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Can news photos be sold for a good price?

Duan thinks the Chinese photography market has been uneasy in recent years. Many people rest on the same hope of earning a lot of money from selling photos, which has impacted the market in China. Duan said, "Quite a few news photographers have turned to the art market now. They shoot what can be accepted by the market. The topics of their works are similar and the uniqueness disappears. Pure artistic photography can't solve social problems, but news photos must face reality." Likewise, Chen is also opposed to commercialized news photography. To him, "the soul of a news photo is its social value, not its commercial value."

Wang Qingsong's "Forum" is a posed photograph to point out the irony of a social situation. It belongs to conceptual photography. [sohu.com]

However, the organizers of the festival will invite some photographers who are good at selling their works. One of them is Wang Qingsong, whose conceptual photography photos have been sold for very high prices. His "Forum" photo is now being exhibited at the festival. In the picture, dozens of fake reporters point microphones at a wooden-faced speaker. A board with the saying, "Rebuild Modern Civilization Forum" stands behind him. This work is a satire on the popularity of forums in today's China. "In my opinion, Wang's works are not pure news photos. They are more like contemporary art," Chen commented.

Duan pointed out that in China, news photos are seldom collected by individuals. Most photos in the industry are from famous photographers, such as McCullin. The photos are limited editions and each has a restricted number available to the public.

Lu Guang is one of the few money-making Chinese news photographers. His series of "Eyes on China: Pollution" won him fame. "He spent a year traveling more than 7,000 miles by motorcycle to shoot all kinds of dump sites around Beijing, which is more shocking than a long documentary coverage," Chen said. The price of his work rocketed overnight after he won a photography award.

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