Somebody wants to buy one of my photographs, but only if it is from a limited edition. I tell him I don’t do limited editions, and explain that it’s not in his interest either…
The buyer says he doesn’t want to pay the price if the photograph can be reproduced in theoretically limitless numbers. I explain that it would be absolute horror to me to have to manually produce a really large number of identical first-class prints, repeating every time all the darkroom corrections and retouching afterwards (we are talking about good old gelatin silver prints, archival and all). So suppose I make an edition of say 50 to make sure I have enough stock for the future, since I can’t exceed the limit, once set. Had the buyer not insisted, chances are that I will never ever make more copies of the wanted photograph than maybe 5, if it’s not an absolute superseller! So be honest, what would you prefer if you’re looking for exclusivity?
When zapping on my tv I saw 3 digital compact cameras being demonstrated to a group of elderly ladies. Out of curiosity I watched and heard a young woman telling them that they all offered a special new feature: the first camera had a built-in program that could digitally remove wrinkles, the second one would only take a picture if the indicated number of persons were visible on the screen, so that someone could join in, and the third would only snap if no one closed his eyes or blinked at the moment of exposure. The first camera was the favorite…