1970s Houston may have seemed like an unlikely place for an international photography community to develop — but according to Tracy Xavia Karner, it was a dream waiting to come to fruition.

Karner’s new book titled Making a Scene! How Visionary Individuals Created an International Photography Scene in Houston, Texas (Schilt Publishing) tells the story of how Houston became a top city for creating, collecting and exhibiting photography.

In particular, the book focuses on Anne Wilkes Tucker‘s curation of a world-renowned collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Wendy Watriss and Fred Baldwin’s founding of FotoFest, now an internationally recognized festival and how a small cooperative of artists grew Houston Center for Photography into a model nonprofit. All this and more is detailed through in-depth interviews with members of the arts community, paired with archival documents and photographs.

I chatted with Karner, an associate professor and department chair at the University of Houston’s sociology department and an expert on visual media, to learn more.

Making a Scene! shows opening night of the FotoFest Biennial 2020 exhibition “African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and the Other,” at Silver Street Studios. (Photo by Os Galindo, courtesy FotoFest) DISPLAY SETTINGS” srcset=”https://www.mecreates.com/story/news/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Making-a-scene-cover.jpeg 764w, https://www.papercitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Making-a-scene-cover-229×300.jpeg 229w, https://www.papercitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Making-a-scene-cover-600×785.jpeg 600w” sizes=”(max-width: 764px) 100vw, 764px”>

Haley Berkman Karren: This book is a love letter to the photography scene in Houston. What inspired you to write it?

Tracy Xavia Karner: I found the scene when it was in ‘full flower’ — around 2005. It was a vibrant, active community of talented photographers, committed donors and passionate collectors. As a visual sociologist, I’ve always been drawn to photography, so this community was an instant fit for me. I joined Photo Forum, the photography support group at the MFAH, and the Advisory Council at HCP, and attended all the photography events I could. 

When Anne began talking about retiring, and then Wendy and Fred stepped back from FotoFest, it occurred to me that we might lose the oral history of how this amazing community came to be. I had just finished a project, and thought this might be a good one for me to take on.

Little did I know it would take me 10 years to do so. But if I’d waited any longer, I might not have been able to interview Fred Baldwin, Clint Willour and Petra Benteler, who have since passed, and their stories would have been lost. 

What made you the right person to tell the narrative of the past half-century of the photography scene in Houston?

As a sociologist, I’m trained to study communities — how ‘scenes’ develop and either flourish or whither.

When I came to Houston and discovered FotoFest, the photography department at the MFAH, and Houston Center for Photography, I was impressed and intrigued because Houston seemed like an unlikely place for such an important photography community to develop. Anne Tucker arrived in Houston in 1975, and Wendy Watriss and Fred Baldwin moved here in 1980.

Somehow they had a vision and made it happen.

What was the writing process like? 

It was fascinating. It was like unraveling a mystery as I searched for how this photography community developed. I wanted to trace ‘who did what and when’ to make it successful. I began by interviewing Anne Tucker, and then continued to interview anyone I could find that had been involved in the early days of promoting photography in Houston.

I also spent hours in the MFAH archives reading through Anne’s early correspondence with photographers and galleries, and her curatorial and exhibition notes. I loved finding the wall text from a companion exhibition to Anne’s first Target Collection of American Photography exhibition that attempted to explain the difference between photography and art photography. That is a conversation that is still going on, and it was wonderful to see how it was articulated in the 1970s. 

I also spent time at the Menil Collection archives, where I was able to find a lot of the FotoFest materials. Not only were they very interesting, but they showed how well Wendy and Fred kept their supporters informed. There were long handwritten letters, sometimes on fancy hotel stationary, from Fred to Dominique de Menil. 

I went through boxes in the back room of Houston Center for Photography, where I found exhibition files including images from the infamous NASA exhibition and fundraiser that all the astronauts attended. Archives are this amazing view into the past.

For me, they are like a treasure hunt. You never know exactly what you will find, but the hunt is exhilarating.

It is safe to say that the photography revolution began with Anne Tucker, who is heavily profiled and quoted in your book. What was it like spending extensive time with her, and even going through her letters, personal photos, and archival documents? 

Spending time with Anne and learning about her life was a pleasure. I had, of course, admired her accomplishments and knew her socially from photography events.

