In the world we live in today it makes more sense than ever to collect vintage photographs. It is eco -friendly and in a way also related to the Slow movement. Eco friendly because you take care of something already existing, something that doesn´t have to be done over again, not having to be re-produced. It´s also about embracing and appreciating history, stopping time for a while and reflect on something now gone that belonged to the very world we still live in here and now. It can give you a sense of perspective.
The connection to the Slow movement you can say comes via how the photograph was created; photographed when and where it happened, in that very place on that particulate day – the photographer travelled to the place of the happening, the photograph was developed in the darkroom from the negative after a selection process by photographer and editor (usually) then spread globally to news agencies and newspapers, at some time ending up in the photo collection archive of the newspaper, being stored in boxes for up to 100 years, now seeing the daylight, being digitized and thus preserved for the future by us, and finally finding a new home with collectors around the world – being kept in new boxes or being framed and hung up on the wall.
In a world that is in constant flux and many times in turmoil, an old photograph with its own history is a tangible object of time, somehow miraculously saved from wars, fires, water damages, and dirt. A decreased amount are left today, and for certain vintage press photographs will be increasingly valued with each year passing. Even if you collect for other reasons than value, buying a vintage photo means you get a piece of photo journalistic art, created by a professional who was present at that special occasion on that very date, and that the picture comes with its own biography – many times revealed by the stamps and hand scribbled notes on its backside.
Niklas Blomkvist
Creative & Photography Director
IMS Vintage Photos