Talk about the power of social media. With less than $100 in his bank account, photographer Daniel Arnold got creative about his passion, hoping it would make the leap to his wallet.
In a report by Forbes, Daniel, based in Brooklyn, leveraged his thousands of Instagram followers, garnered through his skill behind the lens and Gawker’s endorsement of him and his old Instagram account, banned due to a topless photo, as “the best photographer of Instagram,” and asked them for what he needed. Money.
“Hello, I just turned 34 this second. For one day only I am selling 4×6 prints of whatever you want from my Instagram archive for $150 each,” Daniel posted, the caption next to an iPhone with the words “Birthday sale $150” scrawled across it. “I swear I will never sell anything this cheap again. If you’re interested, send a screenshot of the photo(s) of your choice to arnoldaniel@gmail.com (one d) and I will send a paypal invoice, followed by a signed print. Easy peasy. Happy my birthday. I love you truly.”
In 24 hours, Arnold had nearly $15,000 worth of requests for his prints of often voyeuristic works. Though the sale was supposed to last only one day, Arnold, who admits to “eating toast three meals a day all February,” sounds like he could use the extra cash.