Anybody here running a gallery featuring there own work?

[jjj]

Lee I would love to see you new space and what you are offering for sale. I have discovered that if it's on the wall, that what will sell. Rarely to images sell at different sizes that are not displayed.

Most people are very literal and sadly can't imagine something other than exactly how it is.
But then again, seeing something in the flesh can be quite different from seeing a representation of it.

[Taylor]

New to the forum. Very interesting topic. I am about to start a gallery and studio in the UNESCO village of Sintra, Portugal.
The village gets about 2.5 million visitors a year to see the castles and palaces.

I am very challenged, thinking about sitting inside and not shooting...
I anticipate to find someone to take over the sales task.

Sure would be curious to know what the trick that Peter Lik had;)

If this goes off-board please let me know as I think there are people here with much wisdom who can help out us Noobies.

[William Walker]

I opened a small gallery in Key West, FL exclusively featuring my own work for sale. We have been open since July 2013.  It's been quite an ride with lots of ups and downs. Tons of my time is being sucked up get things dialed in, not to much time is being spent taking pics! The work is primarily focused around seascapes and landscapes of Florida & Caribbean. We are selling primarily to the transient tourist market. Key West is a hub for of activity for quite a few artist and the reason we decided to open up something down there.

Anybody here running a gallery featuring there own work? I'm look to connect and share information with others taking this approach in sell their work. I'm open to offline discussion if that helps.

My current website is: www.delaphotography.com (a new one is in the works!). You can also find us on Facebook under De La Gallery.

Top of the range! Congratulations...I hope you do well. 

[leeonmaui]

Aloha,

Sorry pretty busy!
I have had the cart for three years, my friends all thought I was crazy, after three years they now know I am lol
The gallery has been open for 45 days(?), and I have spent a lot of my energy hiring and training staff, and of course selling.
So far so good!

You will sell what you display for sure, I have a few different sizes and therefore a nice range of price points which is nice for my collectors, as some of them can't afford large pieces and I feel its just as important to be more inclusive of all clients...

I have a great location so my marketing is a bit soft, but just started a grass roots campaign going around to all the hotels and giving invites to an artist reception which I will do three nights a week for eternity, once I get my cash reserves back up, I'll do some magazine ads and such.
Its just a question of how committed to your success you are IE; how much you are willing to work, its no different than the level of commitment to your photography, its just an endless quest for better.

I really opened the gallery so I could hire staff to man the gallery, so I could then just go shoot, if that works, then its a huge success for me.
I have been very lucky, the staff I have is excellent I am very proud of them.

One point I would really stress is; don't display more than two of the same type of shot, two beach pieces, two waterfall pieces, two canyon pieces, two city scape or whatever, having continuity in an exhibit is understandable, but if you display 10 pieces of say;  muted beaches, maybe a couple of them will be good sellers, but the rest only support the one or two good ones, and take up wall space, Show different groups/portfolios, you will have wider spectrum of pieces to show...       

Here's a link to my build out, a little on the amateur side for sure, just set up a gopro for time lapse. I guess i could edit a lot more, but my daily list of things to do is pretty long....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDW8YvzYugY

Of course now i need to work a little harder as I have camera lust for the new 645Z bastards!

cheers, Lee

[Kevin Raber]

I have had a gallery for a number of months that also serves as a production area and offices for Luminous-Landscape.  I located myself in an old car factory that used to manufacture the Stutz Automobile. The building is huge and 4 floors with around 80 other artists.  I don't keep any regular hours as usually I am traveling a few weeks a month.  So, I operate on an appointment only basis or when I am there people just drop in.  There is a First Friday City wide open galleries every month and the Stutz building where I am has an open house weekend once a year.  10,000 plus people will visit the Stutz during Friday and Saturday night.  Our gallery was so packed you couldn't walk through it on Friday night and there was a line to get in.  We made some nice sales and got a few good leads regarding some wall decor jobs.    We also had customers who went though our racks of smaller prints and ordered larger images, so I have some printing to do real soon. 

Here is a Look at The Gallery

I also do a lot of the work for Luminous-Landscape here.  I do have another office for LuLa too.  This new space is set up so I can teach, and work on large artwork.  The two tables shown are on wheels and can be joined to make a 4 x 16 foot workspace or an 8 x 8 foot workspace.  Depending on the printing or need it allows a lot of flexibility.  It's nice when someone is interested in art as they walk into a semi gallery / workspace environment.  I can roll prints out on the table to show and or a lot of small images.  I have a large 55 inch TV on a rolling stand that I project slide shows and use when teaching there. It is hooked up to my MAC through am Apple TV and Airplay.  It's all handy when someone comes in and says do you have something from this location or do you have something with these colors.  I can go into my archive and display the images on the monitor for them without them having to look over my shoulder at the computer.

It's a fun space with a great bunch of artistic neighbors.  There are jewelry designers, woodworkers, painters, metal sculptors, portrait and wedding photographers and a lot of other fine and cool people.  We have our own restaurant and bar plus the coolest freight elevators.  We also have our own gallery where we can display our work and that is facilitated by the building amangement and an outside sponsor. So, if you are ever in Indianapolis give a call and stop by. 

Kevin Raber

[jjj]

One point I would really stress is; don't display more than two of the same type of shot, two beach pieces, two waterfall pieces, two canyon pieces, two city scape or whatever, having continuity in an exhibit is understandable, but if you display 10 pieces of say;  muted beaches, maybe a couple of them will be good sellers, but the rest only support the one or two good ones, and take up wall space, Show different groups/portfolios, you will have wider spectrum of pieces to show...       

