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This Is (Not) the Most Expensive Photo in the World

According to the press release, this one sold for "$6.5 million and ten cents."
"Standing in the Circle" by Jeff Frost, 2014, via

News broke earlier this week that photographer Peter Lik sold the world's most expensive photograph, an image known as "Phantom," for a cool $6.5 million. Reactions to the sale were, well, mixed, though perhaps our favorite response came from photographer Jeff Frost. By "pure coincidence," Frost claims to have broken Lik's record by selling the photograph "Standing in the Circle" for $6.5 million and ten cents just last week. In a "press release," he writes:

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"Near the end of the negotiation phase I made an offhand remark that I would not sell the piece to my anonymous collector unless I received 10 additional cents. Obviously I was joking, but the collector—showing his good humor—dutifully paid 6.5 million dollars and 10 cents. He even made the last zero on the check a smiley face, if you can believe that. It just so turned out that Mr. Lik was selling his piece at the exact same price. […] No one is more shocked than my team and I.” 

The photo from the press release is actually a still from Circle of Abstract Ritual, Frost's conceptual, 300,000-photo Los Angeles timelapse, released back in September. Read Frost's full press release here, and click here to watch the original film.

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This is the Most Expensive Photograph in the World