My photo just sold for 50 million!

yep, sold to a unknown buyer, from somewhere.

Honestly, Peter Lik and his questionable marketing practices are damaging the already fragile photography print market, his false claims and self proclaimed worth is a insult to photographers past and present.

What do you guys think?

Not sure about 50 million, but I saw a purchase of 6.5 million for his "Phantom". Which was shot at a spot in Antelope Canyon that many of us photogs have in our own collections.
Oh well, I guess we'll all need to lower our prices if that's all he got for his.......

Paul, it was my photo that went for 50 million

Good to hear, Carl. Having lived In Alaska myself years ago, 50 million only goes so far up there.

I just want the buyer's name

"There's a Sucker Born Every Minute" as they say
If it's even true..

Anything is possible. I was trying to track down info on a German photo that sold a few years ago for $6.5 million. On the internet, it looked like a bland, flat landscape near the danube, with about 2/3rds of the image being blank sky, if memory serves me correctly.

Anyway.... some older 80's photos have been selling from $70K to $200K according to this report:

https://www.iphotocentral.com/news/article-view.php/185/175/1082/0/3/10

Cheers,
Frederic in Montréal

I went to a photo seminar in the early 90's and the presenter told me at a coffee break his biggest competitor was not the better photographer......it was the better salesperson.

A very profound statement that has proved out over the years many times IMVHO......

Frederic I believe the photographer you are thinking of is Andreas Gursky. I find some of his work interesting but the image that went for that amount is just hideous imo. I'm sure most of us would have deleted nicer looking pics.

Carey, I also recall seeing the image you've posted as a high seller some years back now. As one would say, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder......

Carey, is that the photo? If it is....the guy probably works fulltime selling swampland in Florida as timeshares

Yes that is it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhein_II . He's held the record for most expensive photo a couple of times now. This one held the record up until this November when it was toppled by none other than............

Drum Roll.................

Peter Lik http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_photographs.

So, sorry to contradict the OP but it would appear that compared to Peter's photo's, others aren't worth a Lik


Facts courtesy of Wikipedia not Likipedia

Rhein II is described by journalist Maev Kennedy in The Guardian as "a sludgy image of the grey Rhine under grey skies." It's extensively Photoshopped, too. But that's the second most expensive photo.

Can't find an on-line image of the most expensive, the Lik.

Why don't any of these customers wander into my web site?

Jim, here is a link to the photo and article on Peter Lik's image. I've now seen this listed at 6.5million and as high as 7.8 million. It might be confusion back and forth on currency exchange rates as to where the articles are posted maybe.

Peter Lik Image

I agree that the Gursky image is not very...interesting. But the difference between Gursky and Lik is that Gursky has a long history of celebrated work with countless museum exhibits throughout the world. Lik is a self promoted "master". He has not a single major museum exhibit, his work is only sold in his commercial galleries. Almost all his high end sales, have been to anonymous buyers, ones that he says he doesn't even know where they live. But these are not being bought through an auction, he just says that it happened and we are all supposed to believe it. The reality is that his work is almost worthless in value once it leaves his gallery. Have a look at the Art Broker site, there are 900 Peter Liks for sale, no one wants them, no matter what the cost.

To claim to be a master and to make up all this PR bull is just terrible. For 6 million dollars I could have 10 Ansel prints, 10 Weston prints, 10- Elliot Porter prints, 10... hell I could own a print from every great photographer from the past hundred years and have one of the greatest collections of photography ever. Hopefully people will begin to see the scam that Peter Lik is.

Carl, this discussion came up at another site and a few there were taken in and felt congratulatory towards the news. I guess one can either accept the story to be true or not.
When I showed the story to my wife who does not follow any of this photog stuff she immediately had recall to my dragging her into both Upper and Lower Antelope canyons many years ago. She also recalled me throwing sand up in the air in one of the light shafts for a photog who had asked me to. He was a professional Antarctic photo tour guide on vacation in Page at the time. Which lead me to wondering how much the poor sand thrower got paid in the "Phantom" photo setup.......