Photo Shopping - any thoughts on this?

[Cheesecake]

read the Straits Time today. there's an article in the Life section where it talks about photography as an art and collectors' item ala paintings.

Must sign up with the online straits time in order to read

any thoughts on this issue?


are Singaporeans really into the idea of buying photographs as art pieces?

can photographs be sold for megabucks like some painting masterpiece?



or is it all art for art's sake?

 

[ortega]

read the Straits Time today. there's an article in the Life section where it talks about photography as an art and collectors' item ala paintings.

Must sign up with the online straits time in order to read

any thoughts on this issue?


are Singaporeans really into the idea of buying photographs as art pieces?

can photographs be sold for megabucks like some painting masterpiece?


or is it all art for art's sake?

It has to be exclusive first, if it is too easily reproduced the value will drop.

Lets say you make a really great print from a neg and then destroy the neg so that no other prints can be made ever again, then it is worth much more. But you will have to be really good first to command a good price.

Digital images are too easily copied and thus the value is reduced.

 

[student]

I seriously doubt that photographs can be sold in the order of millions of dollars.

Here is a rough idea. Edward Weston' s shells taken in the 1920/1030 were sold closed to USD 500,000.00. The same prints printed today by his sons/others are probably in the region of 3-5000.00

For VERY WELL KNOWN photographers who are still living, their greatest prints are probably in the order of about USD 5000.00. Examples are Ruth Bernhard and Paul Caponigro

For "younger" known photographers, their works are probably in the order of USD 700-1200, occasionally rising to about 3-5000.00.

For unknown photographers, well...............

Having said that, I saw some prints by a local photographer sold for SGD 2000.00. Well, I did not want to part with my money for those prints.

 

[2100]

For me, i do enjoy good pictures, not the artsy type but anything on nature.

But i will not pay anything more than S$200 for a really good print of say 24x30. Coz it's just a decoration for my usage. That means not much profit after factoring in print cost.

And nature/wildlife pics are usually not easily replicated.

 

[sequitur]

no offence to the photographer,

but there was one of the clouds and a piece of white paper with some markings on it... being sold for $10000. Seriously... perhaps it qualifies as art.. but i qualify it as ridiculous. it seems like everybody can now go out and take a picture of a cloud and put something next to it, replicate it 100 times and sell it for $1000000000.

 

[smallaperture]

no offence to the photographer,

but there was one of the clouds and a piece of white paper with some markings on it... being sold for $10000. Seriously... perhaps it qualifies as art.. but i qualify it as ridiculous. it seems like everybody can now go out and take a picture of a cloud and put something next to it, replicate it 100 times and sell it for $1000000000.

Sometimes when you look at a piece of art or photo, you just simply cannot understand what it's trying to tell you. You try to intrepret or guess. Each viewer would see it differently. They call it abstract art. Ever come across Surrealism kind of art, poem or literature? Just crazy, some of this stuff.

 

[pipefish]

no offence to the photographer,

but there was one of the clouds and a piece of white paper with some markings on it... being sold for $10000. Seriously... perhaps it qualifies as art.. but i qualify it as ridiculous. it seems like everybody can now go out and take a picture of a cloud and put something next to it, replicate it 100 times and sell it for $1000000000.

Just because something is easily found and/or replicated doesn't mean its value is less.

Richard Misrach, a well-known US photographer who works in color, has published an entire book of photos of the sky.

Similarly, Ansel Adams took lots of photos of such ordinary subjects like mountains, trees, etc. There are many photographers now who can take similar shots and print them to a similar standard. But I don't think many people would say that it would be ridiculous to shell out big money for an orginal AA print. Gosh, people throw big money for his books!

 

[Cheesecake]

anyone sold any prints to private collectors?

like to share their insights?

(of course i'm not referring to commercial work where u work in a studio and does commissioned shoots or wedding photography and such. just simply private collectors who like ur particular work/style and buy the latest work off u, for example, landscape or nature theme etc.)

 

[kernel]

Here's one option if you like to collect prints and starting small.

I have seen prints done by photographers in Thailand and Indonesia. E.g. the guy in Thailand actually did some B&W IR of Angkor Wat. Pretty amazing. And he's selling his prints less than $20 for one piece.

Now you might not consider buying it because he's not some famous photographer. But consider this:
1) He photographed a place that not many has been to. I haven't and not sure if I want to spend the time and money to just go there.
2) He done it in B&W IR and hand printed it.
3) The value of the print may not be much in a few years time, but in 10 years when that place is demolished, it will probably worth alot more. Or at least beat the local bank interest rate!

So, buy what you can affort and what you think has got value. I think collecting print (or any art work) is not solely for its artistic value, but also for its potential $$$ value.

 

[ortega]

I have got slides of the formally kallang gas works.
Anyone want to buy it?

It has been demolished you know ....

I also have shots of inxs in concert
Michael Hutchence has died of drug overdose
Anyone?

:sweat: