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Photo entitled "Phantom" taken by an Australian photographer Peter Leek om (Peter Lik), was sold for record $6.5 million, becoming the most expensive photograph of all time.

The work was sold to a private collector, who also bought two more works by Lik, Illusion and Eternal Moods, for $2.4 million and $1.1 million, respectively.

"Targeteveryonemy photographs are to capture the power of nature and convey it in a way that makes one feel passionate and connected to photography"Lick said.

The previous record belonged to photography "Rhine II" (Rhein II) by German photographer Andreas Gursky, which was sold in 2011 for $4.3 million. The photograph depicts the Rhine River where all extraneous details, including buildings and people, have been digitally removed.

The most expensive photographs

1. Peter Lik “Alone” (2010) $1,000,000

2. Andreas Gursky "Kuwait Stock Exchange II" (2008) $1,014,354

3. Thomas Struth "Pantheon, Rome" (1990/1992) $1,049,000

4. Edward Weston "Nautilus" (1927) $1,105,000

5. Richard Avedon "Dovima and the Elephants" (1955) $1,151,976

6. Richard Prince, untitled (Cowboy) (1989) $1,248,000

7. Alfred Stieglitz "Georgia O'Keeffe nude" (1919) $1,360,000

8. Alfred Stieglitz "Georgia O'Keeffe (hands)" (1919) $1,470,000

9. Edward Weston "Nude" (1925) $1,600,000

10. Dmitry Medvedev “Tobolsk Kremlin” (2009) $1,750,000

12. Andreas Gursky "Chicago Mercantile Exchange" (1997) $2,355,597

13. Cindy Sherman, untitled #153 (1985) $2,700,000

The most solemn and important day in the life of any person is a wedding. In order for you to have a visual memory of the event many years after the wedding, you need to organize a photo session. Hiring an expensive wedding photographer means ensuring nice pictures that will look expensive, professional, exclusive and high quality. Unfortunately, expensive photo services take a big toll on your budget. It is important to soberly evaluate the prices that a photographer sets for a wedding.

Distinctive features of expensive photographers.

The most important advantage dear photographer- this is the ability to turn an ordinary thing into a work of art. An expensive wedding photographer clearly sees the world through the camera lens and knows how to capture the desired composition. Such people take unconventional photographs, which can often be found in fashion magazines. The photographs look expensive, high quality and exclusive.

The most expensive wedding photographer never works alone. Most often, such professionals have a large team of specialists behind them, including:

• illuminator;
• filming assistant;
• visagiste;
• hair stylist;
• videographer

The services of each team member can be ordered separately.

What services does an expensive wedding photographer provide?

The most expensive wedding photographers provide both standard photo services and exclusive ones. The most important difference from the standard price lists of mid-price photographers is the cost of the services provided. Below are the prices for expensive photography services, from which you can get a rough idea of ​​the price of the services. The exact cost will be affected by the region and the “price tag” of the selected photographer.

Cost of the shooting process:

• hourly wedding photography (minimum 3 hours) - 7,000-15,000 rubles/hour;
• photography 10-12 hours - 35,000-60,000 rubles;
• photographing the entire wedding day - 65,000-100,000 rubles.

Cost of photo processing:

• Processing 100-200 photos (cropping, color correction, white balance adjustment, sharpness adjustment) - 10,000-14,000 rubles.
• Processing 600-900 photographs (cropping, color correction, white balance adjustment, sharpness adjustment) - 25,000-30,000 rubles.
• Detailed processing of 10-20 photographs (correction of skin defects, general retouching of the image) - 15,000-25,000 rubles.
• Detailed processing of 1 photo (correction of skin defects, general retouching of the image) - 2500 - 4000 rubles;

Prices for photo design:

• photo book - 10,000-15,000 rubles;
• photo album - 13,000-18,000 rubles;
• printing photos in A4 format (minimum 10 pieces) - 200-300 rubles/piece;
• Mini-book - 5000-8000 rubles;
• Slide show - 3000-6000 rubles.

Prices for additional services:

• preliminary meeting with the photographer to discuss the details of the shooting - 3000 rubles/hour;
• posing lessons - 4000 rub./hour;
• creating decor for a photo shoot - 2000-15000 rubles.

Do not doubt that an expensive wedding photographer will approach the work professionally. To order an expensive photographer for your wedding, you should leave a request on our Yuda website.

Some photographs are comparable in value to paintings by Renaissance artists. What is their value? How do they differ from the great many photos of cats, children and flowers that multiply every day on all kinds of photo sites and social networks? What makes art connoisseurs shell out incredible sums for exclusive photographs? Below is a selection of the most expensive photographs in the world today.

The photograph, taken in 1999 by Peter Lik, is called "Phantom". Its cost is estimated at 6 million 500 thousand dollars! So far this is the most expensive photograph in the world in history. Peter Leake took it while he was in Antelope Canyon, Arizona.

This photo has made the rounds on the Internet more than once. The author is German Andreas Gursky. The photo, taken in 1999, is called "Rhine II". The price of the photographic work is impressive: 4 million 338 thousand dollars. Gursky is a renowned photographer and has several photographs in his collection that have sold for millions of dollars. The photo shows the German Rhine River between dams in rainy weather. The original version featured a power plant, a passerby and a dog. The author retouched all this in Photoshop. This is one of the photographs from the Rhine series. The photograph was auctioned in 2011 at Christie's. Its first owner was the Cologne gallery of Monika Sprüt, then the work went to an unknown collector.

The work of the extravagant American photographer Cindy Sherman was made using the technique of so-called staged photographs. This is her most expensive and widely known work, made in 1981, instead of the title there is No. 96. The photo was purchased for 3 million 890 thousand dollars. The picture shows a bright girl: red hair, freckles, orange clothes. Cindy Sherman, a self-described performance artist, brings a special meaning to photography. In her opinion, this was an attempt to capture the realization of immature femininity through the innocent image of a young pretty girl. A teenager holds in his hands a piece of newspaper with dating advertisements. The photograph was sold in 2011 at Christie’s auction.

“Dead Warriors Speak” - a photograph with such an epic title, strictly speaking, is not a photograph at all. This is a masterful photo collage made by Jeff Wall in 1992 and sold at auction for $3 million, 666,500. It looks very realistic but is staged. The plot takes place in 1986 in Afghanistan. The photo shows a military ambush of Red Army soldiers, but in reality it is a dozen professional actors posing. The historicity is preserved - the characters are made up and dressed in appropriate costumes. The photograph taken in the studio was later processed by Jeff Wall in a photo editor.

In 2001–2002, Richard Prince created a photograph for a Marlboro advertisement and called it "Cowboy". In 2007, “Cowboy” was sold at auction at Christie’s for the enormous sum of 3 million 340 thousand dollars.

Andreas Gursky's insanely expensive 2001 diptych 99 Cents II depicts a moment from a day at a 99 Cent store. Like “Rhine II”, which was already mentioned above, the picture is extremely popular. Perhaps the style of photography, the insane perfectionism in organizing the goods, the spirit of consumption - all this made the work one of the most expensive in history. 99 Cents II was purchased by a collector for $3,346,456.

This photograph by Edward Steichen does not pretend to be deeply meaningful or particularly eccentric. Its uniqueness and value are determined by the fact that “Pond by Moonlight” is the first color photograph in the history of photography taken at night. Steichen made it in 1904. Now it's worth almost $3 million.

An equally popular photograph by Andreas Gursky, sold for $2 million, 355,597, is called “Chicago Board of Trade III.” It was also made in a series from 1999 to 2009. This photo is of exceptional resolution. The huge canvas print (approximately 185 x 240 cm) depicts the everyday life of the Chicago Chamber of Commerce. If you enlarge the picture, you can see the working staff, computers, and clothing down to the smallest detail. The photograph was bought for more than two million dollars in 2013.

Billy the Kid, aka Fort Sumner from New Mexico, is known to modern times from one surviving photograph. The photograph was presumably taken in 1879–1880; history has not preserved the name of the author. The unique photograph was bought by an unknown collector for 2 million 300 thousand dollars several years ago.

The photograph “Tobolsk Kremlin” went under the hammer at the “Christmas ABC” auction dedicated to charity. The cost of the work is impressive by Russian standards - 51 million rubles. ($1.7 million at the 2009 exchange rate) The uniqueness of the photograph is due to the uniqueness of the author. It was taken in 2009 by now ex-President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev from a bird's eye view during an excursion.

