Photographic Value

[cliveh]

Many years ago I attended a lecture by a photographer who claimed that a photograph could only be rated as a good photograph by how much people were prepared to pay for it. I could not understand that viewpoint, any thoughts?

[CGW]

Many years ago I attended a lecture by a photographer who claimed that a photograph could only be rated as a good photograph by how much people were prepared to pay for it. I could not understand that viewpoint, any thoughts?

Art without commerce is a hobby.

[br549]

When I hear interviews with people who have been through some sort of disaster and they have to save belongings, they almost always mention family photographs. The photographs would probably be considered worthless to someone with no connection to the victim but the photographs are priceless to the person who saves them from ruin. There's more to life than monetary value.

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Art without commerce is a hobby.

Yeah. All those van Gogh paintings that were useless during the painters lifetime, known only by a few, were not art until people started paying for them.

To OP: That sounds like the view point of a gallery owner or art investor to me. I know lots of photographers whose work I would call fantastic art, and that I would much rather hang on my wall than many photographs I see in museums and galleries. To divide the entire art world into subcategories based on how much money it is worth is absurd.

[benjiboy]

Many years ago I attended a lecture by a photographer who claimed that a photograph could only be rated as a good photograph by how much people were prepared to pay for it. I could not understand that viewpoint, any thoughts?

My thoughts on the matter are avoid in future going to lectures by the mentally challenged

[keithwms]

A photograph can have high value long before it is sold...or even printed...or even shown to anyone.

[CGW]

Yeah. All those van Gogh paintings that were useless during the painters lifetime, known only by a few, were not art until people started paying for them.

My point. Tell me I'm wrong.

[Barry S]

I don't know about photographs, but I'd say his lecture was worth exactly what you paid for it.

[cliveh]

Art without commerce is a hobby.

Art with commerce is not always art as the creator intended.

[perkeleellinen]

Art without commerce is a hobby.

And the hobbyist can create art. People have issues with these statements because 'hobby' like 'amateur' are seen, in our market obsessed world, as lower than professional and commercial.

And this:

a photographer who claimed that a photograph could only be rated as a good photograph by how much people were prepared to pay for it.

I think shows perfectly how narrow and money obsessed values of worth have become.

You know, some people are so poor all they have is money...