Pay attention to these sites if you are a collector of fine art photography, or want to become one

Collecting Fine Art Photography is easier today than it ever has been, with a plethora of web-based galleries that offer prints from renowned and emerging photographers. Since the early 2000's multiple new internet-only art galleries have emerged, and existing brick-and-mortar galleries are now offering their art collections online too.

While art has become more accessible, and the offering of art (including fine art photographic prints) for sale has become broader this way, this also means that making a selection from this enormous number of online art sites is extremely difficult.

I want to share five art sites I believe you really should follow: because they offer excellent collections of fine art photography, and/or because they offer something else that will help you build and expand your collection of fine art photography prints.

Saatchi Art

Based in Los Angeles, this internet extension of Saatchi art auctioneers is if not the largest, at least one of the world's top five largest online art providers.

Saatchi Art is a typical example of a two-way approach: artists can submit their artworks for sale, providing collectors a huge collection of art to choose from.

Saatchi also provides free art advisory services, with an art curator selecting around 30 works for you to browse through online, based on your needs and preferences.

Why should you follow Saatchi?

• the site has a huge collection of photographic art, which provides a large source to select from and the opportunity to see a broad gamut of different styles in one place;

• it offers art in a broad price range;

• it offers open edition and limited edition prints;

• artist participation is not juried or curated, but the site offers curated selections;

• the site has great background stories about art and artists;

• it offers great art-education articles;

• Saatchi Art offers free art advisory to collectors.

Disclaimer: although I am currently not selling any photographic prints through SaatchiArt, I am registered with their program with the intent to sell limited edition prints in the near future.

Blink Art

Another great site for photography collectors is Blink Art. This is a division of and linked with ADC Art Design Consultants, a Cincinnati based art consulting firm.

Blink Art is a marketing tool and sales platform for artists, providing buyers with a broad range of excellent quality artworks. Although it is built on the same concept as Saatchi Art, the threshold for artists to participate is higher because they need to be accepted by Blink Art's jury which consists of art and design professionals and the Blink Art design, production, and marketing team.

Why should you follow Blink Art?

• the site offers a large collection of photographic art;

• all artwork is curated;

• it offers art in a broad price range;

• the site is an excellent general source for art and interior design information;

• Blink Art offers art consulting through ADC Art Design Consultants.

ARTmine

This site is owned and managed by Agora Gallery in Chelsea (New York City) and as such a typical example of an internet-based art gallery and shop that is an extension of a brick-and-mortar gallery.

As a consequence, the art work on sale through ARTmine is only from artists represented by Agora.

Why should you follow ARTmine?

• the limited number of represented artists helps focusing when selecting photography prints;

• all artwork is curated, with a high quality threshold for artists to join;

• the 'Collectors Corner' blog provides great advise for starting and seasoned collectors;

• ARTmine provides a Sketchup plugin, that allows placing and using of artwork in Sketchup models. This might be of interest for collectors who work with interior designers or architects.

Artsy

This site follows a concept quite different from the previous ones. Artsy does not specifically have art from represented artists or from artists who are selling directly through their site.

While showcasing works of art, both Artsy operates as a link between prospective buyers and galleries: each page of a specific artwork displays a form to contact the gallery through which the artwork is for sale. In addition, Artsy provides links to art auctions, galleries, and art fairs.

Why should you follow Artsy?

• the site provides an immense collection of photographic art;

• it provides direct links to galleries and to 'live' art auctions;

• it has great art education articles;

• Artsy has developed the Art Genome Project: an unique way to group art according to specifications, supporting the selection tool when browsing for art.

ArtBusiness.com

This is a rather unique site when compared to the other art sites mentioned above. Although ArtBusiness.com, lead by Alan Bamberger, offers art brokering services by commission, unlike the other sources listed above, its main focus and services are not on selling art.

The main objective of ArtBusiness.com is providing advising and consulting services for collectors and artists. The main services for collectors are art appraisals and art consulting and marketing.

Why should you follow ArtBusiness.com?

• the site has an excellent and extensive repository of articles for collectors;

• because ArtBusiness.com's main objective is not selling art, it can operate as a truly independent art advisor;

• it provides good reviews of books and other tools for art collectors.

As mentioned above, these are only five of the gazillion of art sales and advisory sites currently available.

Should you explore other sites? Definitely yes!

Should you only visit online galleries and ignore brick-and-mortar galleries? Definitely not!

The traditional galleries, with their displays and wine-and-cheese openings are an important link within the infrastructure to get art seen by the public, and to get art sold. It is different to see an artwork in real life as compared to online only, and the gallery owners are an invaluable source of knowledge and advise, and I will provide some recommendations in a future post.

For now, have fun exploring the sites I recommended above and start building or expanding your collection of fine art photography prints.