Trent Parke's Minutes to Midnight

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ramosa

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Hey, I have been wanting to pick of a copy of Trent Parke's Minutes to Midnight. It has been hard to track down, as with his other books. For a while, they had it on the Magnum site, first for $100, then $150, then quickly out of stock, as it is everywhere. Anyway, a couple days ago, I located it on Powells.com listed for $45 and quickly put in an order. I was still doubtful, but today I received an email saying it has been shipped! Powell's in-stock quantity read as 25 when I ordered it. So anyone with an interest may want to check out this option. (Note: I do not work for Powells or have any connection to them!)
 
i got mine back in December through Abebooks.com and the book was sold through one of their re-sellers in France: Nomade Store Europe, 16 Rue de Beauregard, Les Mesnuts, A 78490 France. The book is worth working hard to get, its exceptional and the print quality is one of the nicest that I have seen- you can smell the inks….BTW also just got Christmas Tree Bucket as well. Not as an interesting project but well done IMO… I wold love to get Dream/Life but no chance there good luck!-sterno.
 
how does it benefit the artist if the books are sold as a limited edition at a fairly low price then "scalped" off at higher prices? i hope this doesn't sound like a dumb question.

i feel like i missed out only because it's worth way more than the original price. i'm not sure if the sample photos really fit the types of books that i like.

edit: ignore the second paragraph, after watching http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/midnight things are a bit more clear
 
FA Limited said:
how does it benefit the artist if the books are sold as a limited edition at a fairly low price then "scalped" off at higher prices? i hope this doesn't sound like a dumb question.
Click to expand...
Limited editions are crucial to artists. Traditionally, this was associated with printmaking (as only a finite number of prints can be made before the block wears out), but with mechanical processes such as photography, artificial limits are imposed on the number of copies of an artwork.

Today, the photobook is increasingly important to photographers as an art object in its own right. As such, it, like prints, is now often produced as a limited edition.

For most artists, the primary aim of limited editions is to make the artist more widely known by:

• increasing sales - scarcity encourages collectors to buy early
• increasing recognition - scarcity encourages interest in the artist's work.

This is a virtuous circle, each of the above elements driving the other: by limiting the supply of their work, the artist aims to increase both the appreciation and sales of their artwork in general.

Assuming initial breakthrough, i.e. people notice the photographer in the first instance, the net result is an ongoing rise in recognition and sales for the now established artist.

Regarding your comment about copies being "scalped off" at high prices and that the artist doesn't benefit: I wholly disagree. Most artists are entirely happy with this because they do benefit from the secondary market. Prints by some photographers (e.g. Rhine II by Gursky) sell for millions, and it has been said the artist gains nothing in such cases. But that's not true, although the artist doesn't of course get a cut of these sales, the collectibility of the work feeds into the aforementioned virtuous circle - so the artist's reputation gathers further momentum along with interest in their other work (which they can sell at higher prices).
Case study: The Afronauts by Christine de Middel
In 2011, the photographer Christine de Middel published a book of her project The Afronauts - a whimsical exploration of a long-forgotten 1964 Zambian space programme in which Africa would be the first nation to send man to the moon (using a giant catapult!).

I thought the book was brilliant, and bought a signed copy from her for £40.

I wasn't the only one to be captivated by the book, and soon it was being talked about everywhere, with articles and interviews in national newspapers, etc. The project later became one of the four finalists for the one of the premier contemporary photography awards: the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize.

De Middel had self-published The Afronauts book in a limited edition of 1000, and was adamant that there would be no reprints. As her project became more widely known, this decision paid off, and the book became highly sought after, which in itself created further interest in de Middel. Unsigned copies now sell for about $2000, and signed copies for more (there's one on Amazon for $3400), and prices are still creeping upward.

The Afronauts made de Middel widely known in contemporary photography circles - hugely more so than before. The meteoric rise of her project was due in large part to her decision to make the book a limited edition.

De Middel is aware that there is still huge interest in her book, and that it is unaffordable to most. She still refuses to reprint because that would damage her reputation. However, to ensure her work is seen as widely as possible while not alienating collectors, she has made a cheap iPad app of the book available. She has also a sanctioned a free PDF of the book.​
 
I ordered this book early last year, but that fell through. So I tried again a few weeks ago to see what happens. Just this morning I got an email from Amazon saying that they'd shipped the book. I was happy about that.
 
that's a very thorough explanation there RichC thank you
there's much to learn about the art world :cool:

i would have never known about this photographer if it weren't for the threads about how hard it was to buy the book, but then again it's unlikely that i would ever buy a print either :eek:.
 
FA Limited said:
that's a very thorough explanation there RichC thank you
there's much to learn about the art world :cool:

i would have never known about this photographer if it weren't for the threads about how hard it was to buy the book, but then again it's unlikely that i would ever buy a print either :eek:.
Click to expand...
It work's then! :D

That's the main aim of editioning: not to make money but as a way to make an artist's work better known - at least it is for serious artists!

If you're not an artist, the benefits of limited editions are less clear cut, and in fact may result in less visibility and less money since you're limited in the number of copies you can produce.
 
Received mine a couple of days ago from Books-a-Million from an order I had placed a few months back. I was surprised to have received it, to be honest but very happy I did. I am really enjoying the book and the photos, some of which have me really amazed. Certainly worth the $28 I paid for it :)

EDIT: As for those not familiar with Trent Parke, I would definitely recommend checking out his portfolio on the Magnum website, particularly the Dream/Life portfolio. I am sure he is not to everyone's taste but, at the very least, he is someone pushing the boundaries of the medium (short of extensive photoshopping, etc., not that I have anything necessarily against that). By the way, if you act quick, the Dream/Life book, which is also now out of print, can be had for just $1,595 on Amazon! ;)
 
I don't entirely disagree with what you're saying here. But, I do think what you've written makes some big leaps and also may show a little of the correlation doesn't imply causation error in logic.

