Click to play videoNew Delhi: At a recent Sotheby's auction in New York, this photograph by Dayanita Singh went down for 12,000 US dollars. Across the continent in Paris, Anay Mann and Jeetin Sharma were among the selected Indian photographers to show their work at the Rencontres d'Arles Photography Festival.
These are signs that works of professional Indian photographers are in demand. And the demand will soon be market driven as well.
But are Indians accepting photography as a collectible art only because its gaining global visibility?
Says OSIAN's Chairperson, Neville Tuli, "There was always some connection. We still have that slight inferiority complex that first someone must get recognition outside India and then come claim fame in India. But that’s changing and is much less now than it was 10-years ago."
Most of these photographers use everyday reality as their theme.
Says photographer Anay Mann, "I chose to show what is close to my heart and say something about a point of view. I chose to show a generation in transition due to the economic changes in the '90s."
An average price range is anywhere between Rs 6,000 to Rs 3 lakh and 500 per cent increase in prices is expected in the next three years.
"It won't be so easy to buy these pictures in the future as prices will appreciate and will not be in the reach of the common man. Indian photography now is what art was 15 years ago," says Mann.
With organisations like Osian, Alkazi, Tasveer and Photoink encouraging photography, it's good news for young collectors who are keen to dig into India's booming art market by buying photographs at prices that have not yet sky rocketed.
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