Dating your prints

[Bill Kumpf]

When you matt, sign and date yours prints, do you the date when the print was made or the date when the negative was made?

[Tin Can]

I would date the neg with your name

The do the same on the prints as they are made with that new date

If a series add that, 2 of 9 as example

I know you are young, do it now and keep going

Never too young to start a tradition, legacy, et al

[John Olsen]

I date with the time the negative was made. That sets my copyright at the earliest time. Prints can be rolling out for decades afterward, but the original copyright is at the earlier time.

[Greg]

Prints are marked on the bottom left with the title and date shot and on the bottom right with my name. If this is covered by a mat, the same info is written on the the front of the mat. Back of the print or if it is dry mounted then the back of the board the print is mounted to is written "printed on" and then the date printed with my initials. I personally think that this is an overkill but a curator insisted that it was not.

[ic-racer]

For me, the date of the print matters. Each print is unique.

[Corran]

Title on bottom left under the print on the mat, name and year of printing on right. No # because I think that's a dumb convention meant to artificially introduce "scarcity" to a print that can be printed infinitely (my original Clyde Butcher print, negative shot decades ago, is only #3 of supposedly 250 prints - clearly that'll never happen). My one exception is photograms or other actually non-negative-based prints, which is then numbered as there is only a finite # of them printed.

[Vaughn]

For me, the date of the print matters. Each print is unique.

An excellent point of view...one I do not follow often enough. The year the image was taken/made with the camera is usually part of my print title (on the back...usually place name and year). I will rarely include print date, but if for some reason it seems important to me, I will. I was writing the printing date on the back of my platinum prints, but I need to get more consistent with that again -- got lazy lately.

[Tin Can]

control destruction

future, multi path

witness Vivian Maier

https://www.vice.com/en/article/9bze9y/meet-the-man-bringing-old-forgotten-film-back-to-life-206

cull

culls

[esearing]

I use an image number not a date. However my image numbers are yyyymm.#. where # represents the frame sequence for the month so 202105.1. would be the first frame of the month regardless whether it was shot on 4x5, 5x12, or other format. For digital I just let the camera numbering system work and file them by year.

[ic-racer]

An excellent point of view...one I do not follow often enough. The year the image was taken/made with the camera is usually part of my print title (on the back...usually place name and year). I will rarely include print date, but if for some reason it seems important to me, I will. I was writing the printing date on the back of my platinum prints, but I need to get more consistent with that again -- got lazy lately.

Long after I'm gone, when my work goes up on Sotheby's, bidders will be clamoring for the earliest print dates....

[Tin Can]

All Art needs a way for MAKER to win $$$

NOT collectors


Long after I'm gone, when my work goes up on Sotheby's, bidders will be clamoring for the earliest print dates....

[Pieter]

It all depends on why you are dating the print. Is it for your reference, or to conform to a standard among collectors and curators? If for yourself, use whatever makes sense to you. Curators seem to like edition number, title if any, signature and date of the photo. Date printed is optional--usually only important if the print is made many years later. Most photographers put this information on the back, usually in pencil. Some prints vary over time as they are printed, paper no longer being available or the photographer deciding to print them differently (AA is a prime example of this with Moon Over Hernandez).

Diane Arbus, in her "Box of Ten Photographs" put her signature and date on the front, on the right touching the bottom edge of the image. The detailed title and date of the image were also on a sheet of vellum, plus the same or similar plus her signature on the back of the photo. The edition number of the entire portfolio was on a separate title sheet.The date of printing does not appear anywhere to my knowledge.

[Paul Ron]

i dated my wife before we got married.

[esearing]

Long after I'm gone, when my work goes up on Sotheby's, bidders will be clamoring for the earliest print dates....

Should we buy them now so we get a good price? If I'm lucky, my future grandkids will at least see my prints before they get discarded in the trash bin.

[Doremus Scudder]

On the back of my prints (that is, on the mat board that it's dry-mounted to) is the following information:

Photograph by Doremus Scudder
Title: ..................
Location: (usually just a State, City or Country unless specifics are necessary)
Negative made: (Date of negative exposure)
Print made: (Date print was made)
Copyright: (Same date as the negative-made date)

I have a stamp and archival ink for the form, which is then filled in with pencil. The print is signed below the image at the bottom right, also in pencil.

I think both negative made and print made dates are important.

Best,

Doremus