Saturday, March 21, 2009

What Kind of Images SELL?

Not a day goes by without me thinking of art. What sells? What can I do to sell my photography books? What can I photograph today that documents something fascinating? Where can I go for a good landscape photograph? What new things can I find on the street? And, yes, should I start photographing nudes!?

These are a couple of the questions that run through my mind periodically throughout the day.

I could answer each and every question listed here, but the space is too limited and people who are reading on the Internet are usually not interested in reading a lot of information at one time.

What I can do is tell you what kind of photography sells. That's not a hard question to answer.

I found the easy answer not in a book, but in a painting at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Art).

The painting was made up of text in capital letters on a manila background. It detailed what kind of paintings sell. I believe the same rules follow for photography.

Here are the rules in brief:

1. Photographs containing a lot of light color in the frame sell better than photographs containing darker ones.

2. Landscapes, photographs of flowers, nudes, photographs of the sea, abstract photography and surrealism sell. (I'd like to add retro-themed photographs also sell well.)

3. Photographs of bulls and roosters sell better than those with cows and hens.

I'm sure there are other types of photography that sell well.

Please comment and let me know if the work of art at LACMA is a thumbs up or thumbs down.
Also, write what photographs of yours have sold well. If you've never sold photographs, write what kind of photography you would buy.