We Came To Party, by Dinesh Boaz
Depending on who you ask, buying fine art photography is still an exclusive endeavour not for the feeble budget or the unseeing mind.
Some say fine art photography harbors a divine space in the intellect as a medium for the communication of virtuosity or the fine appreciation of the beauty that abounds in the earth. These take their place in genres of photography like architecture, portraits, documentary, and cityscapes.
This guide will tell you what to look for, the little known digital haunts harboring the best art photography finds, and how this niche of art photography creators, makers, and buyers alike, continues to be a force of lens, lighting, and beauty
1 The inherent eye of the fine art photographer and the collector
The capturing of historical events requires not only a photographer to be in the right place at the right time, with access to people and places. But to have a vision of what would be invaluable, poignant and exact in both capturing and chronicling a substantial milestone on the timeline of history.
It takes deftness and a hawk-eye to seize it into the archives in the fleeting seconds you have to do so. This leads to the most unadulterated statements such as Thich Quang Duc, the iconic monk in The Burning Monk of 1963, photographed by Malcolm Browne.
A knowing eye can sense the aliveness despite the decades and the conviction and energy of the war ravaged Saignon, Vietnam street. A fine art photograph is one that echoes protest, culture, the voices, passions, and emotions of the buildings and people alike, those which are not visible, and those that are.
Despite those still claiming exclusivity, there’s a subgroup tossing the idea of the proposed exclusivity of fine art photography collecting to the wind, seeing it as wholly accessible to everyone. As print art becomes widely used it becomes affordable. This advent meets millennials who’ve become the largest living adult generation according to the United States Census, which trickles into a generous millennial population boasting are collections.
2 When did fine art photography collecting start trending
According to an article on the history of digital print evolution of digital fine art photography printing, fine art photography became a layman mainstay in the early 90’s when the Iris Graphics Inkjet printer made digital prints possible. Compared to methods we see today this printer was a dinosaur but paved the way for faster and less expensive development and printing of photographs. An important piece of making sure art photography kept its beauty was choosing methods that maintained the changelessness of the image and kept the same quality through time. This involved high pigmented colors operated by printers which we know by common names like Epson and Canon. This evolution of printers has bridged photographers with the artist that love their work, as printing photographs could not be easier.
3 Why art photography is more accessible than ever and where to find art photography worth collecting
There is no shortage of websites to find collectible wall-worthy art photography. You’ll even find that some of the photographs you purchase go to support the independent photography who took the photos and or to charities in association with the subjects represented in the photograph.
Technology advancements have ultimately made collecting fine art photography non exclusive, yet still niche and a sign of the cultured, learned, intellectual, and aesthete. Put mildly, print runs of photography have burst open the barricades for art lovers to share in the beauty of the art work of artists they know and love. Of course this isn’t the only art photography collected, but it is the one that’s shaped a new niche.
Print runs of iconic art photography have aided in creating a market for collectors of all socioeconomic backgrounds to own art. Many photographs can be printed in varying sizes, from a small 3×3 to a large 24 x 16 and all sizes in between. The various price points per size help fit a multitude of collector needs and budget.
You can also purchase photography right from a gallery website you know and love. They will often be displayed with an artist profile, which introduces you to the piece or the general work of the photographer, and will offer different sizing options if they exist. Otherwise, you may be the sole owner of an original photograph which may appreciate in value depending on the legacy of the artist.
Check out our photographers here as well as other fine art selections MAC FINE ART.
4 Styles of art photographs
Analog: Analog photography is the mother of digital photography. It’s what you think of when you remember polaroids or dark rooms. It’s other name is film photography. This form of photography does not use any electric components and is usually chemically processed during the development phase. You’ll need to learn how to properly load film and ensure there’s no damage done in the process or simply enjoy the fruits of an analog photographer’s labor. These photos are often shot on black and white film which is seen as the most absolute form of photography. Some common analog or 35 mm cameras are by Olympus, Canon, and Pentak. You might even luck up on one at your local thrift store or from an ebay seller.
Digital: Digital photography is the baby of analog. And like all mothers you want your child to do and be more than you are, the same is true for analog. This does not in any way take away from analog, but with all honesty, digital photography is the escalator by which photography has traversed from different hands and lands. It has lowered the barriers to access and created several bridges for photographers to be known internationally that otherwise would not get the chance. Digital photography has made opportunities for many. And of course analog photography has its genetics all over digital photography collections, yet it does not try to compete with the beauty of it’s mother analog.
Aerial: Aerial photography is any photograph taken from the air. Think of your favorite animal planet show or national geographic magazine issue. You wonder how they got such an expansive view of the Serengeti or Afghan desert camel caravan,two words–drones and aircrafts. However, these aren’t the only methods for shooting aerial. Dinesh Boaz, a CURATED MAC FINE ART photographer actually shoots his aerial photography from a doorless helicopter. Telescopes and blimps are also used in aerial photography. These types of photographs were even once taken by rockets and balloons. Only aerial photography can capture the sprawling perfection of painstaking urban planning and architecture such as the city of Barcelona, which may be one of the most organized cityscapes.
Minimalism: Minimalism harnessing the power of complete simplicity in very critical and intense extremes. The focus of the tinies subject in these photographs are contrasted by the stark bareness. If the “Bare Necessities” song lyrics from the Jungle Book were epitomized, a minimalism photograph just may do it justice. These photographs almost silence the world bustling beyond it and helps the viewer see the significance or what is being emphasized like an empty chair or an industrial light.