Interviewing Anne was an insightful experience, particularly about her early life. Perhaps most striking was the fact she had been raised by a blind nanny who was always asking her to describe what things looked like. This fostered Anne’s skill of attending to visual elements and retaining them for recall, which she used throughout her career. 

One of my favorite moments with Anne was when she invited me to go through her personal archive of photos to select images for the book. We sat side-by-side, looking through her flat files, seeing some photographs she made, her family photos and images of her by numerous photographers — including the contact sheet from her sitting with Irving Penn.

Who did you enjoy interviewing the most? Are there any fun interview stories that you would like to share?

I enjoyed talking with everyone I interviewed. They were all such interesting people with varied backgrounds and different careers. 

While I interviewed Anne the most times, I had the longest interviews of my entire career with Wendy and Fred. They had both had so many adventures in life and photography with so many stories to tell. I was just riveted. 

I was so lucky to interview Fred, Clint Willour and Petra Beneteler before they passed. They each played an important role in the photography community. I was able to travel to Germany and interview Petra in her home. She was so gracious and just delightful. We spent three days together going through her memories of her gallery in Houston and her involvement with starting FotoFest. Petra still had all the press clippings from the first FotoFest biennial in 1986 — a testament to how important that time was to her.

The MFAH organized a fantastic book launch and panel with Anne Tucker, Wendy Watriss and you. It was incredible to see these dynamic women speaking about how they nurtured the photography scene. What do they think of the book?

They have both been quite complimentary and have talked about how good it is to have this community documented in a well-researched book. I did ask them both to read early drafts for accuracy, so they were integral to the process all along. The book really is a collaborative work. Anne and Wendy nurtured and created the Houston photography scene — I just documented it.

What surprised you the most about writing this book? 

There was so much about the early days that I had been unaware of. 

When I was starting the process, I told Wendy that I wanted to write about this community built by women  — her and Anne. Wendy quickly disabused me of that notion. And indeed, after doing the research, it became clear that FotoFest was originally Fred’s project. Wendy was always involved, but more in the background, until the mid 1990s when she took a more active role. 

I was also unaware of how important Petra Benteler had been to the beginning of FotoFest, and that she had opened what is thought to be the first European photography gallery in the US in Houston in 1980. Reading all the newsletters and interviewing all the early Houston Center for Photography members made it seem like such a tight group of friends, eager and hungry to know more and do more with photography. I felt such a passion for the medium come through the early writings.

And, it surprised me a bit how much I enjoyed doing archival research. This is my first project to use archives so extensively, and I’m totally hooked now.

What is the biggest lesson you learned from writing this book?

The importance of events. When people gather around a common shared interest, magic can happen. 

Many of the turning points in the story happened because people were in the same space at the right time. Anne’s mother came to a talk at the MFAH that led to Beaumont Newhall recommending her daughter to the director. Wendy and Fred met at a party. Donors came forward after attending an impressive exhibition at the MFAH and FotoFest. Many of the early HCP folks met in photography classes taught by Geoff Winningham at Rice or George Krause, Ed Hill, or Suzanne Bloom at University of Houston. 

Given the COVID-related shutdown and social isolation, I think this lesson is even more poignant now. I hope Houston will have more events and parties that bring people together. . . and of course, I hope lots of them will focus on photography, as I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Making a Scene! How Visionary Individuals Created an International Photography Scene in Houston, Texas by Tracy Xavia Karner is published by Schilt Publishing, and is available in stores and online for $40. 

Author’s note: Haley Berkman Karren is an independent curator and writer as well as an art advisor and appraiser with Karren Art Advisory. She focuses on modern and contemporary art, photography and digital art. She is a former curatorial assistant at the Menil Collection and has contributed to Houston Center for Photography’s Spot Magazine and juried the HCP exhibition Learning Curve 11.

As we consume social media, YouTube videos, and online articles, it is easy to think everyone else out there knows what they are doing. I made many mistakes early on in my landscape photography journey. I still make mistakes today! I’m going to share some of those early mistakes I made and things I wish I’d started doing sooner.

One of the things I enjoy about landscape photography, and photography in general, is that I am always learning something, improving something, and making better images with every passing year. 

