# Teen Who Wants To Sell His Photography!



## LCAPhoto (Nov 16, 2012)

Didn't know my exactly where to post this so I posted it here. But anyways, I'm 14 and want to sell my photography. I desperately need a Macbook Pro for my music and more importantly, my photography! I haven't been able to keep my website or my photography up to date because the computer I use now is a slow (1GB of RAM) desktop computer. But the Macbook I need is like $1,700-$1,750 . I'm not going to be able to make this on my on because I'm to young for a job. My problem with selling my photography online is most places either want you to pay money to sell your photography, or you have to be over 18, or they take to big a cut of money. I'm stuck! Anyone know what I should do? 

https://picasaweb.google.com/veganboy9/Pictures?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Those are some best pictures, I think atleast.

lcaphoto.weebly.com

And that is my website.


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## MLeeK (Nov 16, 2012)

As much as I love your entrepreneurial spirit, I have to tell you that the chances of raising the money selling your photography are really against you. You can and should definitely submit to the stock agencies (stock photography) but to be honest with you, you are going to have to produce something more and better than what's on your picasa. You have some really nice images in your edited stuff on the website, but it's not going to be easy and you are going to need an adult representative to do it. It's not easy to make money selling stock or art photography in ANY way. Even for the big guys who are selling THOUSANDS of images on there. It takes a LOOOOONG time to get to the level of income you are wanting to be at. 
You are better off getting your working papers and a job. At 14 there are things you can do. Google your state and working papers. It will have a guideline for you.


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## unpopular (Nov 16, 2012)

I don't see much here that would be worth anything. Not saying you don't have talent, I am just not sure what commercial application these images might have.


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## BobSaget (Nov 16, 2012)

Get some 8x10 prints made and go to a local restaurant barbershop etc. and ask them if you can hang them on their wall for sale.


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## Overread (Nov 16, 2012)

BobSaget said:


> Get some 8x10 prints made and go to a local restaurant barbershop etc. and ask them if you can hang them on their wall for sale.



This - you might also want to look out for and attend local craft and art fairs - however you'll have to invest in stock and a good looking stall before you could attend them. Also remember that if you're selling photos in a shop they will take a commission out of every sale as well. 

Small scale earning is hard to do on the internet unless you have something very unique as the market is flooded with content. Local sales are much easier to come by for smaller scale setups.


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## RinaldiPhotos (Nov 17, 2012)

Do Senior portraits.


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## KmH (Nov 17, 2012)

Just because you have photos for sale doesn't mean people will buy them.

You need to get people to visit your web site. A lot of people, day in and day out.

A lot of people = 1000+ a day.

Stock photography web sites reject more photos than they accept. Photos get rejected for technical errors (like under exposure, not sharp, image noise), artistic errors (like weak composition), lack of space for advertising copy, and mundane or unneeded content.

*iStockphoto - Stock Photography Training Manual*
Stock Photography: Search Royalty Free Images & Photos | iStock


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## sm4him (Nov 17, 2012)

Whatever happened to teenagers doing stuff like mowing yards, shoveling snow, walking dogs??
Not much money in those things either, but my guess is, you'll come closer to earning enough for a laptop doing odd jobs for neigbors than you will trying to sell a few photos on the internet.

I'm a WHOLE lot older than you, and I haven't sold enough on the internet in the last two years to buy a new laptop. Granted, I'm not really trying to either. 

But seriously--you're 14. Go rake some leaves for someone. Find some older people in your neighborhood and offer to work in their yard (and then follow up and DO it!)


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## HughGuessWho (Nov 17, 2012)

sm4him said:
			
		

> Whatever happened to teenagers doing stuff like mowing yards, shoveling snow, walking dogs??
> Not much money in those things either, but my guess is, you'll come closer to earning enough for a laptop doing odd jobs for neigbors than you will trying to sell a few photos on the internet.
> 
> I'm a WHOLE lot older than you, and I haven't sold enough on the internet in the last two years to buy a new laptop. Granted, I'm not really trying to either.
> ...



Youngsters don't do that sort of thing these days, from what I can tell. I've tried to get numerous kids to do yard work and the like for me. They either laugh at your face or demand more money than the average person makes. Its far easier to just get spending money from Mom or Dad.


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## TCampbell (Nov 17, 2012)

The "problem" with taking photos as art and then hoping to sell this is that there are a LOT of people who are taking photos as art and trying to sell it.  Basically it's a dime a dozen.

Photos need to have stopping value... they need to be stunning enough that a person paging through image after image will get to one of YOUR images and pause to look at it a minute rather than just flip to the next image.  If you take a photo of a sunset (a highly cliché shot) then that sunset had better be the best sunset you've ever seen in your life if you expect someone to pay for it.

ALSO... there's a lot more to a good photo than pointing the camera and snapping the shot.  Great artist start out by creating a lot of rubbish before they eventually get good.  There's a lot of discipline that goes into studying the nuances that make one shot great and another similar shot ordinary.  Books are cheap.  You can even borrow them for free from a public library.  Study them, practice what you learn, and keep practicing until it becomes second nature... like a muscle reflex except it's happening in your brain.


