So I just received a phone call from a guy asking me if I would be interested in selling my work in his gallery. Obviously I am interested, but a few thoughts are running through my head. It would be nice to hear some other people's thoughts. Here's some details on the potential arrangement:
He would like to print my photos (he runs his own print store, too), sell them, take his profit % off the top, and then whatever is left over I get. Seems pretty reasonable for free space in his gallery.
His gallery is a thousand miles away from where I live. I'm not really excited about not having a close proximity to the gallery. Is it possible that he could/would just print and sell my photos without telling me and not giving me any credit/compensation? What would I need to do as far as protecting my copyrights?
There are no independent reviews online about the guy or his business.
This is quite a mess of information but if anyone has thoughts they would be much appreciated. It would be a great opportunity, but what are the risks I should be aware of?
Hmm, if he prints your files, how do you know he sold 5 or 50 images in his gallery? How did he find you if you're thousands of miles away? I think you should proceed with caution.
What I think is that the perception of flattery can be a dangerous motivator. And this sounds quite fishy. First, this guy, from 1,000 miles away, has identified you as a photographer whose work he wants to sell? Okay, well I've looked at your site and your photos look sellable to me, but still... Second, he wants to print them himself? This means you have to send him high-resolution files with no control over how he uses them, AND you have no say in how he prints your work. Add to this whatever he chooses to do with matting and framing and you basically have your photos as interpreted by this guy. Third, you have no way of validating his expenses as he will present them to you when he computes "whatever is left over" after a sale. Fourth, as has already been pointed out, you have no control over the number of prints he makes and certainly no way of knowing how many he sells.
To me, this has "WALK AWAY" written all over it. If you are interested in having your work shown/sold in a gallery, approach a local gallery and see what you can negotiate. Otherwise, don't let some long-distance stranger lead you where you weren't already thinking about going on your own.
Seems like a better way is to print yourself, and let him mount and sell. He still gets some work out of the mounting, and you control the volume. If he doesn't like that, then walk away quickly
Seems to me everyone is assuming that the guyis going to sell heaps and rip the OP off.
That is far from a certainty.
As a guess, because this is not an area I have experience in, I would say that the type of work the OP is doing is in anything BUT short supply. On that I would expect that there are any number of people that the guy could could promote and sell work for.
To me it seems the guy is taking all the risk. Even if he just prints one shot and frames and mounts it, that's his time and investment at risk.
I think the suggestion of supply the prints is a good one. That way you known how much to expect back.
OTOH, i'm not sure of the mentality of make nothing because you might not get everything. There has to be trust on both sides of any transaction and if you think your going to get ripped off with everything you do, you'll end up doing nothing.
As for the guy being 1000 miles away, so what?
I can see where offering pics where they may not be able to be taken would have an appeal. I also know a couple of well known Aussie shooters sell dozens of times more of their prints overseas than what they do localy, tourists included.
You can always negotiate anything your not happy with and sound the guy out.
You can always give it a go with one or 2 pics and see what happens. if you don't have any otehr outlet for them, i'd say better to give it a go than let a lot of people whom are typicaly pedantic and over cautious put you off.
At worst you could learn something to give you a footing for bigger and better things.
That's the kinda reply I needed! Thanks for the advice. I'm not an overly-cautious person because I still believe there are good people in this world, so I will have to think more about it. Thanks for the feedback!
I suggest you apply all due dilligence but don't cut our nose off to spite your face.
Yeah, the guy might skim some sales and not cut you in but OTOH he might be as honest as the day is long, care about his reputation and his word and self honor.
My father is a used car salesman. He and I don't get on and have a lot of issues. That said, I would advise anyone to buy a car off him because I know he would not knowingly sell anyone a car he knew had anything werong with it and stresses genuinely if anyone does have a problem and will put his reputation ahead of profit.
There are some genuine and honest people still out there.
The objection of him being distant I just don't get. If he was local, what you going to do, go in there every day snooping around, making a pain of yourself and getting on the guys nerves your checking up on him. I don't think so. Even then, you have no way of knowing how many pics of yours he sold.
I have to say I really don't get the mentality of forums a lot of the time and find them at complete odds with practacality, getting ahead and often common sense.
People seem absolutley pre occupied with protecting their copyright at the cost of making a profit in the business they are in. There seems to be the theroy as exemplified here that somehow, you are better locking your images up in a drawer at home and keping them hidden away from the world than selling some and raising the possibility that someone may copy them .
Gasp , shock, Horror. Rubbish!
Imagine if microsnot had that mentality. They KNOW their software gets copied and hacked millions of times but they don't stop selling them and making a profit from the people that pay for them in fear someone may not give them their precious cut.
If your in the photography business, your main goal is to SELL your images.
Again, you take all due dilligance to protect yourself and not get ripped off but after that, you should stop worrying and get on with making as much from your pics as possible.
If your going to worry about the "What if's" all your life. like I said nothing is ever going to get done. You don't stop driiving your car because you might have an accident even though you can get a pretty good statistic as to the chances that WILL happen. You drive the thing as carefully as you can and go about your life.
Talk to the guy some more, try to get a feel for what he's like, raise any issues and make a gut feeling judgement from there.
If your not happy with the agreement, look around and see if you can find a similar deal with someone you trust better.
glort wrote:
To me it seems the guy is taking all the risk.
I would disagree on this. He has a tiny risk as far as printing samples for display. As a previous lab owner I can tell you that is not much. The same goes for framing.
In addition, he will be promoting on his website at zero risk.
I do agree that one can not dismiss the idea out of hand but I would have an enormous amount of skepticism about this. I have seen endless "offers" come across my desk similar to this and not once have I heard that the venture proved successful in the few instances that I have been able to follow.
This seems like a scam to me. With all due respect why would someone post your photos in a gallery 1000 miles away? Unless you are a particularly famous or noteworthy photographer. It would seem like a gallery owner would know how to use the channels in his own city to find work for display.
One of the ideas behind a gallery show is that the contents of the show are limited, if not one-of-a-kind. I certainly see no reason why he needs to reproduce your photographs if he approaches his exhibitions in the same manner. Offering too many would have negative repercussions on the art. Unless you were a printmaker, though, even then, the numbers in those runs aren't too great.
As far as representation 1000 miles away...artists have representation all over the world. I personally know 2 successful New York-based artists with representation in Germany, and Italy. Of course, they're being shown in well-established galleries, but there are alternatives to this, if you secure your investments. You don't have to be close to the curated show, if you have faith in the art dealer, that is.
To insure your part in the deal, and for peace of mind (and trust for the gallery owner). Run-off a limited amount of prints, and have them shipped to his gallery. This way, you know he received x-amount of prints, and you can expect x-amount of compensation for them.
And, chances are, he won't be reproducing them beyond the initial run that you sent. However, if more and more of your prints show-up on the market years after you showed at the gallery, well, then you'll know he's a counterfeitin' crook.
There is no way I would give someone the ability to print my work as you stated this guy is proposing, you will not have any control of the output quality but your name is still on the print. I have to agree with the others that say walk away from this!
If the gallery curator insists that he must print your work, walk away. If he's onboard for you to print your own pieces and deliver matted/framed works to his gallery, go for it!
I would think having someone here check him out would probably be able to put most of your worries to bed. I know I wouldn't have an issue doing that for someone.
