P3D Re: contemporary slides!

[boris@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Boris Starosta)]

>From: John Baird <jbaird@xxxxxxxxx>

>to be thrilled to have made back my duping costs!!!!!  i longed for the
>old days when i made $200 selling slides outside stereo theatre right
>after my show!!!!!  why are contemporary 3d slides hard sell at nsa
>conventions?????   beats me!!!!!
>
>now, boris did considerably better than i which made me feel a little
>jeoulous but also happy for him and relieved that i didn't lead him into
>the venture to have him fall flat!!!!  suprising to both of us his
>computor generated art work sold better than the nudes and he sold out
>of that work saturday! still, if you asked him was the monitary
>compensation worth all the time and costs????  i bet he'd say no!!  i

John, thanks for the comments;  now it is time to add my own perspective.

It is particularly interesting to hear that John had not improved his
profitability by going from "impromptu" sales to "professional trade fair
table" sales.  I was unaware of this story.  I have had practically the
same experience now...

Many of you are aware that I've sold my C.G. and fine art nudes via
Sell-3D.  Specifically, I've had only two sales: one in March/April, and a
second sale pre-convention in June/July (the proceeds of which,
incidentally, financed all my dupes for NSA'98).

Then I went to the convention to sell slides to a larger and I thought more
qualified audience.  The upshot: I grossed about the same amount at NSA, as
I did through the previous two sales on P3D.  I only sold about 25% of the
slides I brought.  (When, some of you are now wondering, will the remainder
come up for sale on Sell-3d?!)

The cash-money cost of selling on P3D was nil (I consider the cost of the
computer and internet to be "socialized"), and the time spent doing actual
selling was probably not more than about six hours total.

By contrast, NSA took many days (not to say weeks) of preparation time,
plus a fair amount of money to prepare displays, rent the table, etc.  And
I didn't even have the costs of a hotel to worry about.  Then two days on
my feet selling.  Plus the "opportunity cost" of essentially missing the
trade show myself.

I don't think I "fell flat," but the effort is difficult to justify.  All
in all, I'm not sure I'm going to bother with a table again next year.
(I'll be there, no question, but maybe I'll just sell out of my room,
impromptu).

There is no doubt that attending the convention was worth it.  I met a
great many fabulous people, saw some outstanding stereo presentations, and
got some good exposure for myself - all these things unrelated to the trade
fair.

This is a good time to "publicly" thank John and his son David for the
great help they were to me at the convention.  They had brought extra
display hardware - the fancy backdrop and an extra table - and they helped
me set up and tear down.  I don't recall being of any use to them, so I'm
not sure how I can ever make good on my debt.

I was sorry to hear of the relative lack of sales from John.  So far as I
know, he is the only photographer on the planet doing true art nudes and
light paintings with nudes in full frame 35mm - many of these images are
very beautiful and an inspiration to me.

These will be the collectibles of the future, but no one seems to notice!

In a future post I will float an idea on how collectors may be able to
support contemporary work without needing to abandon their particular
"Weltanschauung."

Respectfully submitted,




Boris Starosta            boris@xxxxxxxxxxxx
                          http://www.starosta.com
usa 804 979 3930          http://www.starosta.com/3dshowcase



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