This article first appeared in Personal Wealth, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on January 1, 2018 - January 7, 2018

My choice of alternative investment is photography. While paintings are the more conventional choice of art for investors, I choose photography because it is a modern art form that is characteristic of my generation — the infamous millennials.

For one, we grew up looking at photos of ourselves and of others. Photos are associated with memories. From coloured film photos to airbrushed selfies and

filtered Instagram posts, the various stages of our lives have been captured and presented to us in this medium.

That is one of the reasons I think photography is becoming popular as an alternative investment globally. Young art collectors, for instance, may prefer investing in this more current representation of their culture compared with old paintings. There are many photography fairs around the world catering to collectors. Photofairs in Shanghai and San Francisco, Photo17 in Singapore, F11 Photo Museum in Hong Kong are some examples.

Photography is also more affordable. After all, our budgets are constrained by the number of gourmet coffees we purchase, right? The reason the entry price to photography is lower is because it is an editioned art. Generally, the more editions of a print there are, the lower the price will be.

According to Photofairs, an organiser of international photography art fairs in Shanghai and San Francisco, you can buy photographic works from young artists for between US$1,500 and US$5,000. Malaysian photographer Eric Peris, who holds annual exhibitions at the Sutra Gallery, sells his works for RM1,800 to RM2,000 apiece.

Despite the affordable prices, the value of photographs can still rise to phenomenal levels. The most expensive photograph ever sold was Peter Lik’s Phantom for US$6.5 million in 2014, followed by Cindy Sherman’s Untitled #96 for US$3,890,500 and Andreas Gursky’s Rhein II at US$4,338,500, both of which were sold in 2011. This means that when I want to sell the photo — provided I pick a good one — I can probably find ready buyers at galleries and auction houses.

The criteria for determining whether the photograph you own will have value in the future is the same as for any artwork — Who is the artist? What is the message behind the artwork? What are the techniques or technology used?

But one particular feature of photography that can increase its value is its ability to capture a moment in time. This may mean capturing a time gone by and never to be seen again. These photos can create a certain sense of nostalgia.

For instance, Peris showed me a picture he took of an old train in Malaysia that still had the buffet car. It was a simple black and white photograph that captured a kicap bottle, chilli bottle and pepper bottle on a table. These dining cars no longer exist. During an exhibition, someone came up to him and told him how much the photo reminded him of the past and proceeded to buy the piece!

Wei-Ling Gallery once exhibited a series of photographs by Dr K Azril

Ismail of graffiti on the walls of Pudu Jail before it was demolished. The series of photographs is hauntingly beautiful, ranging from sketches of symbolic images to scribblings of religious texts on the white walls.

Another photographer whom I am intrigued by is Ho Fan, a Hong Kong photographer who captured black and white shots of the bustling city in the 1950s. His photos transport you to a different time.

Financial returns aside, I think hanging a photograph in your living room can serve as a good conversation starter. It could be that the photograph is of a place your guest has been before or that it stirs up a particular memory.

I particularly like photographs that convey messages about the positivity in humankind or the environment. I think of that famous photo of a sailor kissing a nurse in New York at the end of World War II as a heartwarming photo, for instance. Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado is another of my favourites. He uses his photographs to promote

preservation and his photos of people living deep in the forest and mountains send chills down my spine.

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