My first Print i have sold to someone

[j.o.s.h.1408]

A few months ago i got approached by a US magazine called Popular photography about using one of my pictures for there November Issue.

I was well excited and at first thought it was a joke but i kindly agreed for them to use my image to see what happens. Fast forward to today and they kindly sent me a copy of the magazine with my first ever print i have sold!!!

Well excited. Never imagined any of my pictures could be bought by anyone let alone a magazine.

It is the picture i took above the title "Wet Down" where i was on my way home from a social photo meet up in shoreditch. It was a raining at the time but still took out my camera to take pictures as there was some interesting light and reflections to capture


first print sold 2.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr




edit: to all the doubters who did not like my recent PP. well the pic above chosen by the magazine uses my trademark style of PP.

That is why i still use it because many people love it.

This is the place where people hate it.

So long as the majority like my style of PP, i will stick with it

[Jonj1611]

Good work mate, well done

[Butuz]

Well done mate! Don't worry about the doubters mate - crak on with how you want to do things - some would consider the work many of the doubters have shown to be *yawn* *yawn* sorry I fell asleep for a minute thinking about it

Butuz

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Its one thing to get feedback from people to see if there are any ideas they can give you,but TBH its your own style and you should not really care about what other people say. Its an outlet for your own creativity,not someone elses. Also,remember that with any art you will get a diverse range of reactions;some people will love it and others won't.

Edit!!

Also congrats on getting Popular photography to publish your picture!! It is a well known magazine.

[Butcher]

Who are you taking pictures for? I take them for myself, so I'll use what PP I like. Unless someone else is paying it's your choice really.

[circuitmonkey]

Well done mate, it's a great shot

[kalniel]

Its one thing to get feedback from people to see if there are any ideas they can give you,but TBH its your own style and you should not really care about what other people say.

Can't see the OP, but absolutely agree. Forums always enliven debate, and if you don't like to hear contrary views then you should just ignore people - if they are fed up of you they will put you on ignore too, and you can both just carry on your business

[jimborae]

Stick that in your pipe & smoke it Bob et al !

Nice work Josh, don't let the detractors get you down, some of the criticism you get for your photos is rather negative, harsh and frankly unwarranted.

[virtuo]

In the interest of sounding stupid so nobody else has to, what's PP?

Congrats on the magazine, did they give you a subscription, or just pay you for the rights to the image? Nice pic, too.

[kalniel]

In the interest of sounding stupid so nobody else has to, what's PP?

Post-process. Eg turning the colour-saturation dial up so that images look vivid and slightly unrealistic.

[Saracen]

....

edit: to all the doubters who did not like my recent PP. well the pic above chosen by the magazine uses my trademark style of PP.

That is why i still use it because many people love it.

This is the place where people hate it.

So long as the majority like my style of PP, i will stick with it

First, congrat's on getting the shot published.

Second, a hint for you. If you're trying to get work published, one of the first questions an editor is likely to ask is "have you been published before, .... and where?"

So, you now have a useful tool to market your work. Contact a prospective buyer and tell them something like "I'm just getting started .... but I have had work published by the US Practical Photography magazine".

Third, what "doubters" think doesn't matter. Personally, I think Van Gogh is hopeless garbage and I wouldn't hang his stuff in my loo. But what do I know about "art"?

I do, on the other hand, know if I like or dislike an image, and nobody else is qualified to tell me I'm wrong. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don't think I commrnted on your work before, so I'm probably not in the "doubter" category .... yet. But I'm not a huge fan of urban scenes, so that image isn't one that appeals to me. But then, nor is Van Gogh.

My last piece of (unasked for ) advice. If working to commission, do what the person paying for it wants. If working for you, do what YOU like, and don't give a nanosecond's considerations to doubters.

I suppose I should qualify that a bit. If someone with the knowledge or experience criticises technique, or suggests alternative approaches, methods or techniques, give it due consideration. But if someone, like me, "doesn't like" a shot, you should care because .... ???

If YOU like your work, what else really matters?

And a final, final .... and not very profound .... thought - WHATEVER you do, you're never going to get everybody to like it. There'll always be "doubters". It's one reason why you'll rarely see my photos on the net (unless someone else paid for the right to publish) .... I don't care if anybody else likes them or not, I take them for one of two reasons, to please me, or to get paid. Another reason, of course, us to avoid them being lifted and used without permission (thereby, by the way, almost certainly destroying and commercial value).

[g8ina]

Josh, the image wasnt showing for some reason, Ive edited to show it.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

cool thanks!

[scaryjim]

My last piece of (unasked for ) advice. If working to commission, do what the person paying for it wants. If working for you, do what YOU like, and don't give a nanosecond's considerations to doubters.

Of all the advice anyone ever gives you, whether you ask for it or not, this is probably the best thing you could hear. It's true for all forms of contract work, but particularly true for the highly subjective ones like photography (and other artforms).

I once sent some feedback to a friend I'd offered to pay for two pieces of artwork. I liked one of the drafts she sent me but asked her to tweak the other one. I never heard back from her (well, not about that project, anyway). Now, I don't know if that was just that other things came up that she thought were more important, or if she actually though I was wrong to ask for the changes, but if it was the latter she basically sulked her way out of a decent amount of money. If you're ever going to work on commission, you just can't afford to do that.

Oh, and don't forget that if you really don't like what they're asking you to do, you can always choose to tell them and walk away. But the earlier you do that in the contract, the better.

So listen to this dude Saracen, he knows what he's talking about </Bill>

[j.o.s.h.1408]

yea indeed. i started to apply that logic on my normal day job as clients dont ever listen to us developers anyway and when it all falls over i just say, well i told you so

[Saracen]

.... If you're ever going to work on commission, you just can't afford to do that.

Oh, and don't forget that if you really don't like what they're asking you to do, you can always choose to tell them and walk away. But the earlier you do that in the contract, the better.

....

Agreed .... with one caveat. Well, two, I suppose.

First caveat. If you're lucky, you just might get to the point where demand exceeds abiluty to supply. Famous, high-demand star artists, for instance, can afford to say that that is my style, my art, take it or leave it.

For instance, most freelance journalists work to rates more or less dictated by the publication, but some can say "I charge £x, do you want my work?" I'd bet that, for instance, Stephen Fry or Jeremy Clarkson get a better word rate than I do. Sadly.


Second caveat. Why are you doing the work? To make money, or to produce "art"?

As far as I'm concerned, I'm in a very different situation if I'm a portrait photographer taking paid work, to an "art" photographer to whom someone says "love your work, will you take my portrait?".

On the one hand, someone wants a portrait, and basically, the photographer could be anyone competent. On the second, someone wants my work, not just a portrait.

And, portraits are just an example to illustrate a point, and by the way, I don't do portraits at all. Not for money, anyway. My point is that producing "art" that people want to buy because they like it is different to people paying for a commodity commission.

I've said before, but it stands repeating, what I write in posts here is written to suit ME, but is very different to the way I'd write for PC Pro or the Telegraph .... and they'd be different from each other.