I studied photography in Garry Winogrand's class in Austin in 1979 and have been photographing as a street photographer for thirty years, have a website, a presence on other websites, had many exhibitions, received many favourable comments but few sales. What is the best way to reach the niche market of fine art social documentary photograph collectors in the USA in particular and the world at large? Start with magazine submissions.
Even gorgeous color mags like National Geographic prints the occasional B & W pic.
Send to every mag you can find....and then wait for the collectors to contact you. best way would to associate yourself with a gallery. A good gallerist works with you to promote your career - sometimes on a long-term basis. Galleries can take you to fairs and expose you to huge market that is already on the "prowl" for artists and artworks. This kind of visibility is hard to shore up in any other way individually (via websites, etc)
Submissions to lots of magazines, and keep going to openings in your town as much networking as you can do to keep (or get) your name out there.
The best thing that you can do for yourself is to open up as many possibilites as possible, this would include education at a respected program, get an MFA! and keep on trying. You'll find lots of closed doors and you can't give up. | 