But part of learning is making mistakes. Making mistakes can be discouraging, especially when everyone else might look like they are doing fantastic and can do no wrong! Even today, I still make mistakes: sometimes a technical error in the field, forgetting to change my ISO to something reasonable, using a poor choice for aperture, or any number of things. 

Let’s look at five mistakes I made early on in my practice of landscape photography. Some center on gear and others on techniques I used incorrectly or should have been using.

Using a Cheap Tripod

This is a piece of advice all landscape photographers get when they start out: “buy a quality tripod.” I think all landscape photographers subsequently ignore that advice. I know I did!

First, I used my Dad’s old tripod, like film days old, and not even that great of a tripod to start with, pieces actually fell off of it while hiking on a trail, just strapped to the pack. 

After going through a series of other tripods, I finally bought a quality tripod and have been using and happy with an FLM-CP30-S4 for a couple of years now.  I should have listened to the seasoned landscape photographers and first started with a quality tripod.

Why a quality tripod? Because you need a stable surface to photograph from if you want to do long exposure photography for water scenes, giving clouds an ethereal look, or even seascapes. 

On workshops I’ve led, I’ve seen people show up with tripods with thin, unstable legs, loose center columns, and tripod heads that wouldn’t securely hold their camera. A quality tripod will be the stable platform you need and last you a long time. Just start with a quality tripod.

Rushing the Shot

When I started my landscape photography journey, I would show up to a popular location, set up in a spot where hundreds, no thousands of photographers before me, had created an image, and take the shot. I was in a rush to take the photo and didn’t really take the time to look around. Yes, I got the image, but it wasn’t unique and didn’t really tell a story.

I have no issue with wanting to capture that iconic shot (I still do), but once you have that one, take the time to work the shot more. Look for interesting angles, high, low, left, right, or look for smaller details or unique ways the light is falling during the particular time you are there. Take your time and think about what story this location has for you. Think about how to compose your image to tell that story.

Taking this extra time will help you transform your photos from something everyone else has to something more unique.

Overusing a New Skill

As we learn new skills, we are eager to put them to use! I remember when I learned exposure bracketing. I bracketed every composition whether it needed it or not, sometimes five-stop brackets. 

I’d come home from an outing with hundreds and hundreds of images, even though I only visited two spots. Not only was that cumbersome to go through, but it also added work to the editing process and was often unnecessary.

Instead, I should have thought more about what situations warranted exposure bracketing and only used that technique when the situation warranted it, not for every composition I did for a couple of months. It is good to learn new skills. Just remember to understand when to use them and why.

Not Understanding the Histogram

Early on in my journey, getting a good exposure of a scene seemed more like guesswork. This probably plays into why I overused exposure bracketing early on; surely, I would get a decently exposed shot if I shot every composition with five different exposures!

Until I started using the histogram, either via playback review or live view as I adjusted camera settings, I had never been super confident in my exposure. Learning to use the histogram was probably the single most important thing I did to start getting consistent exposure in my landscape photography images.

The histogram is a tonal chart that lets you easily see where your shadows, highlights, and midtones are in an image — nearly real-time feedback on whether you are overexposing or severely under-exposing an image. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s well worth heading off to learn more about it and starting to use it for your landscape photography.

Not Using Lens Filters

Another hardware lesson. I wish I would have started using lens filters for my landscape photography sooner. While I don’t like to push people towards gear very often, a polarizing filter made a big impact on my images. 

I gravitate towards water scenes, specifically waterfalls, so the polarizing effect of a good circular polarizing filter does help cut down glare from the water and the moisture on nearby rocks, making the images much more pleasing to my eyes. 

Adding to that, having at least one neutral density filter, say an ND64 filter, can be very handy for the landscape photographer to help you photograph a waterfall during brighter parts of the day and still get a smooth, long-exposure effect. 

I’ve been through several filter brands over the years and have settled on magnetic filters as my preferred filter setup. I am currently using Kase Magnetic filters, and they have made it easy to attach, remove, and stack filters in the field.

What Mistakes Have You Made?

Those are five of the early mistakes I made as a landscape photographer. Even today, I still make mistakes, but again, to me, that is part of the fun of photography — always learning, always improving.

How about you? What mistakes have you made as a landscape photographer? 

One of the most exciting things to photograph is a live concert. Rock concerts in particular have an air of electricity about them that you can feel. When you are hired to photograph one you automatically feel like you are a part of that excitement.

