For several years, photographers have wanted to know why a Peter Lik image is worth so much money when someone can go photograph the same exact thing. And in today’s world, that’s even more important. On eBay, there’s currently an image of Antelope Canyon going for $1,200,000. These days, I strongly believe that authenticity is something that must be talked about when talking about photography sales. Afterall, this could’ve been made with AI imaging software at this point.
So is this image worth $1,200,000? Maybe to a hotel with a large marketing budget. But if you’re attracting guests in of that caliber, you’d want to have original works that they’ll stare at in the hallways or the lobby.
I’m going to be frank here: I’m not saying that someone can’t command their own price and sell an image for whatever they think it’s worth. Instead, what I’m saying is that the typical photography print really needs to work on itself to be worth a lot more. What do I mean by that? Well, we’re at a point where seeing a printed photograph in a museum isn’t going to be enough to an entire generation that thinks that they can take an image with a cellphone. Unlike painting, the barrier to entry with photography is very low.
What’s worse: with each passing generation of photographers, the ideas are becoming more and more the same due to how algorithms on social media work. On top of that, digital has genuinely killed the magic that analog film photography allows with sterility beyond belief. Instead, we all have to do it in post-production.
Prints need to do something along the lines of mixed media.
Perhaps one of the best ways of doing a mixed media print that we’ve reported on in the past was done by Sandra Cattaneo Adorno. She literally used gold in the printing of her photographs.
Gold + art + a very unique and creative process = something that AI cannot do. Therefore, we have a very authentic and human experience.
Is that worth $1,200,000?
In the near future, I think it very well could be.
