Is a photographic portrait art?

"For 180-years, people have been asking the question: is photography art? At an early meeting of the Photographic Society of London, established in 1853, one of the members complained that the new technique was "too literal to compete with works of art" because it was unable to "elevate the imagination."

Do you consider your portraiture as art?

We certainly do!

What can we do today to bring the value of our photography up to the value of an art piece such as a painting?

I would say the first thing is to make sure we produce photographs worthy of investment and undergirded with excellence in execution. We MUST learn this craft and strive for excellence if we are to be seen as artists

Once we have a product that is excellent in execution, we then need to understand how to value the art by presenting each piece with these 4 attributes of a fine art piece.

Here is what we do:

1. We present every wall piece with a Certificate of Authenticity (seen below) which has a string of numbers (we hand-write these) that indicate the year, month, day, client number and pose number. We call it a Registration Number. Then Tim hand signs them. This is attached to the back of the framed piece.

2. When we present our image boxes, we include a pair of white gloves for handling. Simply by including white gloves, it gives the message that these are very valuable pieces of art.

3. We hand-sign all of our wall pieces. There is nothing like the signature of the artist to ensure the client of the value and uniqueness of these pieces.When I am buying an art piece, the first thing I look for is the signature of the artist. If I don't see it, I won't buy it!

It is a very important key and one of the easier things you can do.

4. We speak about our portraits as art. We are photographic artists and print artists who only consider our work finished when it is printed and finished to our standards.

We use acid-free mats and conservation glass on our fine art black and white portraits, even naming them Museum Prints, giving them more value.

We undergird that value by using archival papers and processes so that these can be passed down to several generations. We are constantly messaging that in our business through our conversations and written information pieces.

"Perhaps the biggest struggle photography has faced historically as a medium is to be taken seriously as an art form. I’d say it’s only in the last couple of decades that the results at auction have been able to hold their own against traditional art forms." Huffington Post

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