With this guide, I hope to get you prepared for photographing your first concert and where to start when it comes to this type of photography.

Table of Contents

Start Small

You probably got a taste for photographing concerts as a fan with your phone and, upon reviewing your images after the show, you wondered how you can take it to the next level. Unfortunately, you can’t just walk into a concert with your DSLR and long lens hung around your neck thinking you can start taking pictures.

Artists protect their image and don’t want anyone showing up to take pictures and possibly sell them without the artist’s permission. The artists also want to control their image and how it’s presented to the public so they will often hire their photographers to shoot images that they will use in albums, posters, and their social media channels.

A great way to get practice photographing live music is to start locally. Many of the local musicians, who are just starting, would love to have someone photograph their show. The artists are also very busy rehearsing, hauling gear, and getting ready for the show and often overlook having someone photograph the event.

Many of the small venues like bars, don’t have restrictions like large concerts do, so it’ll be no problem, but you should make arrangements with the band first. I have encountered some nervous bar owners who knew I was there to photograph the band but asked that I keep my camera pointed at the band and not patrons.

Equipment

There are some challenges to photographing in a small venue or bar. Even though they may have lighting often it’s homemade or something minimal provided by the venue. It will still be a challenge to get a good aperture/shutter speed combination that will work for you without running too high of an ISO. Fortunately, many of today’s high-quality DSLRs have reduced high ISO noise so it’s not that too noticeable.

Come prepared with a lens that will give you an aperture of f/2.8 or better. You’ll also be able to get nice and close at these small venues so you could effectively shoot the concert with a 50mm prime lens or get some cool wide-angle shots with a 28mm lens or wider that has at least a f/2.8 aperture.

A great lens to have that will provide some versatility is a 24-70mm lens with a wide aperture. Some professional photographers will carry two cameras each mounted with a different prime lens so they don’t have to change lenses amid the excitement.

Other things you should have with you are extra batteries (make sure they’re all charged before you go to the venue), and memory cards (be sure you have downloaded the images that are already on them and they are cleared and ready). The most important safety item you must have with you are earplugs. Concert sound has improved over the decades but if you photograph concerts enough, repeated exposure to those kinds of volume levels can create long-term damage to your hearing.

Things to Remember

You will be changing camera settings on the fly so be ready. You may want to shoot in aperture priority mode to make things go smoothly. Pay attention to your shutter speeds. Depending on the concert, the performers move a lot so you’ll need at least a shutter speed of 1/125 of a second, and 1/250 of a second is even better. Hence the need for a lens with as wide an aperture as possible.

Each photographer will have their preference as to whether or not to shoot in manual or autofocus. Continuous autofocus is great when the artist is moving quickly about the stage. The focus point will track them and keep them sharp. I’ve had no issue with autofocus but if the lighting is particularly moody and dark for a song, autofocus may have trouble finding those lines of contrast to lock on to. So, switching to manual focus will work better.

Capture the atmosphere of the show with a wide shot that shows the entire stage. Watch out for interesting things that might happen; especially if the band uses pyrotechnics. There’s nothing like a wide shot of the stage while flash pots are going off. Other great atmospheric elements to watch for are fog machines, cold spark machines, or even flames. These are always shown best when taken from farther back. There’s less chance of having these special effects at small venues and bars but be on the lookout for unique ambiance lighting effects.

Use all your composition knowledge to create dynamic images during the concert. An example is when photographing a singer who plays guitar, put them to one side of the frame so they are looking into the negative space and the microphone stand will be a nice leading line. Lighting can also provide framing tools for the subject. There’s nothing like a classic shot of a musician standing in a funnel of light all by themselves.

When it comes to metering your exposure, spot metering is recommended. Spot metering takes its reading from the center of the viewfinder. This works well for concert photography because of the extreme dark and light conditions you’ll be under. Since the band members will be spotlighted, especially the lead singer, you can get an accurate reading when it gets dark or when there are a lot of flashing light patterns being used. Place the artist’s face right in the middle of your viewfinder, spot meter it and you’ll be golden.

Outdoor shows; especially those during daylight hours, will make everything much easier for you. Lighting is no longer an issue; you’ll be able to capture some fantastic images. Be sure to check the weather forecast before going to the concert. If rain is possible, bring something to protect your gear because many concerts go on rain or shine.

