Top Photography Collections Inspire and Educate: You Don't Have to Go to Art School to Become an Expert on Master Photographers. (Photo Collections)

Seiling, Susan, Art Business News

I spent three years working at the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite National Park. Though my job, on the surface, seemed like little more than selling note cards and posters, the time spent within those gallery walls gave me a priceless skill: The ability to recognize fine photography.

The gallery's collection included works by Adams and other historically significant photographers and also a wide body of contemporary photography. All of the artists represented there had a reverence for craftsmanship and the ability to use photography as a way to creatively and effectively express themselves.

Like a wine connoisseur sampling various Merlots, I can now walk into a fine art gallery or museum and intuitively understand the photography and its value, or lack thereof. With a large number of photographers venturing into the gallery market, it's important for gallery owners to nurture this aesthetic understanding of photography. I've seen many galleries branch into the photography sector, falling prey to an artist who has a knack for marketing but creates mediocre work. The bottom line is if a photograph resonates with the viewer, is of a high quality and is aesthetically pleasing, it will sell.

Learning to recognize high-quality work can only come from immersing yourself in great photography. To do this, you don't need to spend three years of your life working in a fine art photography gallery. By spending some time looking at great collections, studying the craftsmanship of the masters and becoming familiar with the work of well-known photographers, you can glean an intrinsic understanding of the art.

To help with this endeavor, I've compiled a list of museums throughout the country that have excellent photography …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: Top Photography Collections Inspire and Educate: You Don't Have to Go to Art School to Become an Expert on Master Photographers. (Photo Collections). Contributors: Seiling, Susan - Author. Magazine title: Art Business News. Volume: 30. Issue: 3 Publication date: March 2003. Page number: 104+. © 2009 Summit Business Media. COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group.

This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.