World Photography Forum - Can a few glass Negs be worth $200 million

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Can a few glass Negs be worth $200 million

OK they're old Ansel Adams negs, but $200m.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/...id=2fTCNl04lzy

Mmmm, the old adage springs to mind that anything is worth whatever somebody is willing to pay for it. I won't be buying, I am a little short of small change at the moment.......

Rather cheap for fine art actually.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex1994 (Post 45009)

Rather cheap for fine art actually.

If you've even seen a "straight print" of an Adams negative, you'd realise his real genius was in the darkroom, not so much as a photographer.

I saw a major exhibition of his at the Boston MoMA many years ago. There was a separate side exhibition of his darkroom prowess and what a straight print looked like before he worked his magic. It really brought home that he was a good, but not exceptional photographer, an absolute genious in the darkroom though.

Having a box of negs will not create magic without a whole lot of other skills.

Certainly, Ansel made the negs come to life in the darkroom - in his own words: the negative is the score, while the print is the performance.

I reckon there are people out there who can make incredible Ansel-like prints out of those negs in the same way that there are conductors who will interpret Beethoven or Mozart music into an extraordinary performance.

Can someone enlighten me please? Surely the owner of the negatives can't actually sell any prints from them? He may own the negs, but the copyright must still be with the Adams estate?

Whilst they are still in copyright, they must surely be worthless to anyone but the copyright owner.

Quote:

The man who found a massive collection of thought-to-be-lost Ansel Adams negatives - worth millions - at a garage sale is now the subject of a lawsuit from the famous photographer's estate.

Rick Norsigian found the glass negatives at a garage sale ten years ago and spent the next decade trying to prove their authenticity through a bevy of independent experts. He says he was successful, and made worldwide media headlines in July when he began selling prints of the previously unseen photos.

But now the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust - the organization that keeps track of Ansel Adams' work since his death - is calling it all a sham, the BBC is reporting.

The trust alleges trademark infringement, false advertising, trademark dilution, unfair competition and claims the negatives are fraudulent.

Norsigian's lawyers said experts have proven the authenticity of the negatives "beyond a reasonable doubt" and the case has "no merit."

None of the allegations in the lawsuit have been proven in court.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/world.../15124781.html