I’ve spoken in previous posts about selling Fine Art Prints on ImageKind but in this post I want to talk about the general premise of so called Fine Art Photography and the problems of finding the market to sell your prints to.

To get one thing out of the way right off - I call my work “Fine Art Photography” for a number of reasons:

1. The work is personal i.e. not commissioned for commercial purposes.
2. It is printed on what is, by common consent, termed as “Fine Art Paper”.
3. I don’t know what else to call it!

Hand on heart, though, I’m not sure that my work is actually “Art” - especially with the capital “A”. Basically my images are fairly simple renditions of objects and I can think of no more esoteric way to honestly describe them. The objects themselves often have a meaning and connotations for me but I seriously doubt that this is or can be communicated to the viewer. Of course the viewer may attach their own meaning to them but that is something else entirely. It probably means that some of my images are evocative in a way that’s personal to the viewer. But is that art? Of course, I think my images are indicative of a certain visual taste that is peculiar to me and may hopefully be shared by the viewer. There is also a certain craft involved in producing my images that I’m proud of. Still not art, maybe, but not lesser than either - just different.

You can add into all of this the fact that we all know really what is meant by the term “the Fine Art world or market” - it means the world of major galleries and major shows. Most of us aren’t even a blip on the radar of that world - we just don’t operate in that rarefied atmosphere unless we are a “name” with an established reputation. Nothing to be ashamed of as most top working pros don’t either! That doesn’t mean that all doors to that world are necessarily forever closed but… well, most of us certainly aren’t there yet. Most of us never will be.

So, still talking to the vast majority here, it means we have to give serious consideration to just what and where the market for our work may be. For myself. I see my work as being mostly decorative. So, do I really see my work as being “merely” decorative - no waxing lyrical about the depth of meaning and artistic relevance? Here’s the thing - my target market doesn’t care about that, they’re not collectors, they would mostly buy my work to hang on their wall because they like the look of it or it fits their decor and they can live with it. This doesn’t insult me or my artistic intentions (read pretensions) at all. On the contrary, I find it to be one of the highest of compliments and I’m perfectly satisfied and at ease with it.

The problem still remains of how exactly to reach that market. This is still, and will probably remain, a learning curve and I shall definitely return to it in future posts. One thing is certain though - there is no one silver bullet and like everyone else I shall need to develop, and keep on developing, a range of strategies.