dale99 wrote:
With all the nude and implied nude photography being shot, I am curious as to where photographers are selling nudes with any frequency.  I've heard a lot of negatives about SG, especially from the photographers perspective, and the larger stock site (e.g., istock) download rates for nudity are extremely low.

Not that I mind shooting nudes, but I would rather not do it just for fun or to satisfy an aspiring but naive model.

Just to clarify, I'm not talking about pornographic nudes, just classic/glamour nudes.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Dale

Who says that the majority of people shooting nudes and implied nudes on here are actually selling them?  I am sure most people on here don't have any intention of selling their work, or even trying to do so.

The rates that stock houses are paying for professionally done commercial stock photos to professional photographers is laughable.  So you think that some GWC is gonna make a living selling his schlocky images to a stock house?

Look at the quality of the portfolios on here - from models to photographers.  Do you really think any stock house is gonna pay someone to do that quality work, when any AD with a digital camera can do at least as good if not better?

Telephoto Studio wrote:

Who says that the majority of people shooting nudes and implied nudes on here are actually selling them?  I am sure most people on here don't have any intention of selling their work, or even trying to do so.

The rates that stock houses are paying for professionally done commercial stock photos to professional photographers is laughable.  So you think that some GWC is gonna make a living selling his schlocky images to a stock house?

Look at the quality of the portfolios on here - from models to photographers.  Do you really think any stock house is gonna pay someone to do that quality work, when any AD with a digital camera can do at least as good if not better?

ahem.. well probably i am not or u r not good enough, but there's some that are..
and the ones that are taking this as a carrer..NOT A HOBBY.. but a carrer, pretend to live off this

KRB Photography wrote:
Galleries that do not mind exhibiting fine art nudes is your best choice of an avenue in which to sell your work.  Do you work in black & white or color, because I believe black & white is a more classical approach.

Color vs black and white has nothing to do with galleries and what makes it "fine art".

Rich Mohr wrote:
I'm planning on creating a calendar and book with mine...

http://curvesproject.blogspot.com

Rich

Nice stuff in your portfolio and blogspot  Rich. You've inspired me to blow off the dust on my book and calendar projects as well.

Ceehawk Multimedia wrote:

Nice stuff in your portfolio and blogspot  Rich. You've inspired me to blow off the dust work on my book and calendar projects as well.

Thank you Chris! 

BronxBeauty8 wrote:
I want someone to capture my youth while I still have it and build my portfolio and range of experience. Isn't that inspiring?

Very inspiring.

BronxBeauty8 wrote:
I want someone to capture my youth while I still have it and build my portfolio and range of experience. Isn't that inspiring?

so inspiring you'll likely have a  thousand messages by the end of the day!

dale99 wrote:
There are two shots (at least) in Estrings portfolio here that I would consider fine-art quality.  You may not.

My landscape nudes (most of them in color and shot digitally) have done quite well in juried gallery exhibitions. I'd say that helps demonstrate that fine art is NOT limited to b&w.. seriously, that's such a cliche! If that's all fine art is, then someone really needs to think outside the box, because it's BORING to limit art like that!

dale99 wrote:
Chris (Telephoto), I appreciate your perspective but wasn't really intending to start a thread that judges other people's work or choices.  In my earlier years, I shot only black and white for nudes and probably will stick to that, for the most part.  However, I don't agree that only black and white, shot in large-format film, is the only thing that qualifies as fine art.  There are two shots (at least) in Estrings portfolio here that I would consider fine-art quality.  You may not.

I also think Rich has some really nice shots in his port, and wish him well with the calendar idea.

I have some good gallery contacts in Palm Beach and South Florida, having lived there for 15 years before moving to the somewhat "gallery-free" area of Knoxville, TN.  I was just curious, with the amount of very graphic nudes and fetish type of photography I see, what people were doing it for (obviously, other than people shooting on assignment).

While I make a great living and have the luxury of pursuing photography without needing to live off of it, I was just curious of what markets were out there.

Hey Dale I use to live in Knoxville, left there about 11 years ago after living there for 12.  You can say it is where I honed my photographic teeth.  I'm sure if your use to galleries like you find in New York Chicago or Atlanta, that knoxville is a definte dissapointment but when i was there, myself and the 'photographic bunch" I hung out with made do with showing at coffe shops, resturants, museums and places like the Candy Factory on the Worlds Fair site.  I've been out of touch for awhile and i know the city has changed a lot over the last few years so I can't tell you exactly what is going on no.

A good place to find out would be Thompsons Photo Products.  When I worked there it was sort of a hub of what was going on in the photographic community in Knoxville.  There's a store on University avenue, one downtown and one off of Kingston Pike(maybe evn more, 11 years later).

Or you can do like I'm doing and concentrate on finding galleries in the major cities(New York, Chicago, Atlanta etc)willing to show your work.

Telephoto Studio wrote:
Who says that the majority of people shooting nudes and implied nudes on here are actually selling them?  I am sure most people on here don't have any intention of selling their work, or even trying to do so.

The rates that stock houses are paying for professionally done commercial stock photos to professional photographers is laughable.  So you think that some GWC is gonna make a living selling his schlocky images to a stock house?

Look at the quality of the portfolios on here - from models to photographers.  Do you really think any stock house is gonna pay someone to do that quality work, when any AD with a digital camera can do at least as good if not better?

There ARE a goodly number of us who're pretty agressive about shows & galleries and are HAPPY to sell prints there 

Tim Hammond wrote:
I sell a few prints from my web site, a few through word of mouth, and a few in galleries, but I sell the vast majority of the nudes I shoot right back to the client who paid the sitting fee and posed for them.

you do realize the entire internet-based industry just gasped! pay the photographer? and for nudes? are you mad???!!!

oldguysrule wrote:

you do realize the entire internet-based industry just gasped! pay the photographer? and for nudes? are you mad???!!!

yeah, it's funny, but I've been asked so many times to shoot nudes for pay...I just try to talk folks out of it now.