The contestants in BBC1′s The Apprentice have to sell art photographs. Quay Gallery proprietor Mike Barneby speculates to Tom Bradshaw as to how they will do MIKE BARNEBY has been selling art photographs at the Quay Gallery in Mill Street for 17 years.

Before that, he studied photography at Plymouth Art College.

He said this long experience was essential in ensuring he had an eye for what sells.

‘People self-consciously like a particular style of photograph without necessarily realising it and the key is to understand this and that only comes from experience,’ he said.

‘What you like might not be to everyone’s taste so it is important to know what will have mass appeal.’

He suggested landscape photographs with an innovative artistic twist were always popular.

Mr Barneby, who follows the show, predicted the candidates would be completely out of their comfort zone on this task.

‘If they have a limited time to sell, I think they will find it harder than they imagine. Art does not fly off the walls, so they will have to get the right product.’

He said the London art market was completely different from that of Guernsey.

‘Photographs have been known to sell for over £1m. in London and there is no way I could trade that kind of value of stock over here,’ he said.

‘I have to respect my market and deal in photographs from a completely commercial point of view, but the same principles apply. There is some beautiful artwork out there that would only appeal to a very narrow market. The trick is to cater for a wide range of clients’ tastes.’

When selecting photographs he strips them down to basics and looks at them from a composition point of view.

‘One of the many things we consider when searching for the right photograph is the law of thirds. Lots of images are naturally split into threes, such as the flow of a face or leaves on a stem,’ he said.

‘You cannot pick up this kind of artistic understanding overnight but I wish them well.’

Guernsey landscape photographs are the flavour of the moment, he said.

But it all hinged on the creativeness of the photographer to give the well-known image a novel artistic twist.

He puts his faith in Mike Bonsall and exclusively deals in his landscapes.