Essential Tips for Collectors On Collecting Photography
Author: Distil Ennui | Post Date: 01-01-2025Photography is one of the most exciting and accessible mediums to collect. Whether you are looking to find and champion emerging photographers or head towards the most collected names of the craft. You can often start with the purchase of several prints on a limited budget of a few thousand euros, and even works by some of the most famous people to ever work with a camera that can be acquired for affordable sums.
From the many conversations with gallery, dealer and auction house experts over the years, here are a selection of tips I have learned to help new & seasoned collectors while navigating the photography market. I did publish an earlier piece on the same subject in August 2024 'a guide to investing in fine art photography'. This particular piece has a full glossary of terms commonly used and can help you further navigate the market. Also in November 2021 I published 'Is it better for an art collector to buy through the market or direct from the artists studio ?', if you are familiar with my 40 years of exhibitting around the world this piece sets the tone for why I went out on my own after being gallery represented for several decades, for me a complex and painful issue to discuss.
'Loves Resurrection' dated 2013 from the 'Vanitas' series 2008-Ongoing
Trust Your Instinct…
Collecting photography is not very different from what experts say about purchasing a work of art from any medium: Start with what you like, and that you think you will not easily tire of. “Does it hit you in the stomach, do you have an immediate and lasting reaction to the work”
Some collectors use a price point as their secondary stimulus, others a time period, others a particular artist or subject.
'Morpho Peleides 0939' dated 2010 from the 'Swarm' series 2008-2013
Understanding Editions…
There are differences between works with unique & individual prints to those issued as an edition, which is the artist’s binding statement as to how many prints of that image will be made. A print from the original negative is an original photograph. A Chromogenic or C-Print is a digital file sent through the darkroom process using the same photographic paper, whereas a giclee print is the same digital file but printed with wet pigment inks sprayed onto paper, all in the right circumstances make for a wise investment and long term addition to your life.
Not all original prints & photographs will cost the same amount with different editions can have different numbers of prints. An edition of 50 and an edition of 3 are both considered ‘limited’ but they are not equal in terms of value. Generally, the smaller the number of prints in an edition, the more expensive they will be, paying for exclusivity. The same image can have multiple editions in different sizes, its a good idea to ask about the total number of copies across sizes that will be offered and sold.
Editions of 25 prints today are seen as relatively large while editions of around three to five are seen as small. It’s not always known how many prints of an image there are. Some photographers for example those working prior to World War II did not edition their works. A photographer can also decide to sell her artist proof, generally defined as the first perfect print of a negative, once the print run of an edition sells out. I myself produce 2 Artist Proofs of every print, but first of all there is always a smaller single studio proof that stays with the original film plate and is used to colour grade future prints. I have to work this way as it would be impossible to print my larger early works some of which are 200cms in size at the time of releasing the edition it would be logistically impossible, so I print them to order using that studio proof and of course the original transparency, I use positive film not negative film. Each artist will have their own way of working, so in my case it is definitely worth investigating where your eye takes you.
A print’s order within an edition can also affect its price as some artists and galleries use staggered edition pricing as the prints sell and become more limited, or as an artist’s work becomes more valuable over time.
That doesn’t mean all prints from the same edition will cost the same when they surface on the secondary market: As with all fine art, provenance plays a role in the price of photography. If a print is signed of course this will also increase its value. In photography, there is a myth of infinite reproducibility. But while there aren’t any laws preventing a photographer from simply printing more photos above the number in the limited edition. In doing so that artist would have effectively destroyed their career overnight. In a further rare move in photography, some artists like myself are even going so far as offer an edition of just one single print, giving their work the same unique quality of fine art. With some artists like Yugo Ito, Adam Fuss or Christian Marclay using unique photographic printing formats, such as cyanotype and daguerreotypes that inherently create unique prints that are not reproducible.
'Morpho Amathonte 0005' dated 2010 from the 'Swarm' series 2008-2013
Vintage Prints
One word you might hear used to describe a print is vintage. This does not necessarily mean the print is old, and not all old prints are vintage. The term actually refers to prints created around the time the original negative or positive was shot. Think of vintage as like wine, rather than something old, if the negative is from 1920 and the print was made around the same time, then that’s a vintage print.
There isn’t a universally agreed upon definition of what qualifies a print to be vintage. A print created within five years of the negative should be considered vintage Prints can be created shortly after the original termed ‘vintage’, or after that but during the life of the artist termed ‘modern prints’, or even after the artist’s death termed ‘posthumous’. The proximity between a print and original negative/positive is a significant determination of value, with early prints being generally the most expensive.
Storage & Condition
As with any work of art, you should always check the condition carefully. Damage to a photograph can include scratching, warping of the paper, humidity, handling marks and color shift due to poor storage or framing. If you are drawn to older vintage prints, they should have more tolerance for wear and tear due to the early types of silver halide paper being far more sturdy than modern and unmounted prints. If you’re collecting works by contemporary photographers the prints should be in perfect condition.
One matter to be especially careful with is framing, poor decisions at this stage can result in damage to a print over time, which may only become noticeable once you’re having the piece inspected for example before a secondary market sale. Art or Museum glass can filter out the UV light that can change the color of the photograph over time. Framing may not seem like the most exciting part of buying a photograph, but it is among the most important and wise decisions can turn a strong print into a profound work of art once on the wall from one generation to the next.
If you have any questions about this article then please do reach out, and let's stay connected...
Join the mailing list.. Register
Telegram Channel.. DistilEnnui
Instagram.. AJHamilton.Artist
Twitter.. DistilEnnui