What Now?

2014, it is coming to an end. I just went through my blog I did January 1st of this year, and all I can do is smile. I have forgotten that my New Years resolution was to get more nature photographs...I think I can say this is the first resolution I kept (without knowing it) and successfully did it. Though, I did forget to buy that hunting blind.

As of this time, with only a few weeks left in 2014, I am still on schedule for where I wanted to be. At the start of this year, I didn't see myself in a gallery or purchasing a new camera. I think I may even be slightly ahead what I original thought I would be. I went back to school for a Bachelors degree in Business management, purchased a full frame camera (Sony A7 mirrorless), and half way through the year started to build an inventory! When I did my taxes this year, I noticed there was something with inventory and I laughed saying that wont happen for a few years. Surprise, it happened the same year. For the past few months, I have building inventory to sell at craft shows and to be able to fill a gallery when I am featured.

Starting this year out, I had no more than four prints in my hands. Yes, FOUR PRINTS! Guess how many I have now...go ahead....have the number? I have fifty-three...yes that is 53 prints on hand and ready to sell, with another 7ish at the Art Gallery on display (either on site or one of their local partner locations). Ranging from 23"x62" to as small as 4"x6", and I am pretty damn proud about that. Another thing, each of them are more than just a print. Majority of them are ready to hang, and at the very minimum ready to be framed (they are already matted and mounted). To get to this point, did require me to take a negative this year. Luckily, this was planned mid-year so I knew that just ordering a few prints here and there will make it easier than ordering all the prints towards the end of the year.

So what now? In 2015, I have hopes to get into the Kenosha Harbor Market the very least, it not more, to sell images out of my own booth. You know how weird that sounds to me? Selling photos out of my own booth......it seems to much like a dream I can't even picture myself doing it right now. I now have the inventory, and now it's time to figure out how to get a booth setup and display my images. I may even try to get into a judged contest with an image or two, we'll see about that. Also, in February, Epson releases their new 13" printer and I will be jumping on that. I will enter the "doing my own prints" area...well at least for prints that are 13" or less in width. Length...I can print up to 108"!!!!!!!! I can do my own panoramas in February. It is going to be a huge step for me to be able to take think of a photo I want to take, go out and take it, process the image, and then print it the way I want. Fully making the image my own from start to image.....excites me as much as selling my prints at a market!

horicon marsh art for sale

In case it hasn't come through in my words, I am beyond excited for what has happened and what is coming. I knew I would be just okay with doing my photography in a way to just pay for the equipment, but this is just beyond what I expected. As cheesy as this sounds, it is because of those who purchases my images am I able to do this.... Seriously, 100% of the money has been turned around and put right back into my photography. I haven't paid myself with any of that money, it all goes back into my photography to be able to bring you higher quality images and for me to be able to share what I see through my lens.

This will also be the first year that I have chosen an image in which a percentage of profits will be donated to a local VFW chapter. This seriously only came to me today, simply because of me seeing it on paper allowed me to realize how strong the image is. The image is of dog tags from a war memorial in Milwaukee, WI. (click the link to see it). Someone purchased that image and I realized that it was money I didn't feel comfortable receiving for it, as I didn't earn the right to use it that way. So I hope this turns out well in 2015 as well.  Just thinking about it, I may visit a few and see if they would like a print to hang up on their walls while I'm at it.

This late night rant went longer than I thought it was going to, and I apologies again for not posting any new images with it. I do have high hopes in 2015 for my photography...and can't wait to see how it turns out.

Last Quarter of the Year Reflection

This blog will actually cover a number of things as I haven't posted since July when I joined the art gallery, and many things have changed.

So I'll start were I left off, the gallery. Since I have started in the gallery I have made many connections within the art world in Kenosha. I've learned so much of the art culture, that I couldn't believe how much of it was hidden in plain site! Just about every weekend is a gallery showing, local music, or a farmers market happening. It's amazing how communal this city is, but at the same time how it is hidden in plane view that you may not see it when you come here. I sure did. Also, I sold my first print last month in the gallery! It was such a great feeling receiving my first check and felt I reached another milestone in my photography.

