I have been looking into opening a booth at an upcoming art fair in my town. I would like any feedback from anyone with knowledge about selling photographs at art fairs, i.e. is it a good idea, bad idea...ect. Thanks

-- Josh Randall (joshrandal@excite.com), January 07, 2000

Answers

I think it's good idea! I've thought about doing such a thing myself in the past. I hope someone who's done this will come on here and tell you the minuses and pluses of it all, if they don't, I'd say go for it!

-- John L. Blue (bluescreek@hotmail.com), January 11, 2000.

It seems to depend on where you are. What part of the country, what town and who else is at the art shows. I did this some back in the '80 and had mixed results. When in Rockport, Texas where there are a lot of painters and that type galleries, I was often told, "you are so talented, you should be an artist". In Dallas art photography sells very well, in Ft. Worth, 30 miles away, art photography is popular in museums but dosen't sell well in galleries. I suggest you do it for fun and not plan on making a lot of money. Then if you do you will be pleasantly surprised. It can be a lot of fun and enjoyable.

-- Joe Cole (jcole@apha.com), January 12, 2000.

Last summer I had a booth at an art/ craft fair in my hometown. Financially, it was a disaster (I lost about $600 in mat board and photo paper expenses, etc), however I enjoyed the experience and getting to talk to so many people. You need to ascertain that the fair you will exhibit at attracts a good number of people who are there to buy art, and spend the sort of money that you will be asking for. My problem was that the people attending the fair were probably not willing to spend more than a few dollars. At a real art fair, I probably would have had much better success. Also, you need to have a lot of inventory to show. You'll look cheap if you don't have a good number of pictures on display. You'll want to be able to accept credit cards too, which can be expensive. (be careful you don't get roped into a multi year contract with a credit card compnay.) All in all, I would say go for it, but realize that you'll need to show at four or five shows to start to make a profit. It's very rewarding (emotionally) to have so many people look through your stuff. Good luck. http://home.earthlink.net/~mwhudson

-- Mike Hudson (mwhudson@earthlink.net), January 26, 2000.