For the February column dedicated to the professions of the world of photography, I asked some questions to Alessia Locatelli, independent curator, teacher and artistic director of the “Biennale della Fotografia Femminile” in Mantova.

Her experience in a photographic printing laboratory makes her one of the most important voices in the field of photographic paper, print runs and photography market: all topics that photographers must deepen if they want to take the big step towards the professional world of photography and that often are complex or unclear. Here’s what she told us about it.

It is almost tautological to remember how, as a result of the advent of digital, fewer and fewer photos are being printed. Even photographers, especially those of the new generation, find themselves having thousands of digital files without moving on to the printing phase.
But if, as Henri Cartier-Bresson said, “Only the result counts, and the final proof is given by the photographic press”, where should the photographer start from, in the choice of photographic paper? What kind of papers are available in the market? What’s the difference between a fine art paper and a simple photographic paper?

First of all we must always start from the project. Any project that has a strong concept will surely find the right paper on which to be printed. This is the first step in identifying the paper for printing. The world of cards is wonderful: I was lucky enough to work a few years alongside a laboratory, an activity necessary to have the appropriate curatorial skills to suggest to photographers the technical characteristics both for fine art and photographic papers. 

But to resume your question, it is essential to think that if you decide to print, you should also know where to store the prints, especially if you decide to use particularly sensitive papers such as those of natural fibers that suffer a lot from the thermal shock and the incidence of light. Consequently, it is always necessary to think about the production of an exhibition, or simply for the press, some precautions that – as curator  – I often suggest to the photographers with whom I collaborate to avoid that, even on the wave of enthusiasm, you have to spend a lot of money for the fine art print of the project without knowing where to keep the prints themselves. This does not mean giving up printing, but rather having the professional skills and also a little foresight before approaching the world of papers and professional laboratories. Finding the ideal paper for your project is an integral part of a photographer’s journey: choosing the white point, deciding whether the paper should have a thick texture or a thin grain, be Glossy or Matt.

Do you know, for example, that fine art necessarily starts from the paper weight of 280gr/square meter? My experience abroad leads me to make a sad consideration of our Country: there is a great superficiality that accompanies the photographic world, especially semi-professional, and this has a very bad impact on the entire photography industry and on collecting. The difference between fine art and photographic paper consists mainly in the fact that the photographic paper consists of chemical components, while the fine art paper is entirely made of natural fibers. Often it is cotton fibers for the West, but in the East they use paper fibers of mulberry or bamboo. Of course, on these natural papers will then be used inks that do not have inside the chemical components otherwise it would make no sense; use water-based inks or with natural colors and use a printer that has at least 6 – 8 ink outlet nozzles, both for black and white and for color, also ensures the possibility of covering the entire color range available, even in digital.

So I conclude by saying that it is absolutely necessary to print, but that competence is fundamental, and that sometimes also rely on a curator, laboratory or trusted person who also knows this area, can only be an advantage for the photographer and for the storytelling to the collector.

The possibility to start from a file, not only implies the great opportunity to choose different print media (not only limited to photo papers), as well as to print the same file countless times. And here, we touch on a subject often underestimated by photographers, but fundamental when it comes to the sale of their photographs: the print run.
In what  exactly does it consist and how and when should it be established for each photograph? But above all, is it so necessary to define it?

This is a very broad speech that I often address in my courses and I must say that it attracts a fair amount of interest from the photographers who participate because they flood me with questions. I will try briefly to explain: the print run depends on many factors, the geographical location of the photographer, but also a lot from the age of the photographer and its location in the market. It is also important to understand how much the photographer is interested in a fine art production – therefore limited for collectors – or large distribution, there are various roads and all are dignified. The important thing is, to avoid frustration, to know where you want to go. The problem in Italy, however, is twofold because if on the one hand there is little knowledge on the part of photographers of all this difficult but small world of circulation, certifications and print on demand, on the other hand there is a collection that still has a certain distrust in inserting photography in the collection: you do not trust the issue of reproducibility and you still think in obsolete terms, no longer existing in France, England, United States, on the issue. I am making many efforts to try to create a virtuous supply chain in this sense, so that the photographer who wants to learn more about it, can find as many professional figures able to support it in the laboratory and in the gallery in order to create confidence in Italian collecting. With a few hundred euros you can create an interesting base of photographic collection, which in art absolutely can not be done, and I would very much like to involve the young generations of entrepreneurs in this wonderful world of auctions, of fairs and collecting of what is today the visual art most able to communicate the contemporary, through different languages and modes.

A last variable that a photographer must consider when he decides to sell his photos, is the final price. Can you mention at least three variables to take into account when defining this price? In addition, how and in consequence of which variables may the price of the same shot change over time?

In economics it is known that the price usually predicts what is the total cost – including dedicated time – and multiplies by three… But this is rough marketing, but it must be considered when talking about prices. There is also a curricular question of the author: his age, what exhibitions he has made, in which locations (institutional, national). Catalog publications are also important. If his works have been exhibited abroad, if he has a gallery representing him, if he has always paid for exhibitions or he’s in the cultural circuit… As you can imagine, everything that belongs to the cultural reality guarantees the quality of the photographer’s work, unlike those who participate only in collective pay. There is a market for everyone, but of course where the path is endorsed by museums, photo festivals, juries and public realities it is logically understandable that the value of the artist is higher.

I choose a third and last consideration among the variables that can indicate the final price of an authorial print, which is that of the print run in the fine art. Exemplifying that an author has a 7 print run it is logical for the market that the picture number 1 of 7 has a price lower than the number 7 of 7, since after this it is no longer possible for the author to produce some new print, not even changing the format.

Moreover, it is right to reward the collector who has confidence in the photographer from the beginning, while an author who has run out of print has already been endorsed by the market. It is therefore correct from the point of view of the economy that they pay more for the last photo of the series.