Postcard photography

Submitting pictures to postcard publishers is unlikely to make you a fortune, but part and parcel of being a freelance photographer is making the most of every market at your disposal - and this one can provide a great way to get your work exposed to a wider audience.
Words and Pictures by Lee Frost.

As with calendars, the majority of postcards in the UK are produced by a relatively small number of publishers - you could count the main players on one hand. However, in a typical year they will produce hundreds of new 'views' so there are ample sales opportunities out there.
In all cases, the pictures that sell the best are those showing the most popular scenes and attractions. So, if you intend submitting pictures of a seaside resort, top of your list should be pictures of the beaches, any popular coastal views, the harbour, significant buildings and monuments and so on.
These shots are often referred to as 'generics' because they immediately say 'this is Torquay, this is London, this is Bath, or this is the Lake District. More so than with calendar publishing, the postcard market has little or no place for obscure photographs that could have been taken anywhere - simply because no one would bother buying them.
A good tip is if you're going to somewhere specifically to take pictures for submission to a postcard publisher, check out the postcards that are already on sale. Chances are you'll see the same views cropping up time after time - they're the ones you should photograph first, aiming to produce something better than you've already seen.
As well as classic postcards in touristy areas, many postcard publishers also work alongside salespeople and other smaller companies around the country, producing postcards for sale in lesser-known locations. Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Barnsley - these towns may not be at the top of your list of must-shoot destinations, but if you visit any of them you're almost guaranteed to find postcards on sale of these places. Someone has to take the pictures for them, so why couldn't it be you, and if you happen to be in a place where there aren't any postcards on sales, it's worth making a few enquiries to see if anyone would be interested in buying some if they were available, such as local bookshops, newsagents, post offices, tourist information centres and so on.

Breaking in
If you've never submitted work to a postcard publisher before, the easiest way to get your foot on the ladder is by putting together a small submission of perhaps 20-24 colour transparencies that represent a good cross-section of locations. Alongside this, enclose a list of other locations you have photographed, either generally - The Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, North Devon, etc - or in detail with specific subjects/locations listed beneath each regional heading. This will allow the picture editor to not only gauge the quality of your work, but which places you have photographed as well.
You'll find details of the main publishers in freelance directories such as The Freelance Photographer's Market Handbook, but checking out the postcards on sale in any places you visit is advised too - perhaps buying a few from the range for future reference.
When first making contact, ask the publisher for any 'wants' lists they might have, so you have details of exactly what locations are required. Also, ask for your name to be added to the mailing list for future picture requests.
In some cases this may mean that you receive lists of literally hundreds of locations if a publisher is having a major update or branching into new areas. Even better, the lists tend to be sent out months, even a year, in advance, so you have time to visit and photograph some of the locations listed if you haven't already done so.

In the picture
In terms of picture style and content, this will vary according to the location.
Places where tourists go to sightsee, sunbathe and generally have a good time should be revealed at their best. That means bright sunshine, blue sky, perhaps a few cotton-wool clouds thrown in for good measure. Sunrise and sunset shots can also be good sellers, as well as twilight shots of floodlit buildings or scenes full of colourful illuminations such as seaside proms and harbours. Dull, cloudy weather and rainy days are a no-no. You should also try to take pictures that are timeless, so they can sell for a number of years. That means avoiding motor vehicles and, wherever possible, people, as both tend to date an image. In cities this can be almost impossible, but card manufacturers tend to recognise this and have a more open mind, assuming I suppose that the cards will sell faster than in sleepy villages so they can be updated on a more regular basis.
If you're shooting an area where people go to walk, camp, climb and enjoy the scenery, then clear, blue-sky weather can also be a benefit. It's not essential though, and often you'll find that stormy, dramatic lighting sells better because it's more typical of the area. Pictures taken in different seasons of the year can also be popular, so don't just shoot the Scottish Highlands in summer - venture up there in autumn when the landscape is alive with fiery, rustic colours, or in the depths of winter when it's under a blanket or pristine snow.
Because postcards are small - usually around 15x12cm - publishers are happy to accept 35mm as well as larger formats. Slow speed transparency film should still be used, however, and your pictures must be technically excellent.
What can you expect in return? About 35-50 per shot seems to be the range for touristy postcards, though you may be offered 100+ by upmarket publishers of 'art' cards. This is usually for exclusive postcard rights for five years, either UK-only or world-wide. The smaller fees may not seem like a great deal, but once you have got your name firmly established with a postcard publishers there's no reason why you couldn't sell the use of a dozen or more shots per submission, so the payment you receive in return is suddenly worth having.

Self-publishing
Instead of supplying postcard publishers, some photographers actually publish their own postcards which are then sold on to the retail trade.
This is certainly worth considering, but don't expect to get rich quick - you need to sell tens of thousands of cards each year to see even a decent return, and achieving this can be costly and time consuming unless you live in an area that's frequented by tourists and there are lots of potential outlets close by so you don't incur high costs travelling to and from them.
As well as underwriting the cost of having the cards printed - you will need at least 5000 copies of each card in a range of 12 or 16 cards to make it worthwhile - you must then find outlets for those cards, and keep the outlets re-stocked, which can be hard work in the busy summer season.
If you don't actually live in an area that's on the tourist trail, choose one nearby that is, and that ideally doesn't have a great selection of postcards already on sale that depict it - if it does, your job of finding outlets will be more difficult.
Ideally you will already have a selection of suitable pictures on file that could be turned into postcards. If not, set yourself the task of taking them. Aim to produce 20 or 30 suitable shots, from which 10-12 will be turned into cards. Next, have a set of good quality postcard-sized prints made which you can use as proofs then tour around possible outlets to see what kind of response you get - starting with places like the tourist information centre.
If your work is good enough, and the area offers sufficient potential for sales, you may well receive advance orders at this stage - several hundreds copies of some or all the cards you will be producing if you're lucky, though smaller outlets such as independent newsagents may want to test the market first by purchasing smaller numbers of 50-100 copies of each card.
The next stage is to locate a printer that can produce the cards. Specialist postcard printers are your best bet - you will find a list in the Freelance Photographer's Market Handbook published by the Bureau of Freelance Photographers (BFP). If you have a digital imaging set-up at home you may be able to save a little money by scanning the images yourself and providing digital files, but this isn't essential.
The price you are able to sell the cards for will depend mainly on how much they're retailing for in the area. If the average price is 20-30p, you should be able to sell them for 7-10p each, and if you have 5000-6000 copies of each card printed they will cost you around 4-5p each. Based on these figures you stand to make a minimum of 2p per card and a maximum of 6p. Taking an average profit of 4p per card that means you will make 40 per 1000 cards sold, so on a print run of 5000 you would make 200 profit. Multiply that by 12 different cards and you're looking at 2400 profit. Don't get too excited though - this figure assumes you sell every card, which may take years if ever, and you're going to have to put in a lot of work both before the cards are printed and after.
One useful benefit of publishing your own postcards, however, is that it will expose your work to a large local audience, so there's always a chance that you may be contacted by local businesses who want to use your work in brochures, reports, calendars and so on, or commission you to take new shots for them.
As the old saying goes - you've got to speculate to accumulate.