I look at as proof mounts that the idea of worth for a photograph is modifying. 1st, it was the billion a day photo explosion of cellular phone cameras, and the internet, then NFTs, and now this tale in L’Oeil of June 10th: Jean-Marie Perier’s Yesterday and Currently.
In it, he writes “I present an exhibition of 41 images of my “60s” pics totally free of legal rights to be positioned on the walls of all the nursing properties (EHPAD) in France who would like to have it for an indefinite time period, with no rental charge, which they can hold for yrs if they want.”
Further on he writes “That images pinned on the walls of teens 60 several years back can be identified in nursing houses today, I uncover it poetic.”
So in this article is a qualified photographer, an individual who has put in a lifetime getting pictures for funds recognizing that his images have more value when available for free…! It is an astounding plan.
I never know how lots of photographers I’ve talked with in excess of the years about how the worth of their past function is modifying. For these of us who grew up in a earth wherever photography was scarce and specialized photographic abilities tricky-gained, there was a taken-for-granted comprehension that aged do the job continued to have financial price extensive years just after it was designed. I try to remember a discussion I had with Phil Stern ten or fifteen a long time ago, him telling me how images he created in the 1950s ended up earning much more funds in the 21st century than when he had shot them. Now Phil shot iconic images of James Dean and epic battles of WWll, so potentially this was not so stunning but around the very same time I was also conversing with other friends, photographers who experienced created a great residing shooting Journey and Landscape. They ended up looking at their income drift absent via the proliferation of photos bought for pennies by the growing electronic inventory agencies.
All this to say we are dwelling in an fascinating moment and I see new concepts emerging in response to today’s deluge of imagery. And I consider 1 vital plan is that a photograph nevertheless has worth even if you just cannot buy lunch with it. Bravo Jean-Marie for the recognition that your shots have true value even if not specifically in cash!
A little something else took place a short while ago that also spurred me to produce this meditation. I create a good offer a lot more do the job than I offer. It is my mother nature and my enjoyment but once you have built a photo what do you do with it? My friend, the painter Dan McCleary, suggests that if you make art you ought to exhibit it, so I do. Wanting back again I have experienced a dozen displays in the very last ten many years but they really do not start out to address all the function I have performed. Not long ago, Art Division, a non-gain I am associated with, wheat-pasted teacher’s and student’s get the job done on the walls of a shuttered lodge subsequent to the Artwork Division studio. I was invited to contribute a thing, so I created a print and they pasted it on the wall. Then I photographed the opening and went house.
A couple of times afterwards I drove by the wall and to my astonishment, my picture had been stolen. Anyone desired that photo adequate to scrape it free and consider it away! I just can’t notify you how pleased I was. It was very little but ink and paper after all, the merchandise of a printer and conveniently replaceable but seemingly it was more also. The print portrayed a thing so desirable that someone took it off the wall and brought it household. I like to picture them hunting at their photograph hanging on their wall due to the fact it is their photo now. Hopefully, it inspires them or offers them satisfaction. That would you should me much more than a handful of bucks I could possibly have produced.
And from this imagining has arrive my next task. This drop, I will make 80 significant bike prints and paste them on a wall somewhere. I will market the locale and invite the planet to appear and see them and interact with them. Pasting the prints on the wall will set them free although leaving the intellectual assets, the copyright, intact. Imagine of them as actual physical NFTs if you like. Then we will see what folks do. Acquire them, just take photos of them, deface them, embrace them, or stroll by uncaring, I have no concept. We will find out collectively.
Tale and pics by Andy Romanoff
You can abide by this story as it unfolds. Just click on right here: Match to Print
The Jean-Marie Perier tale in L’oeil: https://loeildelaphotographie.com/en/jean-marie-perier-ehpad-exhibition-yesterday-and-currently-dv/
Andy Romanoff – Pics at https://andyromanoff.zenfolio.com/
Writing at https://medium.com/tales-ive-been-this means-to-notify-you
YouTube Channel at Youtube
