Author Topic: Christmas is coming.... (Read 4177 times)

hatman12 · « **on:** May 30, 2007, 12:23 »

My diary tells me that June/July should be when I take all my Christmas related images and get them uploaded well before the rush for Christmas related images begins.

As I am a newbie, do any 'old hands' here have any experience of demand for Christmas images in terms of production timing etc?

scrappinstacy · « **Reply #1 on:** May 30, 2007, 12:34 »

I'm not an "old hand" but I have had some Christmas shots selling this month already!

fotografer · « **Reply #2 on:** May 30, 2007, 12:39 »

I had one sell today of someone in a christmas hat out in the snow.

iofoto · « **Reply #3 on:** May 30, 2007, 12:50 »

Quote from: hatman12 on May 30, 2007, 12:23

As I am a newbie, do any 'old hands' here have any experience of demand for Christmas images in terms of production timing etc?

In the assignment photo world, I can remember shooting Santa in July! In stock, I think summer is a great time to upload although we've already had Christmas sales. Since Christmas is a saturated category, think about shooting other events of the season such as Kwaanza or Hanukkah.

hatman12 · « **Reply #4 on:** May 30, 2007, 20:29 »

Thanks for that insight iofoto. Yes, the Christmas image market is probably overburdened with pictures.

Down here in Australia, Christmas is about being on the beach!

However, looking back to recent times when I lived in England, I can remember being aghast every year as the shops insist on starting to promote their Christmas goods at the end of September and then run the whole promotion thing through to Christmas and beyond. Basically, from September onwards England, and most of the rest of Northern Europe, is beseiged by Christmas marketing then New Year then New Year sales. The sheer volume of pictures required for that period must be huge.

So I take the view that every photographer ought to have a series of Christmas images in their portfolio otherwise they could completely miss out on an important three month period. Yes the market is probably saturated, but one thing is certain - no Christmas images means no Christmas sales.

So I'll do my fair share of Christmassy pictures and try to make them a little different and we'll see. I suppose it's a bit like the Lottery - if you don't buy a ticket you can't win.

Presumably the same Christmas marketing thang happens in North America and Canada?

wysiwyg_foto · « **Reply #5 on:** May 30, 2007, 21:47 »

Quote from: hatman12 on May 30, 2007, 20:29

Yes the market is probably saturated, but one thing is certain - no Christmas images means no Christmas sales.

I wouldn't count on that. I don't know why or how or what strange thing continues to curse me, but my portfolio is the contrarian portfolio. December (Christmas) is always my best month ever and I don't have any Christmas images to speak of...there are three - a pine tree with a candy cane (lame) a pine tree with an ornament (lame) and two kids wearing Santa hats playing ice hockey. They never sell during Christmas and honestly, I may sell one or two copies at this time. Everything else sells like it's going out of style...doesn't matter if it's old stuff or new stuff - it just sells.

Having said that, my sales are finally starting to make a turn (albeit slowly) from my 5 month decline. I suspect it's because everyone else is starting to experience the summer slowdown.

I don't get it.