few prints

    very few
    Tin Can

  7. #17

    Re: Marketing Platinum Portraits in 11x14 , Is this posible and then How?

    So many different approaches.

  8. #18
    Tracy Storer's Avatar
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    Oakland CA
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    Re: Marketing Platinum Portraits in 11x14 , Is this posible and then How?

    I would say your best marketing tool would be a strong portfolio of work like what you're trying to sell. If your portraits are not strong, a hard push on the process will only get you so far.
    And don't let your target audience catch wind of your self described "amateur" handle here. (not really joking)

    There are a handful of folks who use a description of one process or another in their marketing, and it can sound pompous if you're not careful.

    Best of luck.
    T
    Tracy Storer
    Mammoth Camera Company tm
    www.mammothcamera.com

  9. #19
    Drew Wiley
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    Sep 2008
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    SF Bay area, CA
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    18,318

    Re: Marketing Platinum Portraits in 11x14 , Is this posible and then How?

    There are still niche opportunities in portraiture. But one has to be able to deliver a commensurate level of quality. The kind of people you need can indeed tell the difference. When I intermittently took portrait commissions, they were priced per print, mounted and generally framed, just like any other fine art piece, and priced the same way too - expensively. Small fish aren't worth the time and effort unless it's a personal favor. Pt/Pd work is expensive to do; lots of younger folk get into it around here in terms on contact printing, but most of it just ends up looking artsy/craftsy; and they soon run low on funds and move on to something else. And yes, a real-deal portfolio makes all the difference in the world. The web is overwhelmed with competing stuff; and it's really difficult to assess actual quality in that manner.

    But until you actually master the craft, and achieve some kind of signature look, you don't have the right fishhook to begin with. Of course, there is no crime in learning as you go. But making real money at it is another matter entirely. You first have to become a real printmaker.

  10. #20
    Lachlan 717
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
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    2,591

    Re: Marketing Platinum Portraits in 11x14 , Is this posible and then How?

    Portraits aren’t like landscapes - they are limited in their audience to the sitter and their circle of family/friends/associates. I’m not going to look through your catalogue and order a copy of Joe Blogg’s image.

    So, you’re reliant on new revenue rather than recurring revenue.

    When this is in relation to a particularly niche process, I doubt there is a market for it. How will you attract new clients to pay a premium in enough volume to make this successful? How will you have a large enough “pool” of potential clients? One city will not have enough potential customers to sustain this, so you’ll be asking people to pay for travel so that they can pay a premium for a process that has limited market knowledge.

    Nup; no way I’d invest in a project like this….
    Lachlan.

    You miss 100% of the shots you never take. -- Wayne Gretzky

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