"Nude Exposure" by Edward Weston is an erotic photograph taken in 1925 that depicts the naked body of Tina Modotti. Weston’s beloved woman and assistant helped him create the photograph, which, according to 2008 data, is estimated at 1 million 609 thousand dollars.

In 1919, Alfred Stieglitz took a powerful photograph of the inspired hands of artist Georgia O'Keeffe. The photograph of the same name “Georgia O’Keeffe” in the winter of 2006 was sold at the famous New York auction Sotheby’s for $1 million 470 thousand.

"Georgia O'Keeffe (Nude)", Alfred Stieglitz. The photo was sold for 1 million 360 thousand dollars in February 2006 at Sotheby's auction in New York.

The cost of photographs can be explained by the fact that Alfred Stieglitz was the man who almost single-handedly “pushed” the United States into the world of art of the 20th century. Stieglitz's passionate struggle for recognition of photography as an art form was ultimately crowned with his unconditional triumph.

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16 of the most expensive photographs sold for crazy amounts of money.

One of the world's largest auction houses, Christie's, announced its half-year results, according to which sales in 2013 amounted to $3.68 billion, which is 9% more than in the same period last year. The lion's share of the profit came from the sale of photographs.

Nowadays, photography is unconditionally recognized as a full-fledged art. Photographic art has taken over positions everywhere - in museums, universities, offices, private homes. Best works outstanding masters are sold at auctions at prices comparable to prices for masterpieces of painting.

website collected a collection of the most expensive personnel sold at the world's largest auctions.

Rhine II

Andreas Gursky, 1999. Price: $4,338,500
Oddly enough, the desert landscape of the Rhine was achieved through digital photo retouching. It originally contained an image of a man with a dog in the foreground and a power plant in the background. Gursky said of this: “Paradoxically, this view of the Rhine could not have been obtained on the spot. Refinement was necessary to ensure an accurate representation of the modern river."

Dovima and elephants

, 1955. Price: $1,151,976
The name of Richard Avedon is known to every connoisseur of the art of photography. Avedon opened a new page in the world of fashion photography, freeing it from the rigid framework of conventions. But his greatest contribution to 20th-century photography was his style: black and white photographs, blinding white background, and most importantly, portraits of figures of art and politics, which turned the people posing into symbols of themselves, as the photographer himself says. For the photo “Dovima with elephants, evening dress by Dior”, made specifically for one of Richard Avedon’s exhibitions, the buyer paid a record amount of $1,151,976 at Christie’s auction in 2010.

Untitled #96

Cindy Sherman, 1981. Price: $3,890,500.
One of the most famous and expensive work Cindy Sherman. The photo shows a girl, freckled, with red hair and wearing bright orange clothes, lying on her back and looking into the distance. According to Sherman, the photograph carries deep meaning- a teenage girl, at the same time seductive and innocent, holds in her hand a piece of newspaper with dating advertisements, which means that the fragile feminine essence is looking for a way to break out.

Untitled #153

Cindy Sherman, 1985. Price: $2,770,500

An example of Cindy Sherman's work - untitled photograph #153. It depicts a dead, mud-stained woman with bluish-gray hair, glassy eyes looking up at the sky, her mouth half-open, and a bruise visible on her cheek. The photo leaves behind an eerie feeling, but, nevertheless, it was sold at auction for a seven-figure sum.

Tobolsk Kremlin

YES. Medvedev, 2009. Price: $1,725,526
Photo of the Tobolsk Kremlin taken former president Dmitry Medvedev, was sold in St. Petersburg at the “Christmas ABC” charity auction.

99 cents. Diptych

Andreas Gursky, 2001. Price: $3,346,456
Two photographs created by Andreas Gursky in 1999. The photographs, in the author's style, depict the interior of one of the 99 Cent stores. The owner of both paintings is currently Ukrainian businessman Viktor Pinchuk.

Cowboy

Richard Prince, 2001-02. Price: $3,401,000

Untitled (Cowboy)

They say dead wars

Jeff Wall, 1992 Price: $3,666,500
Jeff created his work influenced by the events in Afghanistan, but much later in time, reconstructing the entire stage in the studio. All the soldiers in the picture are guest actors, and naturalism was achieved with the help of makeup costumes and computer editing.

