"Investors zoom in on photography"

[robc]

Next time I have some images on display, I'll be sure to only talk to those viewers with the right type of car. That's obviously the secret to selling images.

[Don Hutton]

Next time I have some images on display, I'll be sure to only talk to those viewers with the right type of car. That's obviously the secret to selling images.

Yes - it certainly puts Mr Spiv's idea's on the collector market into some perspective when you realize that he does his market segmentation based on the vehicles' they drive....

[David Spivak-Focus Magazine]

Yes - it certainly puts Mr Spiv's idea's on the collector market into some perspective when you realize that he does his market segmentation based on the vehicles' they drive....

Not just me, my friend. Any company who researches a market segment has to find out what kind of car they drive. Why don't you spend some time in marketing and try to understand that the difference in psychodemographics of someone who owns a BMW and someone who owns a Chevy? What kind of food do they buy, where do they do their shopping, what kind of clothes do they wear, etc. People who can't afford their monthly payments on their used Malibu won't be buying art anytime soon. However, 89% of the people who purchased a luxury car with cash own at least two pieces of art worth over $10,000 each.

[Don Hutton]

Not just me, my friend. Any company who researches a market segment has to find out what kind of car they drive. Why don't you spend some time in marketing and try to understand that the difference in psychodemographics of someone who owns a BMW and someone who owns a Chevy? What kind of food do they buy, where do they do their shopping, what kind of clothes do they wear, etc. People who can't afford their monthly payments on their used Malibu won't be buying art anytime soon. However, 89% of the people who purchased a luxury car with cash own at least two pieces of art worth over $10,000 each.

Let me guess - you just ask them if they lease their BMW or paid cash for it; and then you can put them in a box as to whether or not they'd be interested in collecting photography??? I'd guess that plenty people get into the same sort of trouble making the payments on their BMW's too....

I'd think your time would be better spent not p*****g off photographers.

[Jack Flesher]

Very interesting.... My day job puts me in contact with a wide range of folks. I think FocusMag would be surprised to learn that many who drive BMW's and Porches cannot really afford them -- and just as often the millionaire next door is usually the guy driving a 6 year old Buick. In fact, one of the highest net-worth individuals I ever met drove a 10 year old POS Chevy sedan! He owned half a city (real estate-wise) in the heart of Silicon Valley.

Now what may be true is that folks who drive expensive cars are more likely to spend on art. But that does not necessarily have anything to do with their net worth -- and more likely relates more to their own self-image.

[Tim Hyde]

Putting aside the vehicle variable, the dichotomy between Infintiy-driving photo enthusiasts--essentially naive amateurs who pay scant attention to print dates or edition sizes--and high-end, ultra-wealty heavy hitters who are less interested in aesthetics than in the "financial" value you is a useless oversimplification at best. Any good photograpy gallery will tell you that there are show-openings full of Infinity-class collectors who save and budget to routinely buy at auctions, collect vintage, pay more than 10,000 for choice pieces, and otherwise devote a portion of their retirement or savings to risky photography investment and have amassed incredible collections in the process.
And as for the implication that only dead photographers' work sells for more than $10,000, you might want to check out Sugimoto or Bell or Polidori or Gusky or Huan or Epstein or Mann or Misrach or Struth or Moriyama or .... well, you get the idea and you can read all about them in the auction sections or elsewhere in FOCUS Magazine.

[David Spivak-Focus Magazine]

Putting aside the vehicle variable, the dichotomy between Infintiy-driving photo enthusiasts--essentially naive amateurs who pay scant attention to print dates or edition sizes--and high-end, ultra-wealty heavy hitters who are less interested in aesthetics than in the "financial" value you is a useless oversimplification at best. Any good photograpy gallery will tell you that there are show-openings full of Infinity-class collectors who save and budget to routinely buy at auctions, collect vintage, pay more than 10,000 for choice pieces, and otherwise devote a portion of their retirement or savings to risky photography investment and have amassed incredible collections in the process.
And as for the implication that only dead photographers' work sells for more than $10,000, you might want to check out Sugimoto or Bell or Polidori or Gusky or Huan or Epstein or Mann or Misrach or Struth or Moriyama or .... well, you get the idea and you can read all about them in the auction sections or elsewhere in FOCUS Magazine.

Thanks, Tim. Check's in the mail.

Once I am done finishing negotiations with this gallery in Manhattan, I will have the biggest announcement from Focus magazine since our launch and hiring of Steve Anchell as our Editor. This is bigger than anything we have ever done before and will add on yet another advantage for photographers who advertise with us.

[paulr]

Putting aside the vehicle variable, the dichotomy between Infintiy-driving photo enthusiasts--essentially naive amateurs who pay scant attention to print dates or edition sizes--and high-end, ultra-wealty heavy hitters who are less interested in aesthetics than in the "financial" value you is a useless oversimplification at best.

I'd agree with that. The one filthy rich collector that I know is in it for the love of it, not the investment. He knows a thing or two about the medium, too. he recently donated the bulk of his collection to the san francisco moma, nearly doubling the size of their photography holdings in the process.

[kjsphotography]

Ever been to blackhawk in CA? Every where you look million dollar houses but go inside and they are empty because the people that own them, cant afford them and only own those homes for clout. I have heard of stories where for Christmas they would go out and buy all these expensive gifts for each other to show off in front of their friends. The next day they would take everything back and get it off their credit cards. Just because you drive a nice car doesn't mean anything. Most people I know that have huge houses and nice cars are maxed out to the gills.

[paulr]

... any millionaire will tell you ...

millionaire used to be synonymous with filthy rich. not anymore. in NYC, as you suggested, people witha million bucks in the bank probably count as upper middle class, and are a dime a dozen. and many of them probably did get there with help from being frugal.

but plenty of the filthy rich got rich without. there's inherited money, there's silicon valley boom money, there's runaway investment money, there's wildly successful entrepeneurial money. and even the ones who were frugal while they built there fortunes tend to get to a point of kicking back and indulging in some conspicuous consumption.