Friday, August 21, 2009

Art vs. Commerce


With the partial collapse of the commercial photography market, I think it's a great time to venture into the completely collapsed fine art photography market.

I received a request to do a large print of one of my favorite images shot in 2002. It shows the platform area of the very beautiful Centraalstation, Antwerp, Belgium's main railway station designed by architect Clement van Bogeart in 1895.

The image was shot with a Nikon F3 and 28mm tilt/shift lens (the lens later suffered cobblestone impact thanks to my then 3-year-old daughter). The film was Fuji Reala which I was obsessed with due to it's great color saturation and low grain. However, with such a large print from such a small negative, film grain is an unavoidable yet beautiful component of this particular piece.

Printed at 76x50" (1.93x1.27m) on an archival light-sensitive substrate and mounted on 1/4" acrylic and 1/8" sintra backing, the total cost to my client was very reasonable including delivery and hanging. Being an "unknown artist," I haven't a clue what a gallery would charge for a piece like this so if there are any art consultants out there, please let me know.

I've only made a few art prints in my 11-year photography career and it is certainly fun. But, my true love is marketing: Creating and licensing my images to help clients move merchandise, put heads in beds, butts in seats, a turkey in every pot (you get the point).

3 comments:

Andrew Smith said...

Good luck in the Fine Art world Corey. You know, sometimes crappy situations turn out to bring incredibly good things, so I hope this is the beginning of something very special and successful for you. I hope you look back one day soon and think, "wow, thank God the market collapsed!"

My son is ready to begin his 4-year photography degree on Monday. He's very excited.

All the best,
Andrew

Anonymous said...

Hello Corey,

Catherine introduced me to your blog. I will discover the many entries in the coming days. We didn't have the chance to meet in Knokke. I would have loved to hear about your trip to Rwanda. Perhaps you can blog it. Or is it already on your blog.

All the best .

Philippe

Corey Weiner said...

ANDREW: Thanks for stopping by! Tell your son to enjoy the rollercoaster!

PHILIPPE: Sorry we didn't meet in Knokke and I will definitely blog about Rwanda. Subscribe to the blog and you will get it via email. See you in Knokke or Miami next time!

your privacy is respected