The emperor’s clothes

I have just been perving at some lovely photos taken by Ansel Adams in the 1940s. People pay a lot of money for the original prints, which are virtually indistinguishable from copies. If these photos were taken today they would struggle to get into a toilet-door calendar.

Adams is collectible because he was (sort of) the first to do what he did, and I argue that the value of his prints is purely historical and hysterical. Value only exists if a lot of people agree that the subject is valuable.  And people, oddly, tend to want to agree with each other – people, in general, are very eager to please, especially when there is vested interest involved.