At my day job, I have been constantly asked to work on my manager skills, organization skills, and over all more education. Another thing I found out myself, is that I lacked general business knowledge. I didn't really know how to record things, organize things, or even what options are out there to grow my business. I simply knew how to sell things and do a general decent job at marketing. So I reviewed my options and found a perfect opportunity with my work to go back to school and get a Bachelor of Science in Business Management with a concentration in Entrepreneurial Studies. This is a mutual gain for my day job and for my own business, and I have already started and just over halfway through my first set of classes.

Another new thing is I purchased the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X 116 Pro DX Autofocus Lens for Nikon DX-Format DSLRs. Why? I was missing my landscape pictures. I was missing being able to take a photograph and not having to take 4 images to capture the subject (even though the benefit was a very high res image for printing large prints). I reviewed many online videos and read many blogs about this lens, and decided this is what I wanted. I have to say that this lens is incredible for the price. Here is a sample image I took with it.

f/4 1/400sec ISO 100 16mm

So what new am I doing in the photography business subject? Building an inventory. I started this year with 5 products (5 different prints). These were to be used in the gallery and when sold, I take the profit and purchase more images. So I have been paying what I need to on the bills for the new purchases to where I draw no interest, and _all_....I repeat all of my extra money is going to buy prints. One of the things I need to have is product as next year, in August, I will be one of the featured artists that month and have a room dedicated to show my pieces. I wouldn't fill a wall with my current images, so to make sure I have a strong presentation I have started to build an inventory. This will also allow me to do flee markets, or similar things, next year if I choose to do that as well. So over the next months I will only be purchasing prints on sale days where I purchase my prints from. Just a last week I ordered 5 metal prints, each at 30% off!  I also have to renew all of my permits with the state this year as they are due every two years. This year, I plan on taking a loss on my business as this year I only make money on prints I sold and not on photo sessions and events like I did last year. To date, I have turned 9 weddings and over 20 portrait sessions. Those numbers, I may have to purchase my portrait lens.....but that would be another $1,300 purchase. I was actually thinking of starting to print all of the 13" width prints and less at home, which the printer is $1,000. It would pay for itself in 3 years at the current rate of sales. So I have some decisions to make with that; do I return back to portraits or continue doing what I love.

Upcoming blog, that I actually started last month and never finished, is about photo processing. I also have another blog subject in my head as well, so hopefully In October I can at least give 2 blog posts.

milwaukee skyline canvas prints

Explaining the Cost of a Photograph

Recently, I have been asked why I can offer my prints for so much less than many other photographers but my limited edition print costs so much more. I'm hoping this blog can iron out some those questions and help you understand the price of a picture or photograph.

In photography, the photograph is a product of the photographer. This product came to be with the cost of equipment, travel expenses, licenses, permits, time, and the actual cost of printing it. Not all photographers use the same equipment, travel around the world or print their photos themselves. Because of that, their price reflect what they invest in their photos.

Starting off with equipment this is the biggest investments a photographer will spend their profits and their own money in. Prior to starting to charge for my photos, I had already spent over $3,000...that's right over $3,000 in equipment. I started with a basic camera body, but I learned that buy the best glass you can afford. You can take the most expensive camera body and put on cheap glass (camera lens) and your photos wont be as good as if you reverse the scenario; cheap body with high quality glass you will actually get better photos. Over time I learned why tripods costs so much after the cheaper ones wouldn't even hold my camera because of the weight. I'm not saying that photos are only as good as your equipment, but you can't sell a picture if it's not sharp. Some wedding photographers charge $4k or more, but they can offer so many more options than what I can. For example, if the church doesn't allow flash photography I wouldn't have any options but to not use flash. Those who charge more may have options such as setting up equipment to increase the lighting in the church which would get around the no flash rule and therefor resulting in better photos.

I don't plan on doing portrait and event photography forever, my main goal is to become a nature and landscape photographer. For me to get these landscape and nature shots, I need to travel. Hotels, gas, oil changes costs add up quickly. My trip to South Carolina would have been pretty expensive if I went there just to get a few shots. I was lucky enough that my lifestyle already had traveling in it to help reduce these costs. Wisconsin also has great locations for what I like to take pictures of, so that also works out. However, I also want to be able to go on a cruise to Alaska and get less common photographs than what someone would normally see.

