Want to buy this photo?

The cost is $4.3 million dollars. It was sold at Christie's in NYC last week for $4.3 million dollars. Any thoughts?

Meet The World's Most Expensive Photo, Part II : The Picture Show : NPR

Liz

Lucky Gursky!

To me on a scale of 1 to 10 I personally would feel generous giving it a "2". It does absolutely nothing for me. I would be interested to see what this same exact photo would have gone for if they said the photographer was unknown, Jeff

I have been looking at this photo for a week now and I still don't get it. If I were looking through my photos after a shoot, and I saw this, I wouldn't even give it a second thought. I would have never made a print of it, or even posted it online. It does absolutely nothing for me. Maybe it's just my taste (or lack of taste) in art...

www.petapixel.com had a post yesterday trying to help clarify why this print is so valuable. Honestly, I still don't get it and the quotes from the "experts" didn't help to explain it to me either...

I have been musing over this ever since I read about it and saw the image.

I remember something similar: another picture which achieved a certain amount of notoriety due to its price and apparent lack of merit. Then I saw the image in question in a gallery and suddenly I understood.

Perhaps this picture has to be seen in all its huge glory? My understanding of it is that the photographer has tried to present a Platonic ideal of the river - in that sense I can understand what he is aiming at - and, that being the case, I can accept it as an example of conceptual art. What I find more difficult is the price - what makes this picture more valuable than a hundred other images? Then again, is any piece of art really worth $4.3 million?

Another of this guy's images is in the Tate Gallery in London (London's premier gallery of modern art). Next week (hopefully) I will make a point of going to see it. Maybe I will understand a little more what all the fuss is about.

Mike

A fool and his money are soon parted!

yeah...just yeah.

I don't get it either, I can imagine looking at it on a photo sharing site and going 'meh' and quickly moving on.

But good for the photographer for that price tag.

I do not understand it either, but certainly good for the guy that sold it!

Clearly I need to work on making my shots more bland!

I think you have something here. I would love to see it in person in order to truly judge it.

apparently the cost of the image bears no relation to anything relating to the quality of the image and has everything to do with the fact that other photos from this artist have been fetching high prices. So basically the only thing about this image that separates it from those in your reject bin is that art speculators think this guy's work is an investment.

Try printing your stuff VERY big, put your prices up and sell to art dealers exclusively. Then all you have to do is to become "know" as a good investment, then the sky is literally the limit.

All right! I have a chance.

:thumbsup:

I actually really like this image. It doesn't hit you in the face with content. But it's rich with detail and have a subtly provocative composition. Plus, I know the power of a huge print since I used to make big prints. With the right material, a huge print gains a lot of power. I'm not trying to justify the price the print sold for. That's more a function of economics and speculation. But I think people are overreacting to the price and unfairly judging the art itself. That's an easy and cheap response. It's like saying - "I could do that." Maybe you could, in theory. But you didn't.

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Originally Posted by Photo-John

I actually really like this image. It doesn't hit you in the face with content. But it's rich with detail and have a subtly provocative composition. Plus, I know the power of a huge print since I used to make big prints. With the right material, a huge print gains a lot of power. I'm not trying to justify the price the print sold for. That's more a function of economics and speculation. But I think people are overreacting to the price and unfairly judging the art itself. That's an easy and cheap response. It's like saying - "I could do that." Maybe you could, in theory. But you didn't.

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I took a second and third look at it and still think it is one that I wouldn't want if you gave it to me with the stipulation I had to keep it and not sell it, Jeff

i have one like....LOL!

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Originally Posted by poker

i have one like....LOL!

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Say what? Please elaborate :)

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Originally Posted by Grandpaw

I took a second and third look at it and still think it is one that I wouldn't want if you gave it to me with the stipulation I had to keep it and not sell it, Jeff

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That's ok, Jeff. I just wanted to share my thoughts on it - especially since I think the ridiculously huge price has made people unfairly dismissive of a photo they might otherwise take a closer and more open-minded look at.

It's a nice minimalist photo. But that sale makes you wonder what art is all about and who decides the marketability of art work.

This is very similar to what WE the public pay the 'Glorified "Gang-Bangers" in Professional Sports today, NONE of them are WORTH the MEGA MILLIONS that they get AND Pout & Kick & Scream when they want STILL MORE for the next season...

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Originally Posted by Roger79

This is very similar to what WE the public pay the 'Glorified "Gang-Bangers" in Professional Sports today, NONE of them are WORTH the MEGA MILLIONS that they get AND Pout & Kick & Scream when they want STILL MORE for the next season...

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Ha ha! Thanks for adding some very insightful perspective to the discussion, Roger :D

Just imagine the forum comments:
"The horizon is half way up the image, it ought to be at the third, try croppping out some sky."
"The sky is lacking in contrast, the clouds aren't well defined, so try a local contrast enhancment."
"I think it would be better with HDR"
"Have you tried a square crop?"

I don't think I'd buy this, even as a canvas print from IKEA.
I might drive over to the lower Rhein and take something silmilar myself, get it printed on glass, and hang it, because I can :D
And sell prints, on glass, cheaper than that :eek: