Currently I have in my possesion about 20,000 slides taken from 1949 to 1967. Many are in excellent condition. I can not disclose how I came to own them but they range from very elegant to simple shots of people and places that can no longer be captured. They fall into a unique catagory of one-of-a-kind. Several slides are of Frank Sinatra checking his mailbox at his home in Palm Springs in the 1950's.
My question is this; is there a market for nostalgic location and people shots from the late 40's to 60's. And if so, is there a resource that I can use to assist in gettting the images into the market? I do not have a website nor do I have a photography business. I am just an advanced amateur who has used Photoshop since 3.0 with a desire to break into the marketing side of photography.
My instinct would be to prepare a sampler of thumbnails (no longer than 300 pixels on the LA) @ 72 dpi, then burn it to discs and go shopping. It would be nice for once if a photographer or rep was receiving bids, rather than the usual route of photographers cutting each others throats by underpricing to reach the markets. Stock agencies, studios, museums and auction houses come immediately to mind as potential recipients. It may depend whether you seek to recover the most money possible or have samaritanic (?) feelings toward any particular historical society, for example.
From the way you phrase it, those slides are not the product of your photographic efforts...and you acquired them by means you'd rather not say. As a result use of those slides could involve copyright infringement should the photographer (or his/her estate) become aware that they were being used for the profit of someone else. (If a computer thief found the text of one of my books on the stolen computer, or someone got hold of a printout, it would not give the them the right to sell the book, or make copies of it for sale. I'm not as cognizant of copyright law as it applies to photographs, but they are copyrightable.)
You might consider getting a legal opinion on this. Ownership or possession of the original is not the same thing, in law, as being the work's creator.
Discussion
2 repliesMy question is this; is there a market for nostalgic location and people shots from the late 40's to 60's. And if so, is there a resource that I can use to assist in gettting the images into the market? I do not have a website nor do I have a photography business. I am just an advanced amateur who has used Photoshop since 3.0 with a desire to break into the marketing side of photography.
Thanks in advance.
You might consider getting a legal opinion on this. Ownership or possession of the original is not the same thing, in law, as being the work's creator.
Elizabeth