Permits and licenses are another factor when taking photographs. This includes a permit to shoot on private land such as in a Zoo or private establishment (example: http://county.milwaukee.gov/Photography9057.htm). Some cities require you to purchase a photographer's license just to be able to professional shoot within their city limits (Milwaukee for example is $100, http://www.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/Groups/ccLicenses/profphoto.pdf). We aren't able to just walk in, set-up our equipment, snap some shots, and sell them. Like us with photo rights, private establishments have their own rights on who can come in and use their property for commercial use. Mainly, if you disrupt the flow of traffic on a sidewalk or walkway you will most likely need a permit.

Time. Like any job a photographer is paid just for using his time for the photo. With me, I don't live off of my photography. I actually use any and all profits to purchase and upgrade my photography equipment and website. How does a photographer figure out how much to charge? I go off of a few variables: Are you going to order prints from me, is the photo session/event only for a few hours, is it an all day event, is it on a Sunday? I also want everyone to be able to have at least one photo taken of them that they can be happy about. If you can only afford 35 dollars for a photo session, you can only expect me to give you so much time, use so much of my equipment, and offer you limited options. If you can afford 800 dollars for me to shoot an event, you can expect me to work my ass off the whole time. You can expect I will take time on photos to ensure they have the perfect color settings, exposure, crop, and other edits. You can expect me to offer you a discount on photo orders.

Cost of Printing. I don't print my photos at home, I don't have the cash to purchase a professional printer (those are about 800 now). I don't want to be in charge of printing, packaging, and shipping. Because of this, I use my website to do all of that for me. Because of that, they take a % out of the sale and I have a yearly fee for them to host my site. So when I came up with my pricing I had to figure out how much did I want to make on each photo I sold, how much it costs the photo to make, and how much of that I was going to pay to my web host. I believe I have found myself a great price for me and for you.

Limited Edition. So why is my limited edition print so expensive? First lets define what a limited edition photo is; A limited edition is normally hand signed and numbered by the artist, here is also a specified amount of prints that will be available, and once these specified amount of prints are exhausted it will no longer be printed.

So I will use my "Layers of Love" as an example. I first decided what I wanted it printed on. I found out that aluminium printing is a bit expensive, but the prints are waterproof. It is also done with recycled material and offers more detail than traditional printing mediums (canvas or paper). Because of these factors, I decided to go with this medium. I then decided on print sizes. I though this photo would look great down a hallway, so I picked 8x12. I also thought it would look good in a larger room so I decided to go with 16” x 24”. I also felt that there may be a few people out there that would want it larger than life, so I also chose 24” x 36”. Now to make this limited edition, I have to choose how many prints I want to offer. I figured a small number would be best so I decided on 25 and 25 for the first two sizes. On the last one, after finding how much it costs just to have it printed I decided to keep that at a very low number of 3. Now, the pricing of these photos. First is the cost of the printing was taken, added to the half day of shooting I did to get this shot, and then the profit estimate. I needed to determine a number that was fair to me, but worthwhile to still purchase. Once these 53 prints are sold, I can no longer print this photo which then makes it worthless to me. So I put a price on the photo; If someone asked me how much for me to buy the copyright of that photo, how much would that be. After I researched online on what a shot could go for, I divided that by 53 and added the total of the Cost and Time.

A picture of "Layers of Love" being displayed still wrapped from shipping

I've been asked, what if I print beyond the 53 photos? I technically can be sued. I am actually lowering the value of your print because it is no longer as limited as it previously was believed to be. So there is many reasons why I would not want to print beyond the specified amount of prints. By giving certificates, which I actually do print myself, it has very specific information about the print and print series to ensure that this is in fact a limited edition print.

Future limited editions. I also plan on keeping my limited editions to a very few. I decided that at the very most I will have one new limited edition each year. I want these photos to be my very top photos, so those who own the photos have even a higher appreciation of the photograph beyond just looking at it. I want them to be happy with their investment. By doing this, I am hoping that this will only increase the value in my limited edition prints.

So I hope this helps you understand why a photographer charges what they charge.

Also check out my website for photographs you can order: http://santamour.smugmug.com/