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## PhotoWhoa (Nov 17, 2012)

I was just as ambitious as you were as a kid - trying to make money. Unfortunately, you're in an uphill battle if you think that selling photos will make you money. If you have to make money in photography, try to shoot for clients instead.


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## runnah (Nov 18, 2012)

In trying to help you with your post I did a quick search on google for "amateur teen photos" and well...you sir are filthy!


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## MLeeK (Nov 18, 2012)

KatieM said:


> heey check out my website and tell me what you think of my photos/QUOTE]
> 
> In light of your spam post...


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## pixmedic (Nov 18, 2012)

its just spam Mleek...they have posted those links in a bunch of threads totally unrelated.


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## 480sparky (Nov 18, 2012)

MLeeK said:


> Katie, you need to start your own thread if you want someone to give you critique........




Seems her spam has already been sent to the trash bin.  You may want to delete her link from your post.... that's exactly what spammers want to see happen.


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## FitzTML (Nov 19, 2012)

How do you want to sell your images? Sock? Studio? Art?

Being young and not a legal adult you may need someone to cosign for business and money issues. If you don't have a supportive parent/guardian you may need someone else like a teacher, minister or some other community leader. Depending on your level of comfort you may want some sort of written agreement.

The computer: Just like cameras, it's how you use it. There were good photos before MacBook Pros. Apple does have a price premium and you may want to look into the used/refurbished market.


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## unpopular (Nov 19, 2012)

I don't know why you people insist on insulting the OP. His or her work is NOT ready for prime time yet, offering sage business advice won't change that. If OP were an adult, we'd say that he or she needs to work on photographic skill before considering going into business.

We're not protecting the OP by neglecting to point out that the quality of work and subject matter is not up to what people expect to pay for. At least not yet. OP needs more practice before going into business.


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## runnah (Nov 19, 2012)

unpopular said:


> I don't know why you people insist on insulting the OP. His or her work is NOT ready for prime time yet, offering sage business advice won't change that. If OP were an adult, we'd say that he or she needs to work on photographic skill before considering going into business.
> 
> We're not protecting the OP by neglecting to point out that the quality of work and subject matter is not up to what people expect to pay for. At least not yet. OP needs more practice before going into business.



Yup, OP should mow lawns and shovel snow/**** like the rest of us did when we were 14 and looking for cash. 

p.s. you don't need a fancy macbook to do the things listed, waste of money.


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## unpopular (Nov 19, 2012)

LOL - I didn't mean it like that. I'm pretty sure that all the "when I was your age, I was shoveling **** for nickles!" garbage is just people feeling resentful of the fact that they were underpaid as teenagers, and kids today have figured that out.

It just it seems so ingenuine to not mention image quality in this conversation. I mean, come on. We're all thinking it.

OP - I'm not saying you're untalented, but you're just not ready yet.


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## runnah (Nov 19, 2012)

I was being serious...on both counts.


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## unpopular (Nov 19, 2012)

I deff. agree on the second point. Macs are nice, I use one myself, but you're mostly paying for privilege of using one. And it's going to take a LONG time to save up for one, no matter if you're shoveling **** or taking pictures.


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## rexbobcat (Nov 19, 2012)

Well that's not very innovative or stimulating.


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## unpopular (Nov 19, 2012)

^^ hmm?


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## LCAPhoto (Nov 29, 2012)

runnah said:


> In trying to help you with your post I did a quick search on google for "amateur teen photos" and well...you sir are filthy!


"filthy"?


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## LCAPhoto (Nov 29, 2012)

The pictures I post on my website are not all incredible, I realize. I allowed a lot of my not so great pictures in there too. I'm no expert, obviously, and have only been photographing for less then a year. And in response to,"OP needs more practice before going into business", how exactly could I get more practice, besides simply taking more photos. Also, what exactly do you mean,"It just it seems so ingenuine to not mention image quality in this conversation" when you say image quality. I know I seem really stupid, I just like to know exactly what you mean.


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## LCAPhoto (Nov 29, 2012)

RinaldiPhotos said:


> Do Senior portraits.


 Way to inexperienced for that!


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## unpopular (Nov 30, 2012)

LCAPhoto said:


> in response to,"OP needs more practice before going into business", how exactly could I get more practice, besides simply taking more photos. Also, what exactly do you mean,"It just it seems so ingenuine to not mention image quality in this conversation" when you say image quality.



Thats kind of how you get practice. Taking photos. You can either jump the gun and try to make money before you're ready, or you can offer a product that is actually valuable enough to sell. In either case, if you want to improve, you're going to need practice. I've been at this for 15 years, and I'm only now at a position that I feel confident enough in my abilities to honestly and competitively sell something. That doesn't mean I couldn't have earlier, or that you can't sooner - but you need to have at least enough technical ability and creative experience to produce something people will want to pay for, and frankly, I'm just not seeing that in your examples.

