I got an e-mail this morning from a New York City gallery worker who told me that if this photo were on sale in a Chelsea Gallery, he would set the price it at $1,100.  I told him (somewhat wickedly) that I’d be happy to send him the photo, but I haven’t heard back :), I didn’t know whether I wanted to slug him or kiss him.

I no longer traffic in delusions about myself. But you can buy it for a lot less than that here, on Maria’s Etsy site.

If he thought people would pay that for the picture, he would have tried to buy it and sell it, I’m sure. I am not a hot name in the photographic art world.

But still, this photo has struck the deepest chord of any photo I’ve taken in quite a while.

A woman from Tennessee wrote that she lost her husband a few months ago, and when she looks at this photo, she can hear  him speaking to her.

Wow, that is a gratifying thing for a photographer to hear.

Art photography is supposed to be dead, done in by the growing quality of smart phones and their powerful and tiny, versatile cameras. Everyone with a cell phone is a photographer now, and there are a lot of great photos out there, and they are free. It is not easy to complete with that.

But like anything else, there are no absolute generalities that apply to everything. People will buy an art photograph if it touches them. It has to be special. It’s the rare photograph that does that, and it’s usually a lucky shot, like this one.

There is no question that fewer people buy art photography – my kind, mostly – any longer. But I’ve sold more than 20 prints of this picture, and in the world of art photography, that is a best seller.

I’ve also learned a lot (thanks to Maria’s guidance, and Carolyn Conte, my printer) about how to price these pictures so that more people can afford them. Honestly, I don’t want to sell my pictures for $1,100 even if I could. Nobody but rich people would ever have one.

We only print to order. We use the best possible paper and printing equipment and the most skilled printers. We have a narrow profit margin.

I found a first-class printer, the Image Loft in Manchester, Vt, Carolyn and Sandy are both artists, they use the best paper available (just like the New York artists)  and print the photos with great care and skill.

I can make a small profit and cover my costs by charging $130 generally, but $125 in this case (I dropped a bit off for the holidays, all I could afford). For a signed art photo, that is a true bargain, although it is still a lot of money for many people.

And the idea works. If people love it, they will buy it, and they don’t need to be wealthy. That works for me.

A few of the online scolds (they are always there)  suggested that if I really want to sell the photos cheaply, I would make the prints much smaller than 8.5 x 12.5. That’s true, but that would wreck the photo for me, and Maria and my printer agree.

I am an artist when it comes to my photographs, they are art to me,  and I don’t want to ruin them to sell them. This one needs some breathing room, it is a vertical photo.

The response to the photo is deep and powerful enough that Maria wants to keep selling the photo on her Etsy Shop, and I want that also. So take a look, the photo is interesting, whether you want to buy it or not, and if like it and have any money left over from Christmas, see if you want it.

Every time I think the orders have stopped, another one comes in. I am still figuring out what the magic in this photo is all about, I know I can’t plan or decide to take a photo like that, it just happens, and it is rare.

We just ordered some more tough tubes for shipping, and we’ll keep it going as long as there is some interest. It will take about two weeks.

Whether you buy it or not,  I thank the many people who wrote me to say they love it and that it speaks to them in a powerful way. That is a kind of payment all in itself.

If it paid the bills, I’d be rich.

I’m glad to know there are some photos most cell phones can’t really take. I’m glad to know I can take a photograph that so many people will love.