A while back I would help out with a friend's business which was selling posters direct to students in Universities around Europe. This was very educational as you got to see what sort of work would sell and how fashions could quickly change and how some things were eternal sellers. One interesting observation was how in some universities certain posters would consistently not sell at all and at others you would sell large numbers of those 'failures'. You had a large range of stock to take this into account. Some of which you would only sell in small numbers, but because which sold varied so much, you had to have a large selection of imagery.

As a side note the poster company that started up selling endstock out of the back of a van to students, ended up changing the layout and feel of the centre of Sheffield. One of the UK's biggest cities, in a positive way I should point out.

[jjj]

I have had a gallery for a number of months that also serves as a production area and offices for Luminous-Landscape.  I located myself in an old car factory that used to manufacture the Stutz Automobile. The building is huge and 4 floors with around 80 other artists.  I don't keep any regular hours as usually I am traveling a few weeks a month.  So, I operate on an appointment only basis or when I am there people just drop in.  There is a First Friday City wide open galleries every month and the Stutz building where I am has an open house weekend once a year.  10,000 plus people will visit the Stutz during Friday and Saturday night.  Our gallery was so packed you couldn't walk through it on Friday night and there was a line to get in.  We made some nice sales and got a few good leads regarding some wall decor jobs.    We also had customers who went though our racks of smaller prints and ordered larger images, so I have some printing to do real soon.  

Here is a Look at The Gallery

Nice space you have there Kevin, though the picture of the women 'guarding' access to your work made me laugh.  
What was interesting was seeing the photos of your prints displayed on the wall, because even small in a casual shot of your space they looked more impressive than on my screen in a web gallery. It just shows how context can work.
Inspiring galleries from both you and Lee.

[delaphotography]

I have had a gallery for a number of months that also serves as a production area and offices for Luminous-Landscape.  I located myself in an old car factory that used to manufacture the Stutz Automobile. The building is huge and 4 floors with around 80 other artists.  I don't keep any regular hours as usually I am traveling a few weeks a month.  So, I operate on an appointment only basis or when I am there people just drop in.  There is a First Friday City wide open galleries every month and the Stutz building where I am has an open house weekend once a year.  10,000 plus people will visit the Stutz during Friday and Saturday night.  Our gallery was so packed you couldn't walk through it on Friday night and there was a line to get in.  We made some nice sales and got a few good leads regarding some wall decor jobs.    We also had customers who went though our racks of smaller prints and ordered larger images, so I have some printing to do real soon. 

Here is a Look at The Gallery

I also do a lot of the work for Luminous-Landscape here.  I do have another office for LuLa too.  This new space is set up so I can teach, and work on large artwork.  The two tables shown are on wheels and can be joined to make a 4 x 16 foot workspace or an 8 x 8 foot workspace.  Depending on the printing or need it allows a lot of flexibility.  It's nice when someone is interested in art as they walk into a semi gallery / workspace environment.  I can roll prints out on the table to show and or a lot of small images.  I have a large 55 inch TV on a rolling stand that I project slide shows and use when teaching there. It is hooked up to my MAC through am Apple TV and Airplay.  It's all handy when someone comes in and says do you have something from this location or do you have something with these colors.  I can go into my archive and display the images on the monitor for them without them having to look over my shoulder at the computer.

It's a fun space with a great bunch of artistic neighbors.  There are jewelry designers, woodworkers, painters, metal sculptors, portrait and wedding photographers and a lot of other fine and cool people.  We have our own restaurant and bar plus the coolest freight elevators.  We also have our own gallery where we can display our work and that is facilitated by the building amangement and an outside sponsor. So, if you are ever in Indianapolis give a call and stop by. 

Kevin Raber

Wow what an amazing space! Love it and congrats!
If I ever find myself in your city I will surely stop by..

[delaphotography]

Aloha,

Sorry pretty busy!
I have had the cart for three years, my friends all thought I was crazy, after three years they now know I am lol
The gallery has been open for 45 days(?), and I have spent a lot of my energy hiring and training staff, and of course selling.
So far so good!

You will sell what you display for sure, I have a few different sizes and therefore a nice range of price points which is nice for my collectors, as some of them can't afford large pieces and I feel its just as important to be more inclusive of all clients...

I have a great location so my marketing is a bit soft, but just started a grass roots campaign going around to all the hotels and giving invites to an artist reception which I will do three nights a week for eternity, once I get my cash reserves back up, I'll do some magazine ads and such.
Its just a question of how committed to your success you are IE; how much you are willing to work, its no different than the level of commitment to your photography, its just an endless quest for better.

I really opened the gallery so I could hire staff to man the gallery, so I could then just go shoot, if that works, then its a huge success for me.
I have been very lucky, the staff I have is excellent I am very proud of them.

One point I would really stress is; don't display more than two of the same type of shot, two beach pieces, two waterfall pieces, two canyon pieces, two city scape or whatever, having continuity in an exhibit is understandable, but if you display 10 pieces of say;  muted beaches, maybe a couple of them will be good sellers, but the rest only support the one or two good ones, and take up wall space, Show different groups/portfolios, you will have wider spectrum of pieces to show...      

Here's a link to my build out, a little on the amateur side for sure, just set up a gopro for time lapse. I guess i could edit a lot more, but my daily list of things to do is pretty long....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDW8YvzYugY

Of course now i need to work a little harder as I have camera lust for the new 645Z bastards!

cheers, Lee

I can see what has kept you busy! Impressive build out. The gallery looks great!

Thanks for the advise. We are always tweaking what is being shown on the walls.

I want that 645Z too!