Whyd you choose photo collecting?

[JoeyF1981]

For all you photo collectors..Besides all the attention from women.lol..what made you choose photo collecting and what keeps you interested in it?

[Lordstan]

Chicks dig the long ball.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/lordstan/My%20Lou%20Gehrig%20stuff/LG-1936LouSwingSequence.jpg

I love the mix of Baseball and Art. The beauty of a great photo, be it a great feat of skill, a heroic moment, or a touching slice of humanity. Photos, in my opinion, offer a little bit of everything.

[JoeyF1981]

Chicks dig the long ball.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/lordstan/My%20Lou%20Gehrig%20stuff/LG-1936LouSwingSequence.jpg

I love the mix of Baseball and Art. The beauty of a great photo, be it a great feat of skill, a heroic moment, or a touching slice of humanity. Photos, in my opinion, offer a little bit of everything.

lol..chicks definintly love the long ball...I agree with you mark. Photos offer alot more. ive collected cards and never got the satisfication i get when picking up a new photo

[SAllen2556]

Simple. Photography is art, and art has the ability to elevate our imaginations.
http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz32/sallen2556/02925144-65bd-4f66-94bb-298e9c82422b_zps45a1105a.jpg

Of course, art is always in the eye of the beholder.....
http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz32/sallen2556/1511b565-d97e-436f-b7cd-e0b6ad9645d8_zpsa90fda5f.jpg

[glchen]

There are many reasons to collect photos for me. Here are a few:

(1) There are some particularly nice images of the players in photos that you don't see in cards, some of which are very iconic.
(2) Also, sometimes, if you obtain the same photo of a player that was used to create one of their cards, it is a nice companion piece.
(3) In addition, there are sometimes photos of a player in a major league uniform that predate their "rookie" card, so this is an earlier rookie image.
(4) Sometimes a Type I photo of the player during his playing days is a much cheaper alternative than obtaining his card, and often offers a more appealing image of the player. For example, I collect Babe Ruth cards, but Ruth cards while he was playing for the Red Sox are exorbitantly expensive. A photo of Ruth during his Red Sox days is a much cheaper alternative although still expensive. Going even further, Ruth rookie cards are sky high, but you can sometimes obtain an image of Ruth during his rookie year at a better price.
(5) Finally, I like obtaining team photos of Ruth, and these are not really available in cards. One of the drawbacks of photo collecting is that there are no real "sets" so for set collectors who want some sort of completion, it can be difficult with photo collecting. However, if you collect team photos, you can think of it as a "set" since you just need one team photo for each year for the years you want. Once you obtain all of the team photos for the time period you are looking for, your "set" is complete. (Obviously there are often team photos from the same year w/ different images, but you can just choose the one you want.)

[drcy]

Anyone who collects Pre-War cards should know something about photography, as many early baseball cards are real photographs: Old Judge N172 and N173s, Lone Jack, Peck & Snyder, Topps Magic Photos and numerous others. I collected baseball cards long before I got into photography, but as a card collector I figured out I should learn something about photographs. If you collect early baseball cards, chances are you own some photos-- even if you don't realize it. If a card collector owns an Old Judge, he owns a photograph. That's what Old Judges are-- little albumen photos.

I like photography, because a photo is a snapshot in time of a story and you don't know what is the whole story. Sometimes you have no idea what is going on. As with all art, it involves viewer imagination and personal interpretation. All my favorite photos involve an ongoing story/scene where you can only guess what is going on-- but you know something is going on. Some photos are historical documents, some are interesting, some beautiful and some are dark and haunting.

As photographer Diane Arbus famously said about art photography: 'A picture is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know."

There are photos for everyone and every taste and interest and budget, because photos comes in all forms and sizes and covers all subjects: sports, movies, presidents, family photos, animals, nature, war, still lifes, etc etc etc. Some are artworks suitable for a museum wall, some are you family picnic snapshots for your refrigerator door, some are straight foreword realistic images, some are experimental avant garde. There's something for everyone. If you take and gather iphone photos and keep them in folder on your computer or uploaded to facebook for friends and family to see you are collecting digital photos. They may have no financial resale value or ever be printed out into physical paper form, but you're still collecting digital images.

Everyone collects and enjoys photos, even if they don't formally think of themselves as photo collectors or fans. If you have your grandmother's old family photo albums, you own a photo collection. If you have Kodak family snapshots on your office bulletin board, you display photos. If you take digital snapshots of your kid at his soccer game, you're creating a digital photo collection. If you collect Hollywood or baseball autographs you undoubtedly own some autographed photos. If you have a shoe box of your 1980s family holiday slides, you own a photo collection.

Not everyone collects baseball cards, beanie babies, Hollywood autographs or Civil War artifacts, but everyone owns a collection of photos in some shape or form.

