What is print-worthy?

When deciding what photographs to print and sell, one has to imagine (or predict) what the general public is likely to want to hang over the couch. That's been harder than I thought.

Lately I’ve been going through my entire Lightroom library, marking images that I consider print-worthy (to go with my hand-made frames). It’s been an interesting exercise, in so many ways.

Turns out, there are “keepers” and then there are “keepers.” Here’s what I mean by that: Like everyone, I have tons of images that I consider keepers, that I’ve posted on social media over the years, and that have sometimes been well-received, but that I don’t think anyone would ever want to hang on their wall. In other words, not everything that I’ve kept and/or posted is worthy of printing. But figuring out how to distinguish those two groups has been a curious exercise.

Here’s an example. I like, even love this image. I braved a short hike in the rain with weather-resistant camera gear to get it. I think it’s nicely composed, has a good vibe, and is even a bit humorous. But I cannot imagine anyone ever paying $200 for it, or wanting to hang it up in their den, or in a dentists’ office. It did not make the print-worthy pile.

That does not mean I would never print it - but the print would probably be for myself, not to mount, hang, and sell. I can imagine a small print of it on card stock, stuck to the fridge with a magnet. I can imagine it as the basis of a greeting card perhaps. But I can’t imagine it “as-is,” in a frame above a couch in anyone’s family room.

In contrast, this image (of the South Jetty on the Morro Bay sand spit), is both a keeper and a candidate for printing. I canimagine someone hanging it in a dentist’s office, or in a coffee house.

I think that when people invest in a print, they want something they can imagine living with for the next 10-20 years - they want a sense of confidence that they won’t get tired of it over time. Perhaps they want their living room to feel “epic” or “timeless” but not “quirky” or “irreverent.” Sometimes, the difference is obvious. Other times it’s not. I have to get out of my own headspace, and into the mind of a potential buyer. And I’ve had to make this small decision tens of thousands of times over the past month, as I quickly skim through the back-catalog looking for things that would work in that “real keeper” context.

Keep It Open-Ended

Prior to going through this exercise, I hadn’t really thought much about “What’s printable?” But now, I’ve had to ask myself “What’s the difference?” What makes something “printable?” as opposed to “postable?”

I think that people are naturally inclined to buy prints of scenes that are not too specific - for the printable images, I generally don’t think it works to include specific individuals, easily identifiable places, or particular objects. Instead, I think people are looking for photos that are open to some level of interpretation on the part of the viewer - images that evoke an aesthetic, or a mood, rather than a specific person, place, or thing. Images that people are willing to live with for decades are launching pads for the imagination, not just depictions. Printable images are open-ended in a way - by being non-specific, they can more easily become part of the tapestry of imagination.

It’s interesting to imagine how this thought process would play out if the audience was not the general public, but rather an art museum or gallery, which would be less interested in wall decorations and more interested in the artist’s particular point of view. In that case, I think my selections would include more specifics, as those speak to my individual point of view. But of course I have about as much chance of getting my work into a “real” art gallery as I do of winning the lottery. So I’ll have to stick to wildflowers and ocean vistas for now. That’s OK - I love those too.