Print to Sell

Making a living as a photographer, as I’m sure many of the readers of this magazine will appreciate, can be a challenging business at times, particularly if you happen to specialise, as I do, in a sector such as landscape where it’s sometimes difficult to generate commercial commissions. My way of coping with the problem was to put my imagery with a number of photo libraries and eventually I was selling my pictures in over 50 countries, but still it was a somewhat precarious existence, and it was obvious that I needed something else to contribute regularly to my income.
The answer came from my strong interest in art and I had already consciously decided to leave space in my life to undertake specific art-related projects, although I wasn’t initially too clear in my own mind about what those projects might be. As it turned out there were a lot of opportunities out there and I have found myself working as a photographer within stately homes, museums and collections such as The Royal Institute of British Architects.
One my first opportunities was to undertake an art licensing project to assess the treasures of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, finding imagery in that extraordinary building that could be turned into licensing opportunities to develop modern day products, earning royalties for the Chatsworth Trust in the process. I have just completed a facsimile book project about the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, and my role was to digitally copy and proof one hundred and fifty water colour paintings and drawings by the artist William Whitelocke Lloyd. I then produced a limited edition of one of the pages, which will be enclosed with each book.
I have also found myself getting more involved in the fine art photographic market and, for the past five years, I’ve been able to earn a living as a fine art photographer and Giclee print maker. All the photographs I now produce are created for sale in fine art galleries such as the Tregoning Gallery, a leading contemporary showcase in the East Midlands, where I am a named artist. I’ve had over thirty solo shows, and my work is also held in private collections all over the world.
I also sell a small amount of decorative pieces printed onto textiles to the interior design market, while the print making side of my work involves photographing original artworks and then providing a facsimile archival print service – a reproduction print that perfectly matches the original -
to museums, private collectors, artists, galleries and book publishers.