In the last Red Dog News Update I announced the beginning of what I called Print of the Week. For one week I would offer one of my prints in a small, un-editioned, unsigned, flat, no matting format for only $45, including shipping. I received several notes that were critical of my decision to offer my prints at such an affordable price. The thought was I should be offering them at much higher rates.

My first print (above) on offer was “The Dress.” I have sold several of these prints at much larger sizes and a bit higher pricing. Since that first offering I have sold about a half-dozen of them at the affordable price. If you would like to purchase the next image in this series, just click on the P.O.W. tab in the header, above.

There are many schools of thought on the pricing issue. Some say high. Some say low. Some say whatever the market will bear. My good buddy Brooks Jensen (LensWork) is in the affordable price arena. I’m with him. The question consistently raised is “Would you rather sell 25 prints at $45 or one print at $450?” If I sell 25 prints, then 25 people get to enjoy my work, and they will hopefully tell their friends, and so on.

If I sell one print, then only one person gets to enjoy the work and the “word” will not get out as rapidly and in as wide of an arena as the previous example. I would also make more than $1,000 on the more affordable price point.

Brooks will be sharing much more of his thoughts on this subject in the May/June 2016 issue of Shadow & Light Magazine.

In this age of digital push-button printing, once the work is done, it really doesn’t take much effort to push the “Print” button to get a perfectly-produced print. Each print will look perfect, barring, that is, mechanical challenges.

My usual work-flow goes like this once I have finalized all aspects of post-production:
• Print 15 prints at about 16×20 or 20×24-inches. I don’t consider this a limited-edition print because if the demand is there I will print more.

• Print a handful of smaller sizes for arenas like the new Print of the Week series.

That’s about it.

What are your thoughts on this never-ending sensitive subject?