Big Names In Big Venues

Now that you’ve built a great portfolio shooting local bands at small venues, you’d like to take the next step and start shooting those big acts that play arenas. To do that you’ll need to secure a photo pass.

Photo passes are issued by the tour to credentialed photographers who work for publications – online and print. Yet there are a few ways to get one of these coveted passes.

The way I would secure an official photo pass is by offering to become the house photographer for the venue. This is usually easier to do in smaller to medium-sized towns and venues as compared to super venues like Madison Square. If you’re going to approach a venue with that offer, make sure you have a portfolio ready to show your work. This is where shooting at small bars can help you build a strong book to show off your work.

The other way to gain a pass is to contact a publication that might be interested in running a story on the band. Reach out to them and ask if they are interested in concert photography. Research the publication first to see if there is a need you can fill. Look for smaller new online publications that might need the photos. They may not pay much, if at all, but it will give you that access that can help you get some great images for your portfolio.

Many photographers have started their own publications. These are usually online and are updated regularly. Post the images from the shows you shoot and do a bit of a write-up about the concert. Be sure your online publication has a social media presence that is also updated regularly.

If you live in a smaller market town, approach your local newspaper and see if they are interested in having you photograph the concert. Often, with smaller newspapers, they don’t have photographers on duty 24/7 so the event often goes without coverage. They may not pay you much but you will get that coveted photo pass.

You can also get a photo pass without going through a publication. Try contacting the band’s management or the promoter. They often look for new, updated images of the acts they manage or promote that they can share on social media channels. Always be kind when you ask and be patient. If the band is still growing and coming up in the business, they may not have as many gatekeepers, if any, sorting through their emails and socials. Contact them directly. If you have their blessing, you won’t have to worry too much about the rules the other photographers will have to follow.

The Paperwork

Once you arrive at the venue, head to the nearest ticket booth and tell them who you are and who you’re with. They’ll most likely point to a corner of the foyer and have you go stand with the other photographers who are there. Someone from the venue will come and get you, but before you are brought to “the pit”, you usually have to sign a release.

The managers and promoters are there to look out for and protect the image of their clients. That protection also includes protection from commercial profit from their image. The photography release helps control these issues and includes editorial features and illegal and unauthorized use of the photographs.

Each release can vary depending on the artist and management. In the case of a publication, the release controls the editorial content of the images. The release also sets out the rules that you have to work under during the show. Some of them are as follows:

• You can only take photographs during the first three songs of the concert from the designated area. That’s usually the pit right in front of the stage.
• No flash. That’s a big one. Don’t bother with your flash at all. Also, shut off the small focusing light that is usually next to the lens. The artists find these very distracting.
• Don’t stand in the way of the people attending the concert or obstruct the performers in any way.
• Images are for editorial purposes only.

There may be a few clauses in the photography release that might cause you concern. Some of those can be:

• Signing away broad rights to your photography. The artist can use your images in any way they see fit without any further compensation to you.
• You cannot sell, license, or reproduce the photographs for commercial purposes.
• Transfer of copyright and/or moral rights.

Strict terms like this don’t happen often but mega-star acts use them often enough. Nothing could come from any of these terms, but signing away copyright is something that should be avoided. If you are on the staff of a publication like a newspaper, news photography agency, or magazine, this doesn’t matter to you because your employer usually owns the rights to the images. By not signing the release, your editor probably won’t be very happy because they won’t have any photos to go with the story.

None of this should be taken as legal advice. It’s always good to know what you might face when you photograph a concert. If you’re freelancing, it certainly makes a difference as to what you are signing away. Photographers have fought hard to retain the copyright to their works. Don’t be quick to give it away just because you’re going to be photographing famous rock stars.

Time To Shoot the Show

You’ve got your gear, the paperwork is taken care of, and now here comes someone from the venue with your photo pass and is ready to take you to “The Pit”. Before we start the trek to the stage area, let’s mention where to wear your photo pass.

I have seen and heard about where to place your pass on your person but it always seems to come back to the same two places. If you get a pass that is laminated it will usually be on a lanyard. That’s an easy one. Just wear it around your neck.

