donnahde Loc: Newark, DE

I would also suggest you get opinions about your work from more than just one knowledgeable friend. There are other options between art shows and flea markets. In my neck of the woods there are what is billed as art and craft shows where you can get your feet wet for much less than an art show and see what the public response to your work is. I will warn you that it is a LOT of work both preparation, setting up - ie leaving the house very early to be completely set up in plenty of time before the show starts, standing talking to people all day and then breaking down and packing with no guarantee that you will sell anything at all. Good luck.

Jeff Smith 1 Loc: Pocono Mountains, PA

That makes sense. I was wondering about selling cards at a flea market.

donnahde Loc: Newark, DE

Yes, I've done that at craft shows. I never do flea markets. Don't want to compete with 25 and 50 cent items.

Have charged $5.00 for years and ready to go up to $7.50 but don't know that the present economy would support that. Have switched to matted 4x6's for $10 lately because as I get bored and realize that certain images sell better than others I can swap those out for new images where as the cards are permanently affixed AND you can only get the best prices for them at higher quantities - ie 200 at a time.

Best quality I've found is www.photographersedge.com.

Jeff Smith 1 Loc: Pocono Mountains, PA

donnahde Loc: Newark, DE

Great points, Jim. Typically you also have to submit a photo of your actual display - often even for lesser art shows. Sometimes that can be the hardest to come up with since you have to send that to the jury committee long before the event is actually going to be held.

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

Booth photos can make or break you. I recently applied to a rather prestigious show where I had the opportunity to get the jury's feedback. I have a catalog that might rightfully be termed eclectic, having traditional landscapes, abstracts, and photo-digital art pieces (mostly "Americana" ). While that often helps with customers (appealing to different tastes) the jury dinged me on the fact that my booth photo indicated a "lack of consistent voice" throughout my offerings. I got high marks for the art images, but the booth photo sunk my ship.

Point: it takes a lot more than just being a good photographer with good images to make a go of it in the art festival business.

David Kay Loc: Arlington Heights IL

:thumbup: :thumbup:

donnahde Loc: Newark, DE

Interesting. I've gotten thru with all the shows I've applied to but none of been real high end because I don't have a high end exhibit. I use wire grids to display my work rather than the cloth covered panels.

I would also be dinged for "lack of consistent voice", too, Jim. I don't have a particular niche. I shoot whatever speaks to me. People love my work but I have a wide variety of subjects, though mostly nature and landscapes. I doubt that is narrow enough. Sad really.

~Donna

David Kay Loc: Arlington Heights IL

I got dinged at a show recently because in my booth photo, the tops of the framed pieces that were hanging were not even.

donnahde Loc: Newark, DE

Ouch! So your frames are all supposed to be the same - size? coloring? what about matting????

David Kay Loc: Arlington Heights IL

No you misread. The top line of hanging photos have to be on one line. Perfectly even. It does not matter if you have horizontal or vertical photos hanging. the top of the frames must form a straight line.

donnahde Loc: Newark, DE

Hmmmm....ok, thanks, David.

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

Consistency helps. I was advised by a veteran when I started to standardize my frames more. When I started, I was using frames frame Aaron Bros, buying on their penny sale a lot. I would buy frames that I thought would best suit the image. The veteran told me that that actually works against me on two counts. It adds another factor for the buyer to have to consider. Even though the frame may work well with the image, it may be a problem with the customer's decorating style. He suggested I go with a plainer, more contemporary frame throughout. It did seem to help. More importantly, I got a better reaction from juries and promotors. I now have my frames made for me by a framing wholesaler.

Matting is similar. Although colored mats can do great things for an image, they can also wreck havoc with a decorating scheme. The advice is to stick with white or off-white mats in framed pieces. White matting will not be a problem for most people whereas colored matting might. I also offer my images as "prints only" for those who want to frame the image to their specific needs and tastes.

Understand, there are no set rules about what you must or must not do, but festivals are very competitive, so one needs to do as much as possible to please the juries and then not throw up roadblocks to potential customers.

It's a lot like having bees live in your head! :lol:

Just for the heck of it, here is one of my booth photos to give those following the thread an idea of how I go about it. I'm sure the others who also do shows can add additional comments about how they are approaching things.

At an indoor show this past December

pete-m Loc: Casper, WY

Thanks for the info and the thousand words.
I assume those walls belong to you as well as the carts with the unframed matted prints. Do you use some sort of van or trailer. Can just one person set all this up?

Pete :D

donnahde Loc: Newark, DE

Thanks for sharing the photo of your display, Jim. It looks great! I just haven't been able to swing the cost of those walls. And the funny thing is I just quit carrying anything framed with glass. I use matted prints (4x6 to 20x30) in clear envelopes and canvas. Just had too many scratched frames and broken glass. Obviously I'll have to change that if I move to higher end shows. I appreciate your sharing.