There was a palpable buzz at the inaugural Photo London at Somerset House last month (21-24 May). Collectors were enticed by top-quality works and relatively affordable price points (from low four-figure sums to a £300,000 work by William Henry Fox-Talbot, Veronica in Bloom (1840), at James Hyman Gallery).
The London gallery Edel Assanti sold its entire booth on opening day—three large works by the emerging French photographer Noémie Goudal, priced collectively at around £40,000—to a European collector. “The range of visitors was a good indication of photography's acceptance within the contemporary art context,” says the gallery’s co-founder Jeremy Epstein.