I have cleared all record of my images from the internet, and have decided to instead start selling limited edition collectable postcards.
With prices for vintage postcards going up to thousands of dollars, postcards are very collectable indeed. But there are other reasons for going the collectable postcard route. The internet has seen the photo market become saturated with content. The truly unbelievable thing is that people are giving away their photos for free. People are viewing, appreciating, and then forgetting within seconds. And now AI is harvesting that content, and producing on mass. Truly, the online photography space has lost all value.
To remedy this situation, there needs to be a move back to the physical, and a rejection of online photography galleries. By buying a limited edition collectable postcard, you get to hold a piece of art in your hands that can’t be found on the internet, and this is truly remarkable. Collectable postcards are a way to recapture the physical. To hold, to admire, and to store. And of course, to make an extravagant gift.
Perhaps this rejection of the online space is already occurring. The Guardian says that young people are moving away from smartphones, and delving into the physical. Vinyl records, analogue photography, and something called Postcrossing is becoming popular. Indeed, the Postcrossing website enables people around the world to exchange postcards, driving a new movement of collecting, and potentially trading. It is a great time to get into postcards.
There have also been a growing number of Secret Artist Postcard events, with one such event taking place in Bristol at RWA. They are extremely popular, and really add to the collectable postcard movement.
So why are collectable postcards so popular? Well, they are an accessible pathway to art collecting. Not everyone can afford to spend thousands on a print, and so collectable postcards, especially those that are of limited editions, enable collectors to build up their collections quickly and cheaply, especially if collecting contemporary art and photography.
Limited Edition Collectable Postcards from Kalimetric