for new approaches, and in recent years have come up with a range of different treatments in a bid to stand out from the crowd. A number of companies, for instance, now publish cut-out postcards, where the card is designed in the shape of the subject depicted in the original photograph: a card of Big Ben will be shaped like Big Ben, for example. This means that the main subject in each picture must be bold and obvious so that it lends itself to this cut-out treatment. Simple compositions with few other elements are required, especially elements that are obstructing the main subject and make a cut-out difficult. Traditional long views won’t work. But don’t just go for the obvious – they’re pretty well covered already. Think laterally and try to come up with more creative pictures. In London, for example, you will see postcards of a pint of beer (shaped like a pint of beer), a red telephone box (shaped like a telephone box), and so on.
BEACH SCENES
The time when most people send postcards is when they’re on vacation, and beach scenes are popular sellers – so make sure you shoot them.
Another thing you need to do is take your pictures at the right time. More often than not, that’s during summer, in bright sunlight, when you can feature attractive blue skies. The only exception to this rule are places like the Lake District, the Scottish Highlands, Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon, which are frequented all year round by people who are interested in more than getting a suntan.
How do you know what the key subjects and treatments are when you have never been to a location before? Just look at the postcards that are already on sale in the place. By definition, their subjects are the things you need to photograph – because they wouldn’t have been chosen for postcards if they weren’t. Your first port of call when shooting with the postcard market in mind is the collections of cards currently available. Study them carefully. Even better, become a postcard collector. The great thing about postcards is that they are relatively inexpensive to obtain.
As your collection grows, you will soon develop a sense for what kind of material gets published. You will also notice that the market is dominated by a relatively small number of businesses, whose names you can find printed on the backs of the cards or listed in The Freelance Photographer’s Market Handbook. If you have some material that you would like to send in, or shoot specifically, it’s a good idea to give your target companies a call first, to find out if they are interested. This isn’t a particularly glamorous area of publishing, so you won’t encounter too many people with king-size egos – they are usually approachable and happy to help.
The magic hour
Many urban locations – cities such as London, Newcastle, Paris and Sydney – look particularly striking when photographed at dusk, when the lights in the streets and buildings have been turned on but there is still some blue in the sky. Rural subjects are often at their most picturesque in the early morning. Whatever the subject, it is a waste of time shooting images when the conditions aren’t right. Pictures where the light is as flat as a pancake or the sky is washed out won’t get a second look, and aren’t worth submitting.
TRADITIONAL SUBJECTS
Some subjects have been photographed many times over, but postcard companies are always looking to refresh their ranges.
You will find that most are keen to see new material, particularly of locations where cards sell in large numbers. The competition can be fierce, so new cards are added regularly as those that are not selling well are dropped from the range
It’s a different story, though, in locations where the volume of sales is lower – such as villages with a small but steady tourist trade. Here the cards are likely to be updated relatively infrequently – sometimes only once every five or ten years – so the demand for new images is considerably less. If you want to earn a reasonable sum from postcard work, it makes sense to focus on the main tourist areas.
Once you have sold a few images to a card company, you will be on their distribution list for specific ‘wants’ in the future, which will give you an inside track on what to supply. This gives you a much greater chance of success than when you are shooting blind.
Since postcards are small – 9.5 x 15cm/6 x 4in is the standard size – an image in virtually any format has the potential to sell if it is technically OK. Most publishers will accept transparencies from 35mm upwards and digital files, but will rarely take photographic or inkjet prints.
The postcard market is not the most lucrative, but it can generate a useful income if you get it right. In my experience, the range of payments for postcard rights is from £50–£120 ($80–$200) per image. Some cards are multi-image, and that means you end up with a higher fee.
Why not consider publishing your own postcards? If you have a collection of attractive pictures of your local area, you could have some postcards printed and sell them without too much trouble at a useful profit. There are a number of companies that specialize in printing postcards, but most general printers can help, too. It doesn’t cost much to have, say, 2,000 cards printed of each picture, and if they all sell you should at least double your money. The more copies you have printed, the cheaper the unit price gets. Local gift shops, hotels, restaurants, newsagents, museums, galleries and tourist information centres are all potential customers.
This is no way to get rich quickly, but it will spread your name around the area, which could lead to commissions for other work. You can invest the profits in having more cards printed until you end up with a good selection on sale – you could perhaps extend your range to include other locations, though it may be wise to keep things fairly local to simplify distribution.
THE DECISIVE MOMENT
When shooting with postcards in mind, choose the moment carefully, so there are as few distractions and unwanted elements as possible.
GREETINGS CARDS
The market for greetings cards is booming. People are sending more cards than ever before, and not just for traditional dates such as Christmas, birthdays and Valentine’s Day. These days, you can buy ‘Hooray! You’re Divorced’ cards, and there are plenty of ‘You’re my Friend’ blank cards, so you can write your own message. The good news for the freelance is that the proportion of cards featuring photographs rather than paintings and drawings continues to increase – and a number of companies now specialize in photographic greetings cards. The downside is that relatively few new photography cards are published each year and competition to supply the images is fierce,
