I stopped by a Fine Art gallery the other day as I always find inspiration in others work and creativity. Beautiful paintings, woodcarvings, limited editions and open ended production runs adorned this small, quaint gallery. The prices seemed to reflect the intrinsic value of Fine Art as an investment with the limited editions commanding the higher prices. However, this gallery also represents a photographer. A digital photographer whose biography cleary states that his work is all done on a computer with no limited editions. They even imply that the convenience of digital makes this so much easier. I thought of the countless hours in a darkroom loading or developing film and prints and agreed. However, when I looked at the pricing structure of these open ended runs with no limitations, it's like I was slapped in the face with a 50 foot roll of 300 gsm card stock! I was amazed that this photographer was openly admitting that their creative process was relatively easy using apps and computers while sitting at a desktop pushing a stylus around, all while commanding prices higher than the original paintings that flanked his section of the gallery. Even the smaller, unframed matte board prints were hundreds of dollars for basic landscapes with lots of editing and filters. Is this just the new normal when it comes to the arts or have i become a digital snob? I'm not saying it's not art and a creative composition is needed regardless, but it got me thinking that, holy crap, this guys a marketing genius if anything. Are people paying these prices? I don't know, but I continued to another "photography only" gallery right down the street. I walked in to this beautifully converted 1790's village home to find digital only images of every size framed in metal and canvas. Prices also reflected the inflated ego's of the owners/photographers who images were the only ones represented in this particular gallery. I even saw a photo of a location that I had shot numerous times and the photographer wanted over $1000 for an open ended, unlimited print. I felt inspired that I could compete in this market, especially since I primarily shoot film, but when I asked the owner/photographer if I could submit a portfolio for consideration he said no because they just want to display their own work only. That got me thinking that all I need to do is buy my own gallery. Now i'm an artist!
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