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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: Artist on April 28, 2017, 02:02

Title: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: Artist on April 28, 2017, 02:02
Insane...

https://petapixel.com/2016/01/21/this-photo-of-a-potato-sold-for-over-1000000/
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: Pauws99 on April 28, 2017, 02:16
The "art world" has always been full of ridiculousness when some people can't afford a real potato to eat seems like the world has strange values.....very good pic mind you
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: increasingdifficulty on April 28, 2017, 03:45
As with anything else not necessary for survival you buy the name, the brand, the feeling.
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: Pauws99 on April 28, 2017, 04:14
As with anything else not necessary for survival you buy the name, the brand, the feeling.
and the expectation that its value will rise along with and Tax benefits that come with it.
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: Chichikov on April 28, 2017, 04:21
This is not a question of Art, this is a way to clean dirty money…
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: derek on April 28, 2017, 04:33
Come on people! have a really good close look and you will find its a piece of Art. You can even see the veins is the potatoe! not often that happens.
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: increasingdifficulty on April 28, 2017, 06:00
"Cheap" and "expensive" are not absolute concepts. They are relative.

Do you remember the $1,000 iPhone app that ONLY consisted of a nice red icon, showing that you had $1,000 to throw away?
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: noodle on April 28, 2017, 06:09
He should sell it on microstock sites now...
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: Pauws99 on April 28, 2017, 06:19
"Cheap" and "expensive" are not absolute concepts. They are relative.

Do you remember the $1,000 iPhone app that ONLY consisted of a nice red icon, showing that you had $1,000 to throw away?
Not sure what you are getting at but I think to anyone $1m for a very good picture is expensive but yes a lot of consumer spending is a way of signalling to the world you are rich.Money itself is really only an abstract concept.....try eating $1m if you are starving in the desert!
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: Pauws99 on April 28, 2017, 07:00
He should sell it on microstock sites now...
Would be rejected for LCV  :o
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: increasingdifficulty on April 28, 2017, 07:09
Not sure what you are getting at but I think to anyone $1m for a very good picture is expensive but yes a lot of consumer spending is a way of signalling to the world you are rich.Money itself is really only an abstract concept.....try eating $1m if you are starving in the desert!

Yes, to most people in the world, $1,000,000 is a lot of money but not extreme for art.

The buyer didn't need a picture of a potato. Just like a buyer of a Da Vinci painting doesn't need a certain portrait. There are probably thousands of people in the world who can paint better portraits than Da Vinci (subjectively of course) but you buy the name, the feeling, the brand.
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: Pauws99 on April 28, 2017, 08:01
Not sure what you are getting at but I think to anyone $1m for a very good picture is expensive but yes a lot of consumer spending is a way of signalling to the world you are rich.Money itself is really only an abstract concept.....try eating $1m if you are starving in the desert!

Yes, to most people in the world, $1,000,000 is a lot of money but not extreme for art.

The buyer didn't need a picture of a potato. Just like a buyer of a Da Vinci painting doesn't need a certain portrait. There are probably thousands of people in the world who can paint better portraits than Da Vinci (subjectively of course) but you buy the name, the feeling, the brand.
Yep.....and of course its purely subjective what art is worth. The advantage of dead artists is they aren't going dilute the supply.
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: Chichikov on April 28, 2017, 11:54
Come on people! have a really good close look and you will find its a piece of Art. You can even see the veins is the potatoe! not often that happens.

Are they veins?
I think they are arteries…
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: YadaYadaYada on April 28, 2017, 12:15
Come on people! have a really good close look and you will find its a piece of Art. You can even see the veins is the potatoe! not often that happens.

Are they veins?
I think they are arteries…

More likely hair roots. That was January 2016 and it's just a dirty potato, on black, that someone paid far too much to own. People here do better work on a regular basis. Bought by a collector and the artist is West Coast popular for the in crowd.
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: flywing on April 28, 2017, 12:45
I like the photo but of course wouldn't buy it at that price. I don't get envious though. Obviously he is a very good photographer and, more importantly, very good at marketing, which is the more difficult part. Not many people are good at that. Don't tell me marketing yourself is easy.
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: Freedom on April 28, 2017, 13:27
After doing stocks for more than a decade, I have to admit that I will forever remain a starving artist, unless I become a good business person.

