On Wednesday Evening in New York, the Association of International Art Photography Dealers celebrated the opening of the 32nd edition of their members Photography Show. This years opening supported the non-profit group, inMotion, which provides legal aid to low-income woman.

Although I haven’t been to all 32 shows, the ones I have attended have been some of the most entertaining hours I have spent looking at photographs. Each year I have discovered at least one older photographer whose work I have not seen before, have seen new photographs (both wonderful and ordinary) as well as the “greatest hits” by people whose work I know and love, work by the next generation of photographers, and last but by no means least, have renewed old friendships and made new ones among the dealers from all over the world that come to New York for this wonderful show.

Each year there are many, many photographs that I would love to own, but there is always one that is so extraordinary and unique that I go back to it many times as I walk around the New York Armory. Last year it was a wonderful contact print by Tina Modotti, at Throckmorton Fine Art, of a stand of bamboo, and priced at $500,000.00. This year it was a print by Tina’s photographic mentor and lover, Edward Weston, at Gitterman Gallery, taken in Ohio of a factory and priced at $300,000.00. You can’t accuse me of having cheap taste.

Bob McNeely