# I Need Advice / Help Selling Photos with On-line Gallery



## kundalini (Jan 16, 2009)

First, thanks for looking and offering up your knowlege.  Secondly, this is not for personal gain.  I do volunteer work at my local animal shelter and I am tasked with gathering information on for $$$ making ideas for future events.  Our largest event will be in November.... yes, that's 10 months off.

The main event drew ~600 people with pets this past year.  We want to capitalize on that and exceed donations this year.  That's one of the reasons to think in advance.  The event is touted as Mutt Strut and the emphasis is on fun, movement of people and animals through the "yellow brick road" (consisting of vendors and exhibitions) and generating profits for the shelter.

One of my brainstorming contributions was to have the photographers of the day (of varying skill levels) to take photos of the trials events and of pet portraits (in a designated booth) and have the patrons go to a website and purchase their portraits on-line with the payee being the shelter.  There was a secondary idea to have prints done on site, but I fear quality issues if this is done.

How is this feasible?  Is there a better way for this to be accomplished?  Where do I need to look for this to come to fruition?

As a further note, I was thinking that the adoptees (during normal times) could be offered a free sitting for a pet portrait...... and again they could purchase prints on-line for X amount per print.

Any assistance, links, what to be aware of's, etc is greatly appreciated.  I may not have written this up the best with the first draft, so more explanation will follow if necessary.  But you guys are pretty clever and probably know in which direction I'm headed.

Thanks in advance.


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## UncleRico (Jan 16, 2009)

kundalini said:


> First, thanks for looking and offering up your knowlege. Secondly, this is not for personal gain. I do volunteer work at my local animal shelter and I am tasked with gathering information on for $$$ making ideas for future events. Our largest event will be in November.... yes, that's 10 months off.
> 
> The main event drew ~600 people with pets this past year. We want to capitalize on that and exceed donations this year. That's one of the reasons to think in advance. The event is touted as Mutt Strut and the emphasis is on fun, movement of people and animals through the "yellow brick road" (consisting of vendors and exhibitions) and generating profits for the shelter.
> 
> ...


 
Sorry I cannot directly answer your question, but I know of a similar event near me, where the Humane Society takes pictures of their pets with Santa.  Since it is in November, this might be an idea for you.  Maybe even offer Christmas card packages.  People have a lot of fun with it, and I'm told it raises a lot of money.  Good luck.


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## kundalini (Jan 16, 2009)

Thanks UncleRico

We are planning to do a Xmas in November event so we can get families and pets with Santa Paws.  This would be an effort to promote Xmas cards.  Personally, I think September and no later than October is aceptable for this.

Cheers for the input.


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## Overread (Jan 17, 2009)

Great idea!
I guess the biggest choice is if you are going to go through a printing lab or have the printing done yourself (or by a team) - if you go through a good lab (I don't know any for the US sorry) then many have their own website building kits which will have all the ordering aspect setup for you - it might be the simplist option.

The only downside is that a lot of people don't remember to buy prints after the day is done - having no printing facility on site means that everyone has to order online - that means they go away and have a rethink (read the bills that appeard in the letter box that morning) and others are just plain going to forget. 
Best thing would be to be able to take orders on the day - keep a list of addresses - and have  few examples of shots on display with the setup used to give a show of final quality (make sure they are accurate representations of what quality the people are likley to get) and then have them pay on the day. That way you are getting the people signed up and paying in the heat of the moment


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## kundalini (Jan 17, 2009)

Overread said:


> Great idea!
> I guess the biggest choice is if you are going to go through a printing lab or have the printing done yourself (or by a team) - if you go through a good lab (I don't know any for the US sorry) then many have their own website building kits which will have all the ordering aspect setup for you - it might be the simplist option.


My first thoughts are to go through a lab for prints such as MPIX, WHCC, etc because of the quality they can offer.  I don't know the logistics yet, but I'm sure there is a facility _somewhere_ that can handle this type of endeavour.



> The only downside is that a lot of people don't remember to buy prints after the day is done - having no printing facility on site means that everyone has to order online - that means they go away and have a rethink (read the bills that appeard in the letter box that morning) and others are just plain going to forget.


Oops.... didn't think of that.  :meh:



> Best thing would be to be able to take orders on the day - keep a list of addresses - and have few examples of shots on display with the setup used to give a show of final quality (make sure they are accurate representations of what quality the people are likley to get) and then have them pay on the day. That way you are getting the people signed up and paying in the heat of the moment


 I like that train of thought..... strike while the iron's hot.  There is a registration process the attendees go through in order to participate in the activities, so the information should be at hand.  

I'm sure that during the course of the year we can gather some good shots to display from other events on the calendar.

Thanks for your help.

Anybody else tried something like this?


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## kundalini (Jan 19, 2009)

*BUMP*

Would really like some more input please.  Thanks.


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## Overread (Jan 19, 2009)

one thing that just came to me - have a laptop on site and shoot either direct to it or make a quick transfer after a shoot (but before the person is gone). That way you can make sure the shots have worked - you don't have to edit, but just make sure that they are of the level of quality you need for printing (LCDs on the backs of cameras are slow, fiddly and not good at showing what a shot really looks like)


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## sarahp (Jan 21, 2009)

What if you showed the proofs immediately on a laptop, let them choose their photo and purchase a package, then you send them the prints when they come in?


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