Georgia O'Keeffe

Alfred Stieglitz, 1919. Price: $1,360,000

The photographer was married to artist Georgia O'Keeffe, whose portraits made him famous throughout the world. The photograph was auctioned in February 2006 in New York at Sotheby’s.

Georgia O'Keeffe (hands)

Alfred Stieglitz, 1919. Price: $1,470,000

The most expensive photographs always evoke curiosity and surprise. Some of them need to be seen in galleries, while the popularity of others is completely inexplicable. What makes buyers pay such sums for photos? See for yourself.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the 15 most expensive photographs in the world.

1. “Phantom” (2014) - $6.5 million.

Australian photographer Peter Lik broke all records last December - his black-and-white photograph entitled “Phantom” was bought for $6.5 million. The same private collector, who preferred to remain anonymous, acquired two more photographs that day - “Eternal Moods” and “Illusion”. Total amount the purchase amounted to $10 million.

“The purpose of my photographs is to capture the power of nature,” says Leake. "Phantom" is a black and white version of the photo called "Ghost". It depicts Antelope Canyon (Arizona), and the “ghost” is dust swirling in a beam of light.

2. "Rhine II" (1999) - $4.3 million.

German photographer Andreas Gursky is famous for his large-format photographs of architecture and landscapes. In 1999, he took a series of six photographs of the Rhine, the largest and most famous of which was "Rhine II". “For me, this is an allegorical image of the meaning of life,” says the author. To achieve the impression of a desert landscape, he had to remove some elements from the image on the computer: the factory building, pedestrians, cyclists.

A 1.9 x 3.6 m chromogenic acrylic glass print (with a frame that increased the size of the artifact to 2.1 x 3.8 m) was sold at Christie's in 2011 for $4.3 million, buyer's identity unknown.

3. “Untitled No. 96” (1981) - $3.9 million.

The works of Cindy Sherman, famous for her provocative self-portraits, are very popular among collectors. She does not give titles to her photographs, leaving viewers the opportunity to figure out the story depicted themselves. “No. 96” is one of 12 photos in the Centerfold series, commissioned by ArtForum magazine. The heroine in the picture (of course, Sherman herself) is a teenage girl. She holds newspaper clippings of dating advertisements, symbolizing her willingness to leave childhood behind and her desire to find her man.

At one time, “No. 96,” sold at Christie’s for $3.9 million, was the most expensive photograph in the world.

4. “Dead Soldiers Conversation” (1992) - $3.6 million.

Photographer - Jeff Wall

The subtitle explains the story depicted in the photograph - "The Vision After the Ambush of the Patrol Soviet army near Mokor, Afghanistan, winter 1986." However, this is not a real-life photograph: Canadian photographer Jeff Wall (whom Andreas Gursky cited as his role model) was not in Afghanistan. The photo was created in a studio, the people in it are actors. “‘Conversation of Dead Soldiers’ is not a commentary on the Afghan war,” says the author. “I just wanted to create an image of dead soldiers talking to each other, I have no idea why.”

In 2012, again at Christie's, the photograph was sold for $3.6 million.

5. “99 cents.” Diptych" (2001) - $3.3 million.

Photographer - Andreas Gursky

One more, or rather two, works by Andreas Gursky. The two photographs that make up the diptych depict the interior of one of the stores where everything is sold for 99 cents.

Long rows filled with colorful boxes of goods, reflected in the glass ceiling, reinforce the feeling of endless consumerism in modern society.

The 2.07 x 3.37 meter print sold for $3.3 million in 2007.

6. “Lake in the Moonlight” (1904) - $2.9 million.

Photographer - Edward Steichen

The photograph, taken in 1904, shows a lake and a forest with moonlight shining through the trees. At the beginning of the 20th century, color photographs were an exceptional rarity, and the author hand-colored “Lake in the Moonlight” using the autochrome method (potato starch granules filled with paints were applied to the film different colors). To date, there are only three options for the photo. They all have their own range of shades, since each frame was painted separately.

In 2006, one of them was sold at Sotheby's for $2.9 million.

7. “Untitled No. 153” (1985) - $2.7 million.

Photographer - Cindy Sherman

As Cindy Sherman herself admitted, her main fear is to die. terrible death and photographs such as No. 153 are an attempt to reconcile oneself with it, to prepare for the unthinkable. “You don’t have to be scared and look away,” she says about her photo, “it’s not real, it’s staged, a fairy tale.”

