I was recently asked by a potential client of mine, if i'd like to be a featured artist for the month of July at his coffee shop. I will be his 2nd featured artist & his ideas for this are still being planned out as he goes. The only thing that he asked is for me to bring in 10-12 framed pieces, name them & put a price on them. He suggested maybe having a friends/family night also, which is absolutely fine with me.

So my questions are...
1. Has anyone done anything like this before? If so, what was your experience?

2. I have a really hard time with self worth & putting a price to my work/time. Is there any advice you can give when I decide to set prices? (everything will be custom framed, if you need to know that)

3. For photos that contain people, do I need their signed permission in order to put them up for display & sale?

Thanks for any input!!
Tanya

1. Yes. On a couple of occasions. It was good, I made some money, got my name out and it went well. Sounds like a good opportunity.

2. First question you should always ask, is there a store fee or gallery fee that he will be taking from any sold images? Probably not in this case, but for galleries there almost ALWAYS is. I set my prices at a point where not only they will sell but where I can make some money. For reference, I sell a framed/matted/signed (all simple) 12x18 for $185. What sizes are you thinking about putting up?

Also, when talking about framing, in my opinion, you should always go simple and consistent for something like this. I always do white mats with black frames. I wouldn't worry about any custom framing junk, it's not worth it, I pick up my frames from an arts store (Jerry's) and no one seems to be able to tell the difference.

3. I have no idea (I never shoot people) but that sounds correct. I think the key is if they are identifiable i.e. someone's face versus a silhouette.

Hope that helps, Tanya, and of course, congrats.

Good stuff here re: #3:

http://www.danheller.com/model-release.html

Speaking of the First Amendment, artistic exhibitions (and publications) are considered editorial and are protected. This means that you can exhibit your photos of recognizable people in galleries, public fairs, photo contests, and coffee table books (or books of any sort, so long as it's not one that's distributed with a product, like a camera's manual). In fact, art can be printed without a release, regardless of the medium in which it is printed. You can also sell these pieces because, as you may recall from Model Release Primer, profit has nothing to do with whether a release is required.

I've recently had to put prices on some of my stuff, and I agree, it's hard. I looked around at what people were asking for similar work, and adjusted accordingly.

Originally Posted by iwalani

3. For photos that contain people, do I need their signed permission in order to put them up for display & sale?

that would certainly put the paparazzi out of business in a hurry.

I didn't even think of it that way ride...

Thank you so much for the feedback. I think for the most part I will end up going with a simple way of framing (black & whites), but there are a few pieces that I'd like to change up a bit. Most of my prints will be 11x14, with the exception of a few 5x7's for those that want a smaller version of the larger prints & then I'll probably have 1 or 2 12 x18's.