[JoeyF1981]

I agree! Photography plays a huge part in baseball history and to me being able to own a piece of that history that captures a certain moment in that players life gives me a lot more satisfaction than owning a card

[Runscott]

Not to kiss David's butt, but I have to admit that he had more than a little to do with it. Early in my photograph-collecting journey, I once asked David whether or not a particular print was first-generation, and what its value was. He pointed out that I needed to ask myself if it was worth the asking price as a piece of art hanging on my wall, and if the answer was 'yes', it didn't matter so much if it was 1st generation. The point being, photos can be collected simply for their visual appeal - they aren't as far from art as other collectibles (such as cards) can be.

[Exhibitman]

Great images

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/boxingphotographsandephemera/large/Charles.jpg

that can often be dated by the press markings on the back

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/boxingphotographsandephemera/large/1922%20Tunney%20photo%201.jpeg

that can date years before the athlete's first card

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/basketball/websize/1968%20Barry_%20Rick.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/basketball/websize/014.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/basketball/websize/1983%20Malone_%20Karl.jpg

and that are often a tiny fraction of the cost of a contemporary card

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/basketball/websize/1960%20Chamberlain%20team%20issue.jpg

or that fill in for cards for HOFers who had no career-issued cards

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/boxingphotographsandephemera/large/Cocoa%20Kid.jpg

Some are even attributable to specific artists, which I think is kinda cool

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/basketball/websize/1967%20Russell-LaRusso%201.jpghttp://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/basketball/websize/1967%20Russell-LaRusso%202.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/boxingphotographsandephemera/large/Photo%201911%20Welsh_%20Fred%20by%20Bain.jpg

[JoeyF1981]

Great images

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/boxingphotographsandephemera/large/Charles.jpg

that can often be dated by the press markings on the back

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/boxingphotographsandephemera/large/1922%20Tunney%20photo%201.jpeg

that can date years before the athlete's first card

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/basketball/websize/1968%20Barry_%20Rick.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/basketball/websize/014.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/basketball/websize/1983%20Malone_%20Karl.jpg

and that are often a tiny fraction of the cost of a contemporary card

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/basketball/websize/1960%20Chamberlain%20team%20issue.jpg

or that fill in for cards for HOFers who had no career-issued cards

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/boxingphotographsandephemera/large/Cocoa%20Kid.jpg

Some are even attributable to specific artists, which I think is kinda cool

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/basketball/websize/1967%20Russell-LaRusso%201.jpghttp://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/basketball/websize/1967%20Russell-LaRusso%202.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/boxingphotographsandephemera/large/Photo%201911%20Welsh_%20Fred%20by%20Bain.jpg



heres one of mine you might appreciate

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq224/Blackitalian/1326c1_med_zpszq1uh7ni.jpeg (http://s450.photobucket.com/user/Blackitalian/media/1326c1_med_zpszq1uh7ni.jpeg.html)

[horzverti]

Simple. Photography is art, and art has the ability to elevate our imaginations.
http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz32/sallen2556/02925144-65bd-4f66-94bb-298e9c82422b_zps45a1105a.jpg

Of course, art is always in the eye of the beholder.....
http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz32/sallen2556/1511b565-d97e-436f-b7cd-e0b6ad9645d8_zpsa90fda5f.jpg

That first photo is great, but your second one is outstanding!

[thecatspajamas]

Simple. Photography is art, and art has the ability to elevate our imaginations.
http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz32/sallen2556/02925144-65bd-4f66-94bb-298e9c82422b_zps45a1105a.jpg

Of course, art is always in the eye of the beholder.....
http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz32/sallen2556/1511b565-d97e-436f-b7cd-e0b6ad9645d8_zpsa90fda5f.jpg

Scott, you really are a man after my own heart...

[Frozen in Time]

For all the reasons stated above but mainly because they represent a moment in history that is "Frozen in Time".

Craig

[mybestbretts]

I collect photos (a one player collector) for several reasons. I believe they
really tell the history of a player or time in history for one thing.

I am amazed that with the equipment and the moment that some
of these photographers could get some of the action shots they did.

Many of the photographers didn't make all that much money in small venues and may be lost in time as they were staff photographers or freelance photographers

The clarity of a great photo always amazes me :)138906

[horzverti]

Scott, you really are a man after my own heart...
Even better Lance.

[billyb]

A little over a year ago, I was steered to this site by other collectors as I was doing a relative a favor and researching some original photos he obtained. I knew nothing about this newer collectible field of press photos, so I had many questions, and you all responded, some helped a lot. Over the past months that followed, I could see and feel the passion that you all have in this area of collecting. The more I've learned, the more I could feel that same passion. Just re-read what has been written on this thread, and you can feel how much you-- ALL-- really care about press photos. Some years ago I collected cards, but the personal feeling I get about press photos, I did not get that same feeling for cards.
I have only purchased a few so far, but that collection will grow because I can now see what you describe.
So why do I collect, it is all your fault......................and thank you.

By the way, the wife thanks you too..........lol.......yea right!