How do you submit your photography work to Galleries for sale?
Judy A asked:
I’m new to photography and I meant another photographer who told me he sales some of his work at galleries.
I’m new to photography and I meant another photographer who told me he sales some of his work at galleries.
How do you submit to Galleries?
How do you find them?
Do you have to pay to submit anything???
I would really appreciate the help here!
try local art galleries or ask to sell in gas stations and post offices and even stores.
answer mine plz
Most art galleries are going to have some sort of on-line presence both for awareness and for sales. As well, there may be a local arts web site that may include a listing of local gallery happenings. At the beginning stage, you’ll want to stay local as it gives you the greatest opportunity for helping market any show or display you may have. Also, many galleries put a greater emphasis on local artists as those works tend to sell a bit better.
To submit, make an appointment and bring them a portfolio. A clean and well created portfolio. Don’t bring in a bunch of different sizes prints or only a portion mounted. Make them consistent and make them good. You don’t have a lot of time to sell yourself or your work, so give a great first impression on both.
As for your portfolio, it does not have to be mounted or framed but should be printed at or near the sizes you want to show or sell. Also, be prepared to talk about selling price.
You should not have to pay them anything as they get a commission on the sale of each work, usually 50%. Price your works accordingly. You may be asked to help pay for marketing, which is not uncommon, but don’t let them ask for too much.
There are a few vanity galleries that charge you for a show, usually in the neighborhood of many hundreds to a few thousand dollars. Avoid these at all costs. You’ll never recoup your investment.
Good Luck.
This is something I have done for a long time. The first place to start is at any local galleries. Visit the gallery to see the type of art they display. They may or may not be a “fit” for your work. You will usually always have to pay rental according to how much space you want to have, plus the gallery will take a commission from anything you sell, usually 40%, so you have to price your work to make a profit after the commission is taken out.
To get into galleries in different parts of the country, the easiest way is to go to Google and type in these words…
call for entries
This will bring up many sites and galleries seeking work for submission. It is simply a matter of following the requirements of the gallery. There will usually always be a theme they want photos to meet. Yes, there is in most cases a fee you must pay to submit your photos, whether they are chosen to be in the showing or not. So be prepared to lose some money in submission fees. If your photo(s) is selected to be in the gallery, it can mean you may have to send a print yourself and they will frame it, or you may have to print and frame it yourself, or some galleries will print your high resolution digital photos themselves. I prefer to have prints made by my lab so I know the quality is what it should be, but then, if it does not sell, you have to arrange for return shipping. If the photo sells out of the gallery exhibit, again there will be a commission to the gallery.
This can be a lot of work, but also a labor of love. It is very gratifying to have your work acknowledged by the art community. In time, you will fall into the “clique” and will be having galleries contact you with calls for entries. I have received two this week already, plus I have works submitted to 3 different exhibits around the country.
One word of reality though. Do NOT expect to get rich, or even make a living doing this. I know of NO one that makes a steady, living income from selling photos through galleries like this. So don’t quit your day job! lol Most photographers supliment their income with the usual portrait or wedding work, or just have other “real” jobs for steady income. I have sold as many as 4 photos in a couple of weeks, and have also gone for months and sold nothing.
So this is really something you do for the love of it and to be a part of the art community, don’t go into it expecting to make any real money.
Hope that helps you some. Here is my site if you want to browse some of my work:
steve