Photographer Finances Info for Art Buyers

I was recently talking to a former art buyer who used to work at a big NY agency. She was shocked, really and truly surprised, to find out that photographers pay for messengering their books to agencies. She didn’t think agencies would be quite so cavalier about calling books in to look for comps if they realized photographers were going out-of-pocket on that. She was under the impression that reps paid for promotion – messengering, promo cards, mailers, e-promos, source book fees, agency breakfasts, etc. She literally had no idea that photographers pay for those things, and felt that her impression was standard in the industry.

We’ve talked about this before in the context of young photographers not realizing that promoting themselves can cost $20k the first year out, but I think it bears repeating in a message directed at Art Buyers, I guess just as a plea to realize that all the efforts we make to get in touch with you and show off our work, we pay for that. We invest a lot of money in the promotion of our businesses, as well as in creating great images. That promo you got in the mail, the book hand delivered to your office, the bagels sitting on the conference room table – those come at a dear cost to photographers.

-Michelle