My last thoughts on Peter Lik: Did you know that a landscape photographer named Peter Lik recently sold a print to a collector for $6,500,000.00? That’s a lot of money for a photograph of one the more commonly photographed sites in the American Southwest. I spelled out the dollar amount because it gives scale and heft to the amount of money changing hands in a way that writing $6.5 mil trivializes. In photography forums the sale has been widely discussed. Some, mostly in the community of photographers, have scoffed and put down the quality of Liks work, others have said that the price is crazy because there is no secondary market (dealers and auction houses) for his prints. Others have stated that they believe it is a publicity stunt, and still others have said no photograph is worth that amount of money. To address those quickly: -The question of whether a photograph or other work of art has artistic merit is largely an entirely personal one and unless you are buying photographs an irrelevant one. Like anything else except the necessities of life, you buy a photographers work because it gives you pleasure. - If you are purchasing work to build a collection for an institution than you have a duty to make purchases that build long-term value. The institutional collector determines the value of the work value of artwork purchased for an institution (private, corporate, museum or governments) by following the goals of the institution. - If the sale was a publicity stunt, then it is one that is certainly working. I suspect his name recognition has gone up exponentially, especially outside of the small circle of photography insiders and geeks. That will drive more people to visit one of the galleries he owns and some of those will walk out with a print. And Peter Lik has not had to spend one penny for all of that publicity, including this post and every other one that discusses the sale. - Is any photograph worth that kind of money? Clearly someone who has that kind of money to spend thinks so. No matter what your opinions are of the aesthetic or art of Peter Liks photography, you should read this inc/andrew-griffiths/why-this-image-just-sold-for-6-5m.html?cid=sf01002 Thank you to PPA Magazines Jane Gaboury for the link) While written by someone who describes himself as a long time friend of Liks, the Inc. commentary has some valuable lessons for all working photographers and similar entrepreneurs in the creative fields. I know a lot of well good and even groundbreaking original photographers, all of them have a very solid, even driven work ethic. (Reasons 1 & 5) and some of us have some or fractional amounts of these other characteristics. But the one I see as the most common weakness in both myself and in most other working photographers, illustrators, graphic designers, and other creative types is number 4. That’s the one titled He values himself and his work and he isnt afraid to charge for it. How do I (and maybe you) go about changing that self- perception? Because if we can see ourselves as valuable, it is likely others will too. I’ve turned down more work this year than I ever have. Not because I’m so busy, but because I want to work for people who seem to value what I do. So what do you see as your greatest weakness as an independent business person? inc/andrew-griffiths/why-this-image-just-sold-for-6-5m.html?cid=sf01002
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 18:17:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015