Saatchi Art

Although in many ways this is way too early, I started an account at Saatchi Art and posted three images there:

You can order prints from Saatchi Art, the cheapest is $99. Saatchi take just 30% of the profit from sales of prints, and the artist gets 70%. This is the same ratio as their sales of original works by artists registered with them. The only difference is that, when Saatchi make the prints, they deduct the cost of production, postage, etc.

However, the files I uploaded are identical to those posted on Flickr, so you can print them yourself for free. (You will need a good A3 inkjet printer, a Canon or an Epson. I don't own one.)

If it is 'way too early', why do it? What's the idea?

It was an interesting exercise to see which images I would choose, if I had to make the choice. Which images are worthy of being hung up on a wall above the sofa, or TV, or dining table. By my lights, of course.

One of these, 'Flood Alert' also appears in my Metaphysical Journal post on Philosophy and photography. Here's the explanation I gave:

There is a flood. But not here, the road is dry. Where, then? The empty bus: is it speeding towards the flood, or away from it? And those trees, or tree trunks. Photographs of trees are one of the staples of photographic 'art' — pictorialism, the celebration of 'nature'. But, here, the trees seem to have a different meaning. More sinister. Was the flood caused by nature, perhaps a heavy rain storm, or a burst water main? Either way, floods are something to fear. But these trees will not be affected in any way. They will stand by, immobile, while human beings flounder and drown.

Note that this isn't an explanation/ justification for why I think it is a 'good' picture, but rather why (I claim) it 'says something' — in the way that a photograph (or the kind of photograph I look for) should do.

A similar story could be told about the other two images. I leave it to the reader's imagination. What is being 'said' is not said literally, so there are multiple stories you can tell. That's what the image invites. That's what gives it depth and meaning.

In an earlier post on Metaphysical Journal, I spoke about my search for the silver world.

Every now and then, I catch a glipse of a silver world, out of the corner of my eye. When I look directly, it is gone. Sometimes my camera 'sees' before I do.

Not all photographs that 'say something' (in the way I would approve) depict the 'silver world', only some. So there's a conundrum.

It is too early. I am still not clear what it is I am trying to do. The only way I can get clear is by taking more photographs — lots more — and doing this.