In 2010, the almost two-meter dark photo was sold at auction for $2.7 million.

8. “Billy the Kid” (1879–1880) - $2.3 million

Photographer unknown

A photograph of the famous outlaw Billy the Kid, taken in late XIX century using the ferrotype method, was sold in 2011 to an American collector for $2.3 million. The reason for such a fabulous price is not the special artistic value of the photograph, but its uniqueness - this is the only officially confirmed photograph of Kid.

True, recently the auction house Kagin’s, Inc. announced as authentic another photograph, supposedly showing Billy the Kid playing croquet.

9. “Tobolsk Kremlin” (2009) - $1.7 million.

Photographer - Dmitry Medvedev

A photograph of the Tobolsk Kremlin taken by Dmitry Medvedev (at that time the President of the Russian Federation) was sold at the “Christmas ABC” charity auction. Usually it displays for sale paintings written by famous politicians. So, in 2009, a drawing by Vladimir Putin brought charitable foundation 37 million rubles.

Due to his busy schedule, Dmitry Medvedev did not have time to paint the picture, but suggested as an alternative a photograph of the Tobolsk landmark taken from a bird's eye view. The photo was bought for 51 million rubles.

10. “Nude” (1925) - $1.6 million.

Photographer - Edward Weston

The works of American photographer Edward Weston are characterized by very clear, sharp images, and a desire for unexpected subjects in which everyone can see something of their own. " Nudity" (one of Weston's many photographs featuring nude models) is no exception. Looking at it, you don’t immediately understand what is depicted. Maybe it's a person, or maybe it's a sculpture or an element of the landscape. The model's androgynous form further emphasizes the abstract beauty of the photo.

In 2008, at Sotheby's auction they paid $1.6 million for this work.

11. “Georgia O'Keefe. Hands" (1919) - $1.4 million.

Alfred Stieglitz had two passions in his life - photography and Georgia O'Keeffe. Throughout the 50 years of his career, he fought for society to accept photography as an art - with its own language, motives and genres. He fell in love with the artist O’Keeffe through her works, without even seeing her; He left his family for her. More than 300 of his photographs are dedicated to Georgia; eight of the nine Stieglitz photographs put up for auction depict her.

Photo “Georgia O'Keeffe. Hands” was sold in 2006 for $1.4 million, becoming the photographer’s most expensive work.

12. “Georgia O'Keeffe Nude” (1919) - $1.3 million.

Photographer - Alfred Stieglitz

Once again Alfred Stieglitz and his muse, artist Georgia O'Keeffe. One of a series of works dedicated to her naked body. At Sotheby's auction for black and white image Far from being a Georgia beauty, $1.3 million was paid in 2006.

13. “Untitled (Cowboy)” (1989) - $1.2 million.

Photographer - Richard Prince

Photographer Richard Prince's interest in art began with a job at Time, Inc., where his job was to cut articles from various magazines that the authors needed. In the end, all that was left was illustrations and advertising, page after page of nothing but images. "Cowboy" is a photograph of a photograph, a re-shot piece of advertising that embodies Prince's fascination with American archetypes. Despite its secondary nature, in 2005 “Cowboy” was sold for $1.1 million.

14. “Dovima and the Elephants” (1955) - $1.15 million.

Photographer - Richard Avedon

“His portraits defined the image American style, beauty and culture for the second half of the 20th century,” this is what they wrote about Richard Avedon. The heroine of this work is top model Dorothy Virginia Margaret Juba, better known as Dovima. In the photograph taken at the Winter Circus in Paris in 1955, Dovima is wearing black dress with a huge belt. This outfit is the first evening dress designed for Christian Dior by his new assistant, Yves Saint Laurent. In 2010, the photograph was sold at Christie's for $1.15 million.

15. “Eternal Moods” (2014) - $1.1 million.

Photographer - Peter Lik

The collection is completed by the same photographer who opened it - Peter Lik. Just as “Phantom” is a black and white version of “Ghost,” so “Eternal Moods” is a black and white version of “Eternal Beauty.” The inspiration and location for creating an unusual shot was again Antelope Canyon in Arizona. More than $1.1 million was paid for the photo by the same private collector who also bought the Phantom.

What do you think of all these photos? Tell us in the comments!