HOW TO START A PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTION - Part 5

Photo by Tria Giovan

Smart strategies for how—and where—to begin buying fine-art photographs

By Bill Shapiro

I’ve purchased photographs from galleries and I’ve purchased them online. And, once in a while, I’ve purchased them at frenzied online photography auctions. As a newcomer , it’s probably wise to tread very lightly here.  For one thing, when you’re looking online, it’s often difficult to spot any gentle bends or slight dents on the print that will lower a picture’s value and that might drive you crazy when you look at it. Also, auctions tend to be hot-blooded, adrenalin-fueled affairs and, as Bellows says, “When you get caught up in the excitement, you can find yourself pushing the button on your keypad two more times than you’d want to.” I will confess to having fallen prey to simply not wanting to be outbid.

Beyond that, the auction house tacks on a “buyer’s premium” (which can sometimes

reach 25 percent of your winning bid) as well as a shipping and handling and insurance

charge to send you the print. So if your winning bid is $1000, you can end up dropping

$1,500 when all is said and done. Bottom line: It’s famously easy to blow your budget

which, yes, I have learned hard way. Once you have more experience buying and have

a good feel for prices, you can dip your toe in the water if you come across a rare deal.

One great online alternative to an auction is the flash sales that Magnum Photos holds

every year, usually in June and October.  A few years back, the old-school photo

agency — whose members include many of the best photographers ever to press a

shutter, including legends like Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson as well as living

masters like Alex Webb and Steve McCurry — began selling small square prints. These

prints are hand-selected and signed by the photographers themselves (the prints come

with an official stamp from the photographer’s estate in cases when the photographer is no longer living.)  “We wanted to involve a younger generation of collectors,” Sophie

Wright, Magnum’s global cultural director, told me. “And we thought this was an

affordable way to make photographers like Capa, Elliot Erwitt, Susan Meiselas and Alec

Soth accessible to them.”

While the number of prints they sell isn’t limited (as they would be in a typical edition),

these flash sales last only five days; after that, the print will never again be sold in that

particular size. While it’s unlikely that these prints will increase in value, the cost for this

little piece of photographic history is only about $100 unframed and is a great way to

start or fill in a collection. I know a few people whose enthusiasm for collecting began

with a small Magnum print.

As for my beloved little picture of the twirling kids? The one I purchased all those years

ago in New York City? It sat in the kitchen for a quarter century, where my own son and daughter would go on to utter their first words, learn to criticize their father’s cooking and, eventually, fill out their college applications. And where, one morning not long ago, I happened upon a story in a magazine that featured a photograph with a strangely familiar aesthetic. I Googled around and sure enough: same photographer. Sebastiaan Bremer is now repped by a big-league gallery and his larger works sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Mine likely isn’t worth anything near that, and you know what? Even if it was, it wouldn’t matter: I’m not selling. But it’s nice to know that all those years ago, I picked a winner.

Bill Shapiro is the former editor in chief of  LIFE Magazine and the co-founder of

BluePhoto Collective. You can drop him a line at Bill@bluephoto.co.