Signing prints question

[larkis]

I would like to know what the common practice is for photographers when signing their prints. If a picture was taken in 2000 but the print has been made in 2013, do you sign and date with the year the picture was printed on or the year it was taken on ?

Any tips would be appreciated.

[bill t.]

Don't use the date at all.  Just your signature, and if you're editioning also the x/xxx mark.  If you feel the dates are important, you can lightly pencil something like 2000/2013 on the back, of provide some sort of certificate along with the print that relates the edition number to the date information.

[larkis]

Is there a reason you have for not adding the date ? Just curious.

[JeanMichel]

Hi,
Over the years I have signed my prints variously. I used to dry-mount my print and sign the mounted print with my name, then name and year, and I would sign the overmat. Now my practice is to title and sign the print including both the taking year and print year; I also include the year, and if it is a new image taken with my digital equipment, the date the image was made, the date it was printed and the material it was printed on. That information is not meant for display -- it is or would be covered by the overmat. There are different views about the validity of indicating an edition. In my view, it had some validity when printing in the darkroom, and it no longer has any validity when printing from a digital file.
Jean-Michel

[Josh-H]

Personally, I sign with the year I made the print.

[jferrari]

Most of my clients use: © symbol, Year (current), First Name, Last Name then optional Print Name    - Jim