Editions and how to print

I tried to find if this was answered somewhere here already, but I couldn't find it. OK, I'm far from selling to galleries and such. I just was wondering... When a photographer decides to do an image in an edition of however many (say 50); do they print all of them about the same time or do they just keep a reference and print to match that?

winger said:

I tried to find if this was answered somewhere here already, but I couldn't find it. OK, I'm far from selling to galleries and such. I just was wondering... When a photographer decides to do an image in an edition of however many (say 50); do they print all of them about the same time or do they just keep a reference and print to match that?

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With platinum editions (25 or 30) I can't afford to print all at once, so those are printed to order and matched to a print that I keep. With photogravure, I print the complete edition. These are normally in editions of 10 to 30.
Keith.

I never print a complete edition at one time. I do editions of 25 and usually work a print until I feel it is finished, then print 5 to 10 images. As in Keith's case, one is always held back as guide print for me to do my best to match in subsequent printings.

One of the reasons I don't particularly like editions is that if you don't print them all in one session, the materials may become unavailable and your vision may change over time, so even if one is going along with the scheme of limiting the number of prints of a certain size from a single negative, it might not make sense to call it an "edition." I'm not selling lots of prints, so perhaps for me it doesn't matter so much, but I'm numbering prints as "print series," meaning the number of prints made from a single negative in one session, exclusive of the possibility of making new and perhaps different prints in another session.

David A. Goldfarb said:

.... I'm numbering prints as "print series," meaning the number of prints made from a single negative in one session, exclusive of the possibility of making new and perhaps different prints in another session.

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Hmmmm....that's an interesting idea I've not thought about before. Using AA's "Moonrise" as an example (there are many others that appear in "Ansel Adams at 100"), his manner of printing it changed markedly over time. It would work just as well for dealers to promote prints from a particular series that would have characteristics in common as it would editions, because the iterations might be so different. Like "vintage" without being as silly as that notion is in terms of quality. Besides, I've always balked at the notion of limiting prints from a medium the very essence of which incorporates reproduction.

(I guess it would also work for digiprints in that one could return to a raw file, and completely re-work it in PS while retaining the original "negative". )

jovo said:

It would work just as well for dealers to promote prints from a particular series that would have characteristics in common as it would editions, because the iterations might be so different.

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I am in no way saying this isn't interesting (it is), but you're assuming that dealers would care to complicate things further. Most dealers I have dealt with don't even like the confusion that comes with different print sizes or processes from one photographer let alone different series' of images with a certain feel. I've seen photographers that offer a specific edition of one size and another of the same image in a different size get overlooked in favor of someone with a more simple approach. In many of their eyes, to many choices is not a good thing. This is especially true in the case of emerging photographers. It is best to find out if anyone is even interested in buying the work first. Worry about different types of editions later.

As for printing segments of an edition as demand requires, for me it is a simple case of space and waste. Some prints sell themselves and might warrant a full printing, but others might not do so well and piles of unwanted prints sitting in boxes does no one any good.

Whether editioning is a good or bad thing is a completely different discussion unrelated to the OP's question and I'll refrain from going there.

Thank you all! Question basically answered.

David A. Goldfarb said:

One of the reasons I don't particularly like editions is that if you don't print them all in one session, the materials may become unavailable and your vision may change over time, so even if one is going along with the scheme of limiting the number of prints of a certain size from a single negative, it might not make sense to call it an "edition." I'm not selling lots of prints, so perhaps for me it doesn't matter so much, but I'm numbering prints as "print series," meaning the number of prints made from a single negative in one session, exclusive of the possibility of making new and perhaps different prints in another session.

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I like the series idea, too.

You could also make an "edition" of 50 prints, printing 10 at a time, with 5 artists' proofs within the edition.