In the absence of John Holbrook this Thursday.

[Douglas Sherman]

John will be gone for the next few weeks and there is no way I would attempt to duplicate what he does for "Thursday Task." But I thought it would be interesting to learn a little bit about the wonderful photographers on this site. How about posting an image of the very first photograph you ever sold, no matter if it was to a person or publisher? Please add the backstory as well.

My first sale was of a morel mushroom. Audubon selected it for their 1983 pocket calendar. I had found it the previous spring at Mississippi Palisades State Park in Illinois and submitted it along with a bunch of wildflower images. I was so excited that a major publisher of nature photographs would pick one of my images.

 

[AlanLichty]

Mine for "sale" was more of a barter situation. My dentist liked a shot I took of Mt. Shuksan and we agreed on a 36"x24" in exchange for some dental work. The one twist to this was that he wanted the image horizontally reversed. That was back in 2004 with my old Canon D60 so I was a bit surprised that the image actually looked fine in spite of such a large print from a 6.1MP camera. That print is still on one of the office walls in his office and I will be in fact visiting his practice in less than an hour from now.

This is the normal view of the image:

 

[Kyle Jones]

I think mine might be this one from Sedona.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Doug, what a great idea! Thanks for helping John out.

The problem though is I don't have a clue as to which image I first sold. I am going to have to think on this, so if you hear any gears stripping, it's just my brain...

 

[Jameel Hyder]

I am having a hard time figuring out the first one I sold. Here is one that do know I sold a while ago.

 

[Kyle Jones]

I'll just note that many of the pictures I've sold have not been the ones I would have expected (or wanted to buy myself)

 

[AlanLichty]

I'll just note that many of the pictures I've sold have not been the ones I would have expected (or wanted to buy myself)

I'll second that

 

[larryj]

This image was taken in 1976 while I was at a Chemical Conference in Mexico City. During the conference we took a trip to the silver mining area in central Mexico. As I was walking the streets this gentleman stopped me and asked me to look at some of his silver work. I told him I was just taking a few pictures and needed to get back to my tour bus. He stepped back in the doorway of his shop and said take my picture. I did and took his card with a promise to send him a print when I got home. I sent him an 11x14 framed print and received an invitation to stay at his home if I was ever in his area again!
Photo was taken with a Leicaflex SL and a 135mm Leica lens, film was Panatomic-X. This image was made from a scan of the negative.
I have sold several prints of this image going back to the 1980s.

Mr Hernandez Silversmith

 

[ckcarr]

I usually don't sell my pictures, but if someone wants one I do have them pay for the framing materials. When I print it's usually for my own house. Or, I used to give matted and framed pictures to friends.

Once back in 2016 I was contacted by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to buy one of this bird. Not sure what his plan was with it. It's a male Dusky Grouse up in the La Sals. To me it wasn't very interesting, but that's how it goes...