The Value of a Photo
I met with Lewis Kemper and Pat Livingston today to discuss selling their photos on the Village RV website. After our meeting I began to wonder how one goes about assigning a value to a photograph. Of course there are the associated production costs. However, above that what give a photo some extra intrinsic value.
Certainly, the general population has seen millions of images in their lifetime. The shear number available must diminish their value greatly. I personally contibute to Istockphoto, an online royalty free stock photography source. For each image a user downloads, I get $.20. Lewis Kemper charges $200 for an 11×14 print and doesn’t seem to be starving.
Granted Mr. Kemper is a much better photographer than I am and has been doing it for many more years. Still, I wonder what makes a photograph worth more than $.20. Thicker paper…crisper ink…the frame?
