So, if limited editions are used to....

[tim atherton]

to further points.

Anyone interested in this should really read The Work of Art in the The Age of Mechanical Reproduction - it's online several places (and then go beat yourself up over whether photographs have the aura of true art)

And secondly, are we say Degas bronzes aren't art? (the editions limited only by contract). That would be news to an awful lot of collectors. Or Giacometti sculptures for that matter. I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who would argue that a Giacometti bronze wasn't an original artwork?

[Ted Stoddard]

Well at my first Solo show they suggested I do a limited edition of Platinum/Palladium prints, So I did just to see if it would sell, well out of the 50 i made only 25 sold at a decent price but i was still in the hole... I have had many prints bought but no where near what AA or Edward Weston sells... I know they are dead but they sell alot more then I might ever do.... If I could sell 100 prints a month I be happy...I thought about destroying the negs too but hek man it cost me too much to make it why throw it away... I will never make more then 100 prints from any one negative.... but everyone is different....

[QT Luong]

The amount of luck that one can have is in general limited.

[claudiocambon]

I think the idea of only making one print of a negative is a terrible idea. It is cutting off your nose to spite your face by rendering you further subservient to the art market, not less so, as such a defiant gesture would imply. If you resent the artificial restriction of editions, the answer is not to further restrict yourself. Who wins in that scenario? Some collector, but certainly not you!

A photograph is designed to be reproduced mechanically as many times by the practitioner as he/she feels he can accomplish (well, one would assume or hope). Why wouldn't you take advantage of that?

I make enough money selling my prints to do new projects, and that is all I care about. I have open, numbered and dated, but unlimited editions. The prints are not made all in one batch, but as orders are placed. I could care less if people think I am "flooding the market" with my prints, because in the end I'm not. I think I have issued close to 100 of 2 of my most popular images. Whoop-dee-doo. People will download whatever song of the moment to their Ipods more quickly in a few minutes than this print will ever sell in my lifetime.

Actually the argument could be made that you need to distribute your work to as many people as possible so that your work is not forgotten within a generation of your passing. The world benefits from their being as many versions as possible, each with its own subtleties and particularities.

If a collector doesn't buy something from you because he/she thinks the edition is too large, guess what? They don't like the picture enough to want it, and are buying it for speculative reasons, not artistic ones. The answer is that you don't need to conform to that kind of persons' needs or wishes. I have found plenty of people who buy my pictures because they like the images, and that's all I ever hope for (other than finding more of them! ).

[Dan Schmidt]

Some photographers deal with this issue of moving on by no longer making any more prints from a particular negative once it reaches a certain age , say 1-2 years, and then only selling from their existing stock of prints, which could only be a few.

This allows you to make as many prints as you customers want the first year or so, but then lets you get to new work. Collectors also know that you won't create an unlimited number of prints.

[Daniel Grenier]

....why not just do one print and be done with it?

Well, you could always look at those using one-of-a-kind processes and see how they fare (i.e daguerrotypes, tintypes, polaroids etc...).

[C. D. Keth]

But painters often sell reproductions of their work...

[D. Bryant]

But painters often sell reproductions of their work...

An old debate that is frankly been beat to death. Yawn! Make as much money as you can off your labor as long as you are honest.

Don Bryant

[Gordon Moat]

Oddly enough, my Polaroid manipulations are always one of a kind. While I could put the transparency back into the machine and try another one, the result will always be different. Often I have gone through several attempts prior to getting a result I want to frame and exhibit. I suppose I could try selling the others, though I will leave that to whomever finds all this stuff after I am gone, if I was ever famous . . . or something like that.

Obviously my paintings are all one of a kind, though I think there is no need to make such a statement when presenting/exhibiting them . . . unless you are Thomas Kinkaid. Then we might also think of those street artists who produce images that are mostly the same, though variation is due to hand techniques.

Another matter to consider might be laws governing Limited Editions. The state of California has laws covering these issues. Quite likely other states have similar laws. Anytime you sell something, some government will likely be involved in some manner.

When I exhibit images, I choose to do them as one off prints. However, I don't go so far as destroying the film original. The reason for me is that exhibiting photography is very secondary to my commercial work, and there might be a commercial application for one of my images. This happened last year with a print I exhibited, and a company wanted to use it for promotional materials; I was happy to do that, and it generated more income than I would have received from limited editions.

I do not envy those who try to make a living off art exhibit sales. There is nothing simple nor easy about it. While my own choice is one of a kind images, I would not look down open someone doing limited editions.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio

[paulr]

Make as much money as you can off your labor as long as you are honest.

and only if that's your goal. there might be other factors influencing how many prints you make, including difficulty/expense of printing certain images, or just how many of them you'd like to have out in the world.

If selling is a goal, though, it helps to understand how editioning will influence the value of your work in the eyes of different kinds of dealers and buyers.