There'a big difference between photo books and photographic prints. The markets (buyers) are very different.

I do agree that photo books have, for a long time, been collectible. But outside of Japan they have been (and I think still are) seen traditionally as secondary to prints.

In the example you provide, the question that begs asking is was interest in the book a direct outcome of the limited run? And, if so, where's the breaking point? 1K copies? 2, 3, 4? Unknown.

The second question is, how responsible was the limited book (assuming you believe the limited book run was directly responsible for interest in the book) for increased interest/exposure in the artist?


RichC said:
Limited editions are crucial to artists. Traditionally, this was associated with printmaking (as only a finite number of prints can be made before the block wears out), but with mechanical processes such as photography, artificial limits are imposed on the number of copies of an artwork.

Today, the photobook is increasingly important to photographers as an art object in its own right. As such, it, like prints, is now often produced as a limited edition.

For most artists, the primary aim of limited editions is to make the artist more widely known by:

• increasing sales - scarcity encourages collectors to buy early
• increasing recognition - scarcity encourages interest in the artist's work.

This is a virtuous circle, each of the above elements driving the other: by limiting the supply of their work, the artist aims to increase both the appreciation and sales of their artwork in general.

Assuming initial breakthrough, i.e. people notice the photographer in the first instance, the net result is an ongoing rise in recognition and sales for the now established artist.

Regarding your comment about copies being "scalped off" at high prices and that the artist doesn't benefit: I wholly disagree. Most artists are entirely happy with this because they do benefit from the secondary market. Prints by some photographers (e.g. Rhine II by Gursky) sell for millions, and it has been said the artist gains nothing in such cases. But that's not true, although the artist doesn't of course get a cut of these sales, the collectibility of the work feeds into the aforementioned virtuous circle - so the artist's reputation gathers further momentum along with interest in their other work (which they can sell at higher prices).
Case study: The Afronauts by Christine de Middel
In 2011, the photographer Christine de Middel published a book of her project The Afronauts - a whimsical exploration of a long-forgotten 1964 Zambian space programme in which Africa would be the first nation to send man to the moon (using a giant catapult!).

I thought the book was brilliant, and bought a signed copy from her for £40.

I wasn't the only one to be captivated by the book, and soon it was being talked about everywhere, with articles and interviews in national newspapers, etc. The project later became one of the four finalists for the one of the premier contemporary photography awards: the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize.

De Middel had self-published The Afronauts book in a limited edition of 1000, and was adamant that there would be no reprints. As her project became more widely known, this decision paid off, and the book became highly sought after, which in itself created further interest in de Middel. Unsigned copies now sell for about $2000, and signed copies for more (there's one on Amazon for $3400), and prices are still creeping upward.

The Afronauts made de Middel widely known in contemporary photography circles - hugely more so than before. The meteoric rise of her project was due in large part to her decision to make the book a limited edition.

De Middel is aware that there is still huge interest in her book, and that it is unaffordable to most. She still refuses to reprint because that would damage her reputation. However, to ensure her work is seen as widely as possible while not alienating collectors, she has made a cheap iPad app of the book available. She has also a sanctioned a free PDF of the book.​
Click to expand...
 
FA Limited said:
that's a very thorough explanation there RichC thank you
there's much to learn about the art world :cool:

i would have never known about this photographer if it weren't for the threads about how hard it was to buy the book, but then again it's unlikely that i would ever buy a print either :eek:.
Click to expand...

I can't believe how gassed up I am over a book. I read this thread two days ago, and thought "big deal, a book". I took a look at the video by Parke and thought "meh" , so what?

So why must I have it now? In order to not be left out. I ordered from a book store that had plenty of copies not long ago but now is on back order.

I guess many people here think the same.
 
Paddy C said:
In the example you provide, the question that begs asking is was interest in the book a direct outcome of the limited run? And, if so, where's the breaking point? 1K copies? 2, 3, 4? Unknown.

The second question is, how responsible was the limited book (assuming you believe the limited book run was directly responsible for interest in the book) for increased interest/exposure in the artist?
Click to expand...

if thinking about it from an economic sense, let's say Trent Parke makes $10 a book (I mean Amazon had it for ~$30 and I know Magnum did this weird price stepping thing) and 1000 books, that's $10,000. although not insignificant it's not like he is pumping out books left right and center so the purpose of publishing the book cannot strictly be for profit. it definitely gives more credence to RichC's point that the publications are more of a marketing exercise.

for a new artist it does seem like an extremely calculated risk to do limited editions.
 
Thardy said:
I can't believe how gassed up I am over a book. I read this thread two days ago, and thought "big deal, a book". I took a look at the video by Parke and thought "meh" , so what?

So why must I have it now? In order to not be left out. I ordered from a book store that had plenty of copies not long ago but now is on back order.

I guess many people here think the same.
Click to expand...

I did the same thing, except for one difference. I watched a documentary on Netflix called "How to Make a Book with Steidl" and it shows the great length that publisher goes through to make a product.

Considering it's a one-off by one of the prominent photographers of this generation, it's easy to see why everybody would want a piece.

This split run is a pretty genius move - the first bit drives up the interest and scarcity while the second half cashes in. In the end though, it'll still be somewhat of a rare piece.
 
Follow up: The book arrived two days ago from Powells.com. Great book, great price. But I checked just now before writing this entry, and it's already out-of-stock again.
 
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