I only got one laminated lanyard pass and the others were a peel and stick pass. These are made from a light woven fabric. Your first instinct is to place them on your chest which is what I did the first time. While I was standing in the pit waiting for the show to begin, a friendly roadie came up to me and told me the correct place to wear it is on my upper leg (I went with my right leg) halfway up. That way it’s not blocked by clothing items and can be readily seen.

Your escort will take you to the front of the stage and you will be between the crowd barrier and the stage. You’ll be there with your other fellow photographers from whatever media outlets they happen to be from. There is plenty of room in the pit but once the action starts be aware of the other photographers so that no one gets hurt. Also, watch out for any cabling that might be on the floor. They are usually covered with cable covers and that can create some speed bump-like hazards, so be on the lookout for them.

Before going into a photo pit for the first time, be sure you familiarize yourself with basic concert photography etiquette — unwritten codes of conduct that photographers adhere to — so that you don’t step on other people’s toes.

Credentialed photographers can only photograph the first three songs of the concert. After that, your escort will return to bring you back to the entrance. Sometimes things can change so always be ready. At one concert, we had the usual three-song limit, but we got to shoot one song from the pit and then the other two songs were from the sidelines where the boards to the hockey rink were. At another concert, the photographers were not allowed anywhere near the front of the stage and were relegated to a platform next to the soundboard that was at the midpoint in the arena. Make sure you have a good telephoto lens with you just in case you have to be further away from the stage than you expected.

It can be a fun and exciting job photographing concerts. Sometimes it lacks a lot of the glamour that many people think there is when they find out you photograph concerts. They have visions of being backstage, chatting with the performers, and partying. That could be the furthest from the truth except if it’s a small show for a local band.

There could be some fun at those small concerts. I was backstage at one well-known rock star’s concert. It was put on to raise money for a charity and they wanted to have some of the dignitaries from the charity photographed with the artists. I was happy to do it. I got to exchange some pleasantries with the stars and it was over.

Once your photos improve after practicing photography for a while, they will likely also attract a larger audience. And at some point, you might be asked if your photos are for sale. It is how I got into selling my images as prints more than ten years ago. In this article, I share an easy way to get started.

But first things first: When you start with photography, ideally, it should be out of the love for the craft and not to make money, because it takes time to create consistent income from photography. So, don’t rush and focus on learning new techniques and creating a solid portfolio of high-quality images first. 

Setting Up a Print Shop

As an artist, it’s great to have a website, and in the long run, it’s something to invest in, especially if you want to become a professional photographer. But most likely, you first started sharing your photos on social media or some dedicated photo-sharing platform. It might also be the place where your images are gaining traction.

You might now think that if you want to sell prints of your work, you must first create a homepage. It is certainly a good idea because it allows you to build your brand along the way. But if that’s not your goal and you want to keep things simple and just be able to offer prints of your work, it’s not a requirement.

Several online art marketplaces allow you to set up a store, upload your work, and start selling it in less than a day. You will spend most of that time tagging photos and adding descriptions. The effort is comparable to sharing images on social media.

Redbubble

For example, I want to share my experience with Redbubble, an online art marketplace you can use to sell your photos worldwide. It is possible because of Redbubble’s network of manufacturers located all around the globe.

I’ve been using Redbubble for more than ten years to sell my art. The print options Redbubble offers are good quality — I’ve tested some of them for the feature video — delivery fees are reasonable, and it’s possible to set custom margins. There’s no fixed monthly fee involved, which is great to get started. Redbubble will take its share consisting mostly of manufacturing and delivery fees only if you sell something — but more on that later. 

What I also consider important is that using Redbubble is easy for potential buyers of your art. Redbubble automates everything for you, including payment and updating the customer with information about the production and delivery of your work.

Expectations

Let’s talk about the custom margins you can set up on Redbubble. They are essential, and not all marketplaces allow this. Some have fixed prices, which limits the amount you can earn per sale.  Setting the margins in Redbubble can be done in the central dashboard, where you apply percentages to the product categories you sell. Lowering or increasing the prices of your work requires just a few clicks.

Now the question is what you can earn on Redbubble. On the one hand, it depends on the margins you set, and on the other hand, more importantly, it depends on the number of photos you offer for sale and the traffic you generate for your art. 

That last piece is crucial because having a global marketplace on which you can list your art doesn’t generate many sales anymore. When I started with Redbubble, most of my sales were via the marketplace. Over the years, Redbubble has added a lot of different product categories and grown the number of artists on the platform. As a result, a photographer selling prints will get close to no traffic via the marketplace. The typical audience on Redbubble will either not look for your work or not find it.

