1915 Ruth Red Sox Pitching Staff Photo

[prewarsports]

Agreed. In MANY cases (like about 99% of all Ansel Adams prints) there is no such thing as a Type 1, as almost all of his images were struck more than two years after they were originally taken. To educated buyers of his art it does not matter at all. Photos are not cards and I tell people they are similar to game used bats. Working, functional, tools of a trade that now have tremendous value after the fact. There is no right or wrong, just an emerging collectible that is finding its way in the world.

I agree that all the educated opinions are great!

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by prewarsports

Agreed. In MANY cases (like about 99% of all Ansel Adams prints) there is no such thing as a Type 1, as almost all of his images were struck more than two years after they were originally taken. To educated buyers of his art it does not matter at all. Photos are not cards and I tell people they are similar to game used bats. Working, functional, tools of a trade that now have tremendous value after the fact. There is no right or wrong, just an emerging collectible that is finding its way in the world.

I agree that all the educated opinions are great!

Rhys,

I think that Adams is a good example. Certain people are defining a 'type 1' is a photo printed within a certain period of time after the negative was created. It seems the parameters are arbitrary. If it is printed using the original negative on quality paper it would not seem to matter. Especially if the photographer's stamp is on the back or if there is a blind stamp. If Adams, or any other photographer for that matter, spent a year in the wilderness photographing, several weeks developing then printing a few months later is it not considered 'type 1'or does it fall outside of the arbitrary parameters?

I mean single prints using the original negative, not limited editions. I would also not consider prints made by the Center for Creative Photography which owns the Adam's negatives.

I guess Brett Weston is an interesting consideration. He destroyed his negatives before he died. No one else can create new prints. I believe he said that the photo and the print were his art and he did not want others trying to recreate what he did.

"But Mr. Weston declared that he had destroyed his negatives simply because he alone could print them the way he intended, and he didn't plan to leave them around for someone else to print after his death. And his actions were hardly the whim of an old man. In fact, it was more than a decade ago, in a 1980 monograph on his work, that he first announced his intention to destroy his negatives when he reached the age of 80."

Brett's brother Cole has control of their father's (Edwin Weston) negatives and continues to print those using handwritten instructions from their father.