Architecture: Architecture photography is the blissful elegance of the art of building. These photographers capture the angles, the colors, the elaborate and intentional fixtures and forms that belong to periods of history known if not by its people, but its buildings. Architecture photography also bleeds into cityscapes and is known as building photography which captures the exterior as well as the innards of buildings and places. At its finest this type of photography captures the fullness of a building, no matter the angle. For instance, proper, abandoned building photography does well to share the engrossing stories of hallowed halls dripping with the lives of the souls that were once present. This form of photography can also be documentary photography.
Cityscapes and Landscapes: Cityscapes like New York, New York, Tokyo, Japan, or San Francisco, California also utilize aerial photography components. Ironically enough these kinds of photos show you have to be up high to get up close. Often riveting and feeling when photographers get it right they capture the very breath of a city. Some of the deepest cityscapes quiet the demands of the city to a zentangle of meditative silence. Both cityscapes and landscapes utilize aerial photography. But one thing that landscape photography captures that cityscape photography cannot, is the natural perfection of the awe inspiring, creative hand of God. Landscape photography is a space where depth can trump what comes across, at first glance, as shallow. It can make what seems so small, intensely fast, like capturing a starlit night sky or a collective of storm clouds.
Documentary Photography: Documentary photography does the same thing that film documentaries do but without the reel, capturing events, developments, and human evolution from protests, freedom marches, wars, and presidential inaugurations to the evolution of hair, high fashion, Jazz music, and trend predictions of forthcoming decades. The abandoned building photography shot by German Photographer Christian Richter does this beautifully. Even capturing the merging of earth with brick and mortar as grass has grown from what seems to be a bed. The Burning Monk photograph is also documentary photography at work.
Portrait Photography: Portrait photography is the photography of people, be they the mystic green eyes of The Afghan Girl photographed by Steve McCurry or the wall of photographs in The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The great portrait photographers are such because of their ability to capture not only the face and physical body of the people in the photographs but their spirit, personality and events taking place around them, even if nothing in particular gives these things away.
Abstract Photography: This form of photography is one of impermanence. It doesn’t concern itself with the concrete or the sensical. In many ways it experiments with textures and colors. You often may not know what is being photographed. Is it simply colors or light playing together or some piece of an object or building? In and of itself it is meant to pull the imagination towards it and discover new ideas and emotions. Abstract photography utilizes at its core objects we see and use everyday but because it captures them from vantage points and motion speeds the naked eye does not see they almost become distortions of reality. Some utilize macro and the art of blurring the proverbial and literal line, to create what essentially appears like a whole new object.
5 Photography auctions
For those in the market for original works, you don’t only have to buy your photographs directly but you can also bid on them at auction. These auctions may be charity or estate auctions and they usually require prior registration ahead of the auction time. It is best if you plan to purchase art photography through auction that you have your budget set for the amount you plan to spend. If and when you win you are responsible to pay the full amount of the item you have the winning bid for. If you are bidding on an original work you can and should ask for a report that authenticates the work and ask that the report shares the current condition of the work. To be extremely cautious, you’ll also want to verify the authenticator as well, especially when you are investing significant sums.
You can also determine how much you should be bidding on photographs at auction based on how the works are defined. Some words you’ll see in valuation of photographs and or collections are Estate, Vintage, Period, and Modern.
Estate photography collections are those that were already printed but not disbursed. Under estate control they are disbursed by those left in care of the photographer’s works, which were also put on the market, in conjunction with the photographer’s wishes after death. A vintage photograph will usually convey that the photograph was the very first of its kind. Such as when you see a first edition novel with a price point of hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars, as it was the first edition and first print run of that novel and therefore the oldest or “vintage”.
A period photograph is a photograph taken and developed when the photographer was alive. This is different from the production of a photograph that was perhaps on film but only developed after the photographer’s death or post-humonolously which are modern photography collections. These are either developed in the lifetime of the photographer or after.
6 Handle with care
Your fine art photography purchases will be best protected under glass and encased in a frame. But depending on your aesthetic and the look and feel you want the space to interject into those who come to it, you may opt for something more eccentric or uncommon to display your collection, such as the above mini clothespins.
You can even get your photographs framed by the gallery or artists or at a local art store which offers custom framing options by professional framers. With these you can choose the glass, and precise color and frame thickness to match the decor in the room you will be displaying the photograph in.
One more popular and common way in which young collectors display their photography is a wall of framed works in variable sizes. Some will be presented in large frames but house small photographs. They will often utilize large white space that draws the eye to the focal point, which is the small centered photograph. Others use similar methods to the mini close pins, such as mundane clipboard clips and clear plastic picture sleeves. The collection type will dictate the direction you go.
Let personal aesthetic be your guide, there is no need to honor any staunch rule book. You however, would be spurned to more cautionary display types if your photograph is an original or limited edition where say only five were printed or it is the only one in all of existence.
Collect photographs and shoot photographs with feeling not eyes
In support of the growing photography art collectors, websites, galleries, and independent artists are cropping up to fulfill an undying love for the prints that are worth more than a thousand words.
It’s for everything that’s felt when you read the words of American Photographer David Alan Harvey when he advised “ Don’t shoot what it looks like. Shoot what it feels like.”
To that end, what space in fine art photography makes you feel authentic? No one gets to dictate whether you are in or out of the “club”.
What side of the fine art photograph will you be on, the viewfinder or the frame? Or maybe the answer is just, yes.