It means that you must do the marketing yourself. If your social media following is large, it might not concern you. But for me, Redbubble has lost one of its advantages. Since you can now expect that the people ending up on your Redbubble store will get there via the links you share, you should be able to make an educated guess on how much you can earn based on the size of your audience.

But that’s the same with any platform, even more so if you sell via your homepage. Eventually, it’s all about finding ways to direct potential customers to our art.

Cons

There are several reasons for not using one of the global art marketplaces, and I will share a few with you. Some are specific to Redbubble, and some apply to any comparable platform.

Above, I mentioned that using Redbubble is free until you make a sale. The only cost you had to pay in the past was for printing and delivery. The margin you set up would end up in your pocket minus the taxes you must pay. This has changed: Redbubble has introduced different account tiers. There’s now a standard, premium, and pro account. And it’s not up to you to choose. Redbubble decides based on your performance and when you sign-up with Redbubble, you don’t know what you get.

I was placed in the premium category once this change was introduced. Hence, I continue to use Redbubble as before. But if you end up in the standard tier, you will pay a fee to Redbubble for the sales you make. This fee gets deducted from your earnings. Redbubble is still free, and you will not have to pay for using it. But you better increase your margins if you end up in the standard tier to compensate for this fee. And that’s the thing with using such platforms: You are subject to whatever policy and price changes they introduce. You don’t have control over your storefront.

Another aspect that you might not like with platforms like Redbubble is the limited branding possibility. Your storefront on Redbubble looks like any other. You can add a header, a logo, and custom titles and text. But it’s not the same as having a homepage.  If you want to build long-lasting customer relationships, possibly conducting business with them several times, a generic platform like Redbubble is not the right place for you.

It’s also not the right place to brand your work as fine art. That’s because of all the other types of products on the platform and the limited ways to brand your work. Redbubble targets the masses, which makes it hard to use for fine art.

Conclusion

You’ve now heard some pros and cons of using a global art marketplace like Redbubble. To get started selling prints as a hobbyist photographer, it’s a viable option. I wouldn’t have used them for so long if I didn’t think so. But due to recent changes on the platform and the decline of my sales via the marketplace, I started to move on. I want to offer my customers a more premium and fully branded experience when buying prints.  There are again several ways to do this, some relatively simple with monthly costs of up to $50, others much cheaper but involving a lot more work to set up and maintain. 

In part two of this series, I will share the option I selected for my homepage and what’s required to set up a professional store.

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About The Photo Studio 308:

The Photo Studio 308 is a premier destination for professional photography services, specializing in a wide range of genres including fashion, portraiture, commercial, and lifestyle photography. With a team of highly skilled photographers and a commitment to excellence, The Studio provides clients with visually striking imagery that exceeds expectations. From concept development to the final product, The Studio offers a seamless and collaborative experience, ensuring outstanding results tailored to each client’s unique vision.

Carlos Betancur
Carlos Kremmer
+1 347-618-1852
booking@photostudio308.com
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“Composition is the bedrock on which all great photographs are built,” said Alex Kilbee in his video above. However, he also acknowledged that it can be extremely confusing, especially for beginners. So, whether you’re new to photography or want to take things a notch up, he offers easy and understandable tips to help you get there.

First, Kilbee explains that composition in photography has actually evolved over the centuries due to all the rules, ideas, and formulas built up over time. However, many photography educators tend to use these to show how much they know. As a result, learners get confused instead of understanding what makes a harmonious and well-composed image.

Instead of looking at photography composition as a set of rules that must be followed, he suggests taking it as a toolbox with various tools that you can use based on the scene before you. How would you use these tools to capture a subject or scene to portray it the way you want it?

That said, how do you know if you have a well-composed image? For Kilbee, the best composition is the one that feels right. As such, you have to practice trusting your gut when it comes to approaching photography composition. That also means breaking the rules if you have to — just make sure you’re intentional about it. “Break them with conviction,” as he aptly said.

Do you agree with Kilbee’s point of view about photography composition? Do you have you have your own views about the topic? Share your insights with us in the comments below, or in our group discussions if you’re already part of the Photofocus Community!