I have lots of good
photographs and have decided I'd like to sell them at art and craft shows. But which of my photos should I try to
sell? I've got tens of thousands of
photos I've taken over the years. How do
I winnow this collection down to a manageable size? And what size should my portfolio b e in any
event?
I've decided to
settle on 20 as the size of my portfolio.
That means culling through my collection to find what I thin are the 20
most salable--if not necessarily the best--photographs. My plan is to print these 20 in two sizes--8
1/2 X 11 and 11 X 14--and offer 10 of them matted and framed. The remaining 10 I'll offer matted or
unmatted so there will be several price points for buyers.
But, how do I get
from tens of thousands down to 20 photos?
Here are the criteria I'm using to select them:
- The best photos taken locally in the area where I live and will be selling
- A few animal shots
- A few good railroad photos
- Some Civil War photos, since I live in Virginia, a site of much Civil War activity
- Some landscape and nature photos
 |
| A Civil War cannon at the Bull Run battlefield, with a caption |
My emphasis is on
the pictorial--things people would like to frame and hang on their walls. The problem is, that's always a guessing game
until you see what people actually like and buy. So, I expect the first few shows to be an
opportunity to see what the public likes, versus what I think they ought to
like.
 |
| Another Bull Run cannon, without caption |
One issue--I sign
some of my photos with a caption in script at the bottom and some I leave plain
without such an annotation. Which should
I do? Are the captions helpful or a turnoff? What do you
think? Leave me your comments. I'll value your ideas.
