Sending your own photo?

[Star9685]

Okay, so I know most people send nice glossy photos whenever you send out requests.
That's great to do! But, when you don't want to use all your printer ink, or mess with buying online..sometimes it's hard to find a photo.
Sure, you can get them in magazines, but they're not that great of quality, and some celebs are really hard to find pin-ups of.
So, I've never sent my own photo in a request, and still have a good success rate of people sending their own photos. I mean, you'd think they'd have a stack of them when they go through fan mail.
But, do you think it's more polite, or does it give you a better success rate to send your own photo?
Just want to hear your input. {thumb2}

[RYAN J.]

I always send mine and I beleive you get a better success rate, cause sometimes celebs only send out 8x10's and the envelope the fan sent might not hold it, so either the request goes unanswered or the celeb has to spend more time making out a larger envelope thus reducing the amount of requests he/she can answer in one sitting. But if you include a SASE big enoug for the celeb to put a photo in, then cool! But I still think you get a better success rate if you inlcude your own photos. {thumb2}

RYAN J.

[johnnylightning]

I always send 4x6 photos,usually 2 max...

[missmaexox]

I feel sending your own photo is so much better for a few reasons.

The celebrity usually sends out 8x10s when you don't send a photo, but you might've sent a SASE smaller than that, or they might be out of the current 8x10 they send, which could make it longer to send, as they wait for a new shipment (this has happened before). 9x12 envelopes are also more expensive to buy than other envelopes, and more expensive to ship, so overall, not sending a photo can cost more.

The particular celebrity you're sending to may also not have a photo. If you're sending to Kellan Lutz, for example, he doesn't have a photo to send (or not that I know of yet) so you have to send him one. It's always good to send one, just in case the celebrity doesn't have a photo to send to you.

But, there is one downside to sending a photo. Sometimes you will send a photo that you like, but it may be very old, or from a photoshoot the celebrity regrets doing. It also may be from an event, and the celebrity didn't like that outfit or something, so they won't answer you because there isn't anything to sign.

I'd always send a photo just in case, and if you want an 8x10, ask if they have one, and they'll usually send out one (I've done this with a few requests).

Good luck with sending! And remember, you don't have to use glossy photo paper, mine isn't that glossy, so it doesn't use up a lot of ink. Some people on here use regular paper, too, which could work fine. {thumb2}

-Kelsey

[jasonw]

I always include my photo as I prefer to have my favourite one signed

I don't think it will directly affect your chances for a success in most cases though. Sometimes sending your own photos can mean taking more time before you recieve a success.

Jason

[Brookton]

I always send a photograph with my requests, I never used to but now I have I find that I get more successes. I think sometimes its just easier for the celeb to grab a pen sign and stick it in the envelope than they have to go find a pic.
Although I prefered not sending a photo as now I miss the surprise of what photo they are going to send me!

[khackdrums]

I often dont like the photo's celebrities send out, so lately I have been including my own photo with each request. I do believe there is a higher success rate if you include your own photo because a lot of celebrites don't have photo's on-hand to send out for requests and only answer requests that included photo's. Example: Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg.

Khackdrums

[x hayley x]

I have recently decided to include a picture with all of my requests. I have actually found my successes have increased since doing this, but I obviously can't say that's the reason, it could just be that the celebrities I have been writing to lately are better with their fanmail. I don't know!

If you can't get hold of pictures to send then maybe you could just include an index card with your requests so the celebrity could sign that if they don't have any pictures of their own. You could ask in your letter if they could send you a signed picture but you have enclosed an index card for them to sign if that isn't possible. Although pictures may look nicer, an index card is better than nothing!

Some people do claim that they haven't had any problems with not sending a picture though. So maybe you could just check previous feedback for the celebrities you're going to write and see if they usually provide their own photo or not

[qwertyuiop]

I mostly send to bands via venue, so I print pictures online and send 6x4 photos, the picture size saves on postage too

[EastendersFan]

Some have stacks of photos that they sign to fans.


But if you want a specific photo signed personally, then you need to send one.

Some users print photos for you on here and you can trade with them. You can print photos off online which can save you ink from these websites:

www.kodakgallery.co.uk
www.snapfish.co.uk
www.boots.co.uk
www.asda.co.uk
www.tesco.co.uk