On May 1, 2006, at 11:53 PM, Paul Stenquist wrote:
As far as I know, none of the great photographers who printed limited editions destroyed their negatives. There is something intrinsically wrong with that notion. The negative or the digital original must always be preserved. All of my gallery prints are numbered prints of a limited edition. They are a far cry from fine art, but buyers want to konw that their print is not just one of many. Iif I ever sell the entire series of an image, which is highly unlikely, I will stop printing that shot. But I won't destroy the original file or negative. My best selling print, by the way, is from film. But I hope that will soon change.
Brett Weston, considered a great photographer by many, burned all of his negatives. Some others have punched holes in the negs with paper punches. A few have put X marks on them with permanent markers.
Bob