This is nothing new. A diamond will remain a piece of rubbish until someone knows how to promote and sell it to the right buyer.
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: Hildegarde on April 28, 2017, 19:52
Looks like he is imitating Richard Avedon with some changes in his portraits.
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: Pauws99 on April 29, 2017, 01:06
I like the photo but of course wouldn't buy it at that price. I don't get envious though. Obviously he is a very good photographer and, more importantly, very good at marketing, which is the more difficult part. Not many people are good at that. Don't tell me marketing yourself is easy.
If I thought marketing was easy or I was any good at it I wouldn't be giving stock agencies 2/3 of my sales value!
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: lostintimeline on April 29, 2017, 18:42
anyone knows how to find this buyer? i have a proposition to make ;D
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: Microstockphoto on April 30, 2017, 01:06
the guy has made a name for himself, shooting the stars, so obviously the price goes up, and then people want to have his work, so they pay top dollar for simple photos. simple as that. its not that he is a nobody and just good at marketing.

mondriaan painted the simplest abstract paintings at the later stages of his career, but because he made a name for himself as an artist, those paintings are expensive

would you pay 50 million for this
(http://www.piet-mondrian.org/images/paintings/composition-II-in-red-blue-and-yellow.jpg)
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: Chichikov on April 30, 2017, 09:40
the guy has made a name for himself, shooting the stars, so obviously the price goes up, and then people want to have his work, so they pay top dollar for simple photos. simple as that. its not that he is a nobody and just good at marketing.

mondriaan painted the simplest abstract paintings at the later stages of his career, but because he made a name for himself as an artist, those paintings are expensive

would you pay 50 million for this
([url]http://www.piet-mondrian.org/images/paintings/composition-II-in-red-blue-and-yellow.jpg[/url])


I think that you make a little confusion between Art from charlatanism.
When Mondrian made this it was something unique and never done before.
And the most important is that behind it there was a study, a research and an (artistic) intent.

This photo of potato is not unique and many similar has been done before (even by myself)

But I agree that the line that separates Art from charlatanism is very subtle.
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: noodle on April 30, 2017, 12:56
Same as Peter Lik selling some of his images for big bucks
Dont get me wrong, he has some very nice images, but seriously I can go to 500px and buy some putstanding images for a fraction
So its being a good businessman andmarketingyourself and being licky enough for a few 'important' or influential people to like your work and your off tothe races
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: Mrblues101 on April 30, 2017, 16:19
So, he make what everyone here want to do... create a famous image that make a lot of money in the world of microstock...

Congratulations for him...

I think that most of people here feel so frustrated about the random and illogical nature of what sell a lot in this industry.
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: Pauws99 on April 30, 2017, 16:54
So, he make what everyone here want to do... create a famous image that make a lot of money in the world of microstock...

Congratulations for him...

I think that most of people here feel so frustrated about the random and illogical nature of what sell a lot in this industry.
Its not exactly "microstock" at $1m a pop. Hes produced an image that is considered art by some. The guy who bought it might have something worth more in a few years.....or a worthless picture of a potato.... but nothing to do with Microstock.
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: Mrblues101 on April 30, 2017, 17:04
So, he make what everyone here want to do... create a famous image that make a lot of money in the world of microstock...

Congratulations for him...

I think that most of people here feel so frustrated about the random and illogical nature of what sell a lot in this industry.
Its not exactly "microstock" at $1m a pop. Hes produced an image that is considered art by some. The guy who bought it might have something worth more in a few years.....or a worthless picture of a potato.... but nothing to do with Microstock.

Ok, thank you for clarification.
Title: Re: 1 million dollar potato photo
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on April 30, 2017, 23:59

I think that most of people here feel so frustrated about the random and illogical nature of what sell a lot in this industry.
It's not random and illogical. He will have put a lot of effort into promoting himself as an artistic genius to his rich friends. Either that or he's got close links to some mafiosa organisation that needed to launder a million dollars.