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An elderly artist has asked to paint my landscape photos.
He is excellent and currently exhibiting.
I think he makes quite a few bob doing it.
He can't make it up onto the hills, so in his words i would become his legs.
He likes to paint remote area difficult to photograph, some involve climbing.
He also happens to be a customer of mine- (a professional relationship think dentist patient, solicitor client sort of thing)
It looks like it might be a joint exhibition- "from photo to canvas" him selling the paintings and me the framed photos.
He has asked me for files of the images.
Bit of a long shot, but i know there are a few photographers on here, any one entered into this sort of relationship, done anything similar.
Anyone got any observations, advice, thoughts or words or warning?
He seems very established and genuine but i have a small ammount of free floating anxiety for some reason. I don't want to be too pushy with him but also don't want to be mugged.
All insights from the singletrack world orracle greatly appreciated.
thanks
Get some kind of (semi)-formal agreement drawn up? Maybe he exhibits his paintings next to your photos or you get a % of whatever he makes on his paintings? Or you're allowed to sell your photos alongside his paintings?
Depends a bit on the paintings TBH, if it's a dreamy surrealistic view with lots of broad brush strokes then it might be quite interesting to see the original photo and his interpretation of it. On the other hand if it's going to be an exact oil painting copy of your pic then you could probably acheive much the same effect in Photoshop with half an hours work.
I guess it comes down to how much he makes (or is expecting to make) money wise out of what he does and if there's enough in it to make it worth your while beyond the professional pride that you'd get from your exhibits.
Thsnks for reply
He paints quite accurate/realistic pics
Think the plan was to have photo next to pic.
I think selling prints next to pics would be a good way forward.
Will just have to pin him down a bit.
Cheers
Your photo for £X
Your photo printed on canvas with photoshop 'painted' effect for £Y
His painting of your photo for £Z
Make sure you agree the reletive prices. Should give you a good excuse to ramp up the price of your photoshopped stuff
My advice make a formal agreement as to what you get paid, either for a one off shot ie he can make an infinite number of copies or per each reproduction.
Fwiw even though I know artists use photos as source I would not exhibit one along side another. It devalues the painter. Makes him look like he's joining up the dots.
Also worth considering is finding somewhere to exhibit your own photos as a stand alone thing. I've sold a few of mine via that route.
?
Just a suggestion. You obviously own copyright on your photos, so he has to acknowledge that fact, and then I'd change the pics to monochrome, and make them nice and dramatic, so the two interpretations are totally different, that way people have a clear choice as to which they buy. B & W lanscapes always work better in photos, or at least desaturate them and heighten contrast, and make clouds more dramatic.
do it for free, give the old bugger something to live for. fvck the money.
Thanks all.
I see what you mean RP, but he feels it adds provenance to the pics, and people will buy the print with the painting.
Monochrome might be an idea.
Had considered that MrNutt, despite what i said (and this might sound odd) i'm not overly bothered about the money.
Having them shown, credited and costs covered would be a decent reward.
or I guess i could take a painting as part payment.
And whilst i'm not overly bothered about income, if i turned a small profit (or not), i could claim photo equipment against tax (and that would be a sweet reward...)
Taking it you don't make your living from photography? If not then you don't really have anything to loose, and it could be a door opener for future work. Getting your stuff exhibited can be a real nightmare (just moved house to a completely different region and the thought of having to go back through that whole thing is giving me the fear... so I am putting it off until I have built a new portfolio of more local images!)
As people say, get an agreement or make sure you are both very clear on what has been agreed, always sours what can be a good relationship if there is a misunderstanding and one side of the relationship feels hard done by.