How do I sell my photos?

[petterrb5]

Hi everyone.

just found this website I was wondering if anyone can advise me how I can sell my pictures. For instance do you go through an agency or contact magazines and other sources direct?

[Happy Snapper]

Originally Posted by petterrb5

Hi everyone.

just found this website I was wondering if anyone can advise me how I can sell my pictures. For instance do you go through an agency or contact magazines and other sources direct?

It may be not as simple as you think, there has been many long protracted “discussions” on this website about how you can market and sell “photographs”, to avoid going over this much debated topic here are some simple guide lines (please correct or add as you wish).

There are hundreds of Motorsport photographers snapping away each weekend so it’s not a closed shop!

1. Do you have the right to market an image taken at a circuit? If
you signed on as media you probably have clients already and some
circuits (ie Le Mans) make you sign a undertaking that states you
will not market images except for MEDIA use i.e. newspapers or
magazines.

2. Some circuits expect a licence fee if you market you images of
there circuit.

3. Many websites sell images of Motorsport, many agencies have their
own snappers for their archives.

4. Most of the magazines only buy from agencies, if you get something
exceptional give them a try.

[gungadan]

Originally Posted by Happy Snapper

It may be not as simple as you think, there has been many long protracted “discussions” on this website about how you can market and sell “photographs”, to avoid going over this much debated topic here are some simple guide lines (please correct or add as you wish).

There are hundreds of Motorsport photographers snapping away each weekend so it’s not a closed shop!

1. Do you have the right to market an image taken at a circuit? If
you signed on as media you probably have clients already and some
circuits (ie Le Mans) make you sign a undertaking that states you
will not market images except for MEDIA use i.e. newspapers or
magazines.

2. Some circuits expect a licence fee if you market you images of
there circuit.

3. Many websites sell images of Motorsport, many agencies have their
own snappers for their archives.

4. Most of the magazines only buy from agencies, if you get something
exceptional give them a try.

I'll just add a couple of points, if I may.

5. If you contact magazines you may well not even get a reply which might be a little discouraging, but they undoubtedly get speculative approaches all the time so it's easy to understand. If you persevere, you may get lucky, especially if none of their regular contributors attended an event you got a spectacular shot from. I took the perseverence route and eventually one magazine said they 'may' use some of my photos in the future and to let them know which events I would be attending. But, put it this way, the result of this probably hasn't covered the cost of posting out CDs over the last year, let alone equipment or travel costs.

6. If you're a member of a club or know someone who is, ask them if you can supply images for free for the club magazine, programmes, or publicity material. Make sure they wouldn't usually be paying for this however, or you'll be doing someone out of a living. This is how I got started and how I get accreditation. Because my photos are sometimes published I'm occasionally approached for prints or usage rights, but bear in mind points 1 & 2 above - Mallory has a similar policy to Le Mans. It's all made much easier if you're doing it for fun, since you can see any monetary return as a bonus, rather than a necessity.

[James North]

Yes, one of the most important things to remember with some of the motor racing series is that you don't own the "iIntellectual property" rights to a image you are shooting.

Especially in the more professional catergories, the teams display sponsors on the bodywork, which are trademarks ofcourse. So lots of copyright issues there.

Basically, it's worth asking the subject of your picture if they have any objections to you selling pictures of them.

It's an extremely difficult market to get into.