What I meant by "ingenuine" is that I felt it was wrong to sugar coat stuff. If you were 23 and asking the same questions with the same images, I'm pretty sure that people would have been much more honest - and much more harsh. I obviously can't say for certain, but it seems to me that people here were avoiding the obvious - that your images just don't have a whole lot of commercial value at this point.

NOW - *I really don't want to discourage you away from photography*. Your work isn't bad, but it is what it is - you've only been doing this for a year and, as expected, the quality of what I am seeing here reflects a person at your experience level. _We're not all Francesca Woodman_. You have potential, and if your dedicated you will improve. But you don't need to sell your work in order to do that. Just take pictures - advice I, myself, need to be following more.


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## 2WheelPhoto (Nov 30, 2012)

LCAPhoto said:


> Didn't know my exactly where to post this so I posted it here. But anyways, I'm 14 and want to sell my photography. I desperately need a Macbook Pro for my music and more importantly, my photography! I haven't been able to keep my website or my photography up to date because the computer I use now is a slow (1GB of RAM) desktop computer. But the Macbook I need is like $1,700-$1,750 . I'm not going to be able to make this on my on because I'm to young for a job. My problem with selling my photography online is most places either want you to pay money to sell your photography, or you have to be over 18, or they take to big a cut of money. I'm stuck! Anyone know what I should do?
> 
> https://picasaweb.google.com/veganboy9/Pictures?authuser=0&feat=directlink
> 
> ...



Bestbuy DSLR kit, big HUGE watermark, and a facebook page. You're set!


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## 480sparky (Nov 30, 2012)

2WheelPhoto said:


> Bestbuy DSLR kit, big HUGE watermark, and a facebook page. You're set!



You forgot about "Post a How-Do-I or What-Gear-Do-I-Need?" thread the night before a commissioned shoot.


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## The_Traveler (Nov 30, 2012)

unpopular said:


> LCAPhoto said:
> 
> 
> > in response to,"OP needs more practice before going into business", how exactly could I get more practice, besides simply taking more photos. Also, what exactly do you mean,"It just it seems so ingenuine to not mention image quality in this conversation" when you say image quality.
> ...



^^^^^ Everything he said, but these especially


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## amolitor (Nov 30, 2012)

People are confusing "being a good art photographer" (or something like that) with "entering the commercial world"

There's absolutely no reason you couldn't learn to make commercial grade work in a year. Most commercial pictures are done by rote anyways. If you want to sell your services as a photographer, you need to pick a niche, learn the handful of idioms in that niche, and away you go. There's a few technical details, but nothing is very complicated. You learn where to stick the lights, or whatever, and you're pretty much done.

If you want to sell art or wall decoration, well, that's a completely different thing. You don't need any skill at all, really. What you need is a sense of design and form, although that's not REALLY even necessary if you've got enough of what you really need most: marketing and luck, mostly luck. You certainly CAN spend a long time developing your skills here, but the market for technically skilled straight photography probably isn't much different from the market for blurry abstracts made by throwing your camera in the air.

The "I spent 20 years developing my skills" crowd isn't really doing commercial work, although they may have ambitions in that direction. We're just trying to become "good" for whatever value of "good" we have in mind, usually somewhat muddy. If our idea of what "good" meant was clear, we wouldn't need 20 years of mucking around to get there (or to fail and move on). People with finely tuned photographic skills, a unique vision, and the craft to turn that vision in to a coherent portfolio of art are out there. The subset of them that makes a living doing just that is.. very very small. To become one of them is not a practical ambition.


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## LCAPhoto (Nov 30, 2012)

unpopular said:


> LCAPhoto said:
> 
> 
> > in response to,"OP needs more practice before going into business", how exactly could I get more practice, besides simply taking more photos. Also, what exactly do you mean,"It just it seems so ingenuine to not mention image quality in this conversation" when you say image quality.
> ...



Sorry, I mean't what you mean't by,"image quality".


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## 480sparky (Nov 30, 2012)

LCAPhoto said:


> Sorry, I mean't what you mean't by,"image quality".



Mean't?  Mea not?


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## LCAPhoto (Nov 30, 2012)

480sparky said:


> LCAPhoto said:
> 
> 
> > Sorry, I mean't what you mean't by,"image quality".
> ...



I really have no idea...


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## KmH (Nov 30, 2012)

Image quality - Bing


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## cbarnard7 (Sep 26, 2013)

Take your time and slow down. Enjoy photography for what it is and learn as much as you can. There is always a chance somebody will buy your prints because photography is so unbelievably subjective. But, if you're doing it solely for the money, then you're not ready yet. As others have said, put photography in the same category as another serious hobby you enjoy and go from there. Read books and take classes in school and practice, practice, practice. In the meanwhile, if you're trying to save money for other things there are plenty of ways to make extra cash. Good luck!


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## tirediron (Sep 26, 2013)

Zombie thread from 2012 revived by Spammer...


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