For these reasons, it’s easier for an up-and-coming artist to get their work seen when the audience is the retail consumer. The biggest benefits to selling at retail are the ability for the artist to set prices, keep all the profits and do it without anyone’s permission. The consumer market requires selling a higher quantity of works at typically lower prices, and finding a niche that is pleasing to a general audience. Either is capable of selling your work, but which one should? Can both? On the other are the dealers who promote their artists to other galleries and to a more exclusive clientele. On one hand are the websites and local art fairs that allow photographers to sell prints to a retail audience. Not all avenues available for selling artwork are created equal. When it comes to selling prints, there is one primary distinction to consider: is a photographer aiming for acceptance in the fine art world, or simply looking to connect with the consumers who will buy prints and earn a profit? Gallerists vs. What is essential, however, is that photographers first take the time to consider their goals in order to determine where they would like to be in the long run, and thus which avenues are likely to lead them there. What the right opportunity looks like is different for every photographer, and changes with the stages in their career. When the goal is selling prints, isn’t any opportunity to be seen beneficial? Not necessarily. This is true for all types of photographers, but none more than the artists who sell prints to earn their living. It’s the kind of thing we learn by doing, and often by doing it wrong. Photographers can be so focused on the struggle to make great work and get it noticed that learning the nuances of different markets never comes up. What they don’t typically do, however, is learn the business of selling art. They master the composition, lighting, and printing techniques that make them great craftsmen, not to mention developing the vision that turns them into true artists. Most photographic artists spend their formative years practicing the techniques that lead them to produce work worthy of hanging on walls.
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