Landscape Photography: Saleable Art Versus Worthless Pretty Pictures

Landscape photography has become boring. How many more photos do I have to scroll through on social media of the same old locations? Those must-have photos of the red houses in Hamnøy, Lofoten; the waterfall at Kirkjufellsfoss, Iceland; the lone tree at Buttermere in the Lake District. It’s like looking through a schoolboy’s stamp collection. Every kid has exactly the same stamps because they’re the easiest ones to find and buy with your pocket money.

Everyone and their dog photographs the same view. It doesn’t matter one bit how lovely the scene is you just captured in full 60 MP glory, bathed in moody early morning or late afternoon light. I’m tired of these photos because there’s very little thought or skill required, and certainly very little creativity.

And yet, so many photographers seek to shoot these views, and then print them out and attempt to sell them. They watched their favorite YouTuber rave about the importance of printing your work and clicked on that affiliate link to the new printer being promoted.

After some time has passed and the tumbleweed rolls through town, they start proclaiming, “Photography is dead, it has no value, no one is buying photography anymore.” First of all, let me say, there’s nothing wrong with photographing these over-shot, clichéd views if that’s what you enjoy. I shot Charles Bridge at sunrise in Prague when I was there—Lord have mercy upon me. And then there’s that view everyone shoots at the Grand Canyon. I don’t regret it; I look back at the photos with great joy. I even printed and framed one of the photos, and it hangs with pride in my kitchen. The thing is, I’m not trying to sell them to anyone.

The Problem

Here’s the issue—the reason no one is buying your prints of these honeypot views. You don’t understand the market. More specifically, you don’t understand your market. Most importantly, you don’t understand art.

Recently I interviewed Peter Dušek. He does understand the market. He’s a full-time professional landscape photographer. What makes him unique among landscape photographers is he makes his living 100% from selling his work. He doesn’t educate others on how to shoot landscapes. He doesn’t run workshops or retreats, have a course, or even have a YouTube channel to talk about landscape photography. He does nothing to supplement his income. He creates art, prints it, and sells it. “Simples,” said the meerkat (UK reference, American friends).

I made a video when I interviewed him, and it’s packed with words of wisdom and some wonderful insight into the world of a full-time landscape photographer. If you’re not interested in watching it—it is almost half an hour long—then my summary below may be of interest. I would encourage you to watch it, though. Then I make some ad revenue.

There are three things I took away from our conversation, which may help you.

Understand Your Market

You need to understand who your target audience is, who is actually buying fine art photography. 

Collectors Versus Decor Buyers

First, you need to understand the difference between serious art collectors and those looking to buy a piece of decor for a room. This may be of a location they visited on holiday and want a souvenir print to remember the trip. It seems most photographers target the latter, and for this group, price is usually more of an issue. The price a tourist looking for a souvenir print is willing to pay will, in most cases, be vastly different from someone who has money and appreciates and collects art—in some cases, a couple hundred dollars versus $5,000+ per print. Collectors versus decor buyers.

Many landscape photographers on YouTube try to sell to other photographers. I’ve never understood this. Other photographers want to learn and be inspired so they can go and shoot their own photos to print and frame.

There’s this idea that it’s nice to buy a print from photographers you watch on YouTube as a way of supporting them. That’s a kind sentiment, but far from a sustainable business model for the photographer.

Photographers need to stop trying to impress and appeal to other photographers.

Understanding your audience means understanding how they live and where they live. This helps establish the size of the prints you sell. Peter’s audience have very large homes with massive walls, so they prefer a 6- or 7-foot-wide print—sometimes larger. He also knows that collectors from the city have smaller walls and like to collect lots of art, so smaller prints work best for them. He caters to both markets.

Something that Peter identified is to focus on a local audience first and sell images of places that mean something to the audience. Many of his customers are wealthy and have second homes where his gallery is. They love the area—that’s why they spend time there—so a local landscape is going to have far more appeal than a random mountain view from a foreign country, no matter how lovely the light is.

For long-term success, you need to build a reputation in the art collectors’ world nationally or even internationally.

A Great Photo Isn’t a Great Piece of Art

A stunning view across a mountain at sunrise with layers, color, and breathtaking drama makes a stunning photo. It may excite other landscape photographers judging a competition you submitted the image into. They may award you first place. Landscape Photographer of the Year—yay! But it doesn’t mean that photo is something people would want to hang on their wall. Well, not photographic art collectors with the fat wallets, anyway. What impresses other photographers doesn’t impress an art buyer. This is probably the single biggest thing photographers don’t understand. A great photo doesn’t necessarily translate to a great piece of art. Read that a few times over, please.

A landscape photography YouTuber recently stated landscape photography has no value, and no one is buying it. What he doesn’t realize is it’s his photography that has no value because he’s shooting the popular views in lovely light—just like every other landscape photographer. Undoubtedly a lovely thing to do for a hobby, but not for commercial success.

Photographers criticize the work of someone like Andreas Gursky. “His photos are boring, anyone can take them, why are they selling for millions?” Yes, why indeed. If you want just a fraction of Gursky’s success, you need to study this and figure it out. Peter Dušek spent the time doing so. Part of the “why” is he understands art and his audience. He understands the collectors aren’t just buying the image—they’re buying the artist and the story. This comes down to building a brand, a persona, and I could surely write an entire article just on this topic.

Let’s be clear: there is no single answer as to what kind of photos make great art. You need to figure this out for yourself by first identifying who your audience might be and then understanding what they buy and why. Why is the most important word here, yet it’s the word that gets the least amount of thought and research.

Don’t Get Ideas and Inspiration From Social Media

Photographers spend too much time on social media and photography websites like Flickr. Peter suggests this is a bad idea, and I must agree.

Social media is oversaturated with trendy images with cool color presets and editing, shot at epic locations. It’s all the same old fluff, image after image. Photographers are under the impression this is what good photography is, based purely on the likes, so they mimic what they see. Their work blends in, doesn’t stand out. Social media likes mean absolutely nothing in the art collectors’ world.

Many photographers will follow influencers and popular YouTubers looking for guidance, but these guys don’t really know. They talk about photography; they don’t sell photography. For the most part, they’re probably the worst source of solid advice and guidance—unless you want to buy a new printer, perhaps.

You need to ignore social media and trends and create art that you want to, that excites you. That’s the starting point, according to Peter. The foundation from which to build a fine art print career.

So where do you go to get good guidance as to what great art photography is, if not social media?

Reputable art galleries and museums. Look at the art of painters as well as photographers. Good, reputable art galleries know fine art photography better than anyone else because it’s their business to know. They don’t throw up new images onto the wall daily for likes. Galleries and museums are experts at curating the best art.

A gallery knows their audience—who the collectors are—so they know what sells.

Peter told me he spends lots of time visiting the best galleries in North America and Europe. He attends shows and talks to people at the shows—other artists, buyers, collectors.

Collectors aren’t scrolling through Instagram. They’re attending shows. They’re getting to know the artists because, as I mentioned earlier, they’re buying the person as much as the print itself.

If you want to become a fine art landscape photographer and generate income from your work, maybe it’s best to get off social media and other photographers’ websites and start going out to shows. Even if you’re not exhibiting, you’ll be meeting others in the art business, connecting with buyers, understanding their point of view, telling your story, sharing your thoughts and ideas, and ultimately building a brand. It’s by far the most effective way to become known—which really is the same for any type of creative endeavor.

It takes time, work, effort—something that so many photographers don’t want to do. But this is the only way that leads to a successful career as a fine art landscape photographer.

Do watch the interview with Peter, and drop by to his website for more information. Looking through his galleries will surely inspire: PeterDusek.com.