NEW YORK IS THE LAUNCH PAD FOR A NEW SEASON of art fairs, auctions, and special events designed with collectors in mind. Starting next week with Photo New York, and culminating with The Photography Show (sponsored by AIPAD) in April, the list of art fairs and auctions has expanded along with the art market.

This year sees the New York debut of a contemporary art fair, Art (212), which runs from Thursday September 28th through Sunday October 1st, at the 69th Regiment Armory at 28th Street. Exhibitors from around the world will show established and emerging artists, with a special focus on Latino and Asian talents. The new kid on the block, Art(212) is offering free admission tonight from 6-9 p.m.

New York in October offers an array of special events for those who have the urge to collect but haven't identified their passion. For aspiring collectors, visiting the auction previews is like walking into a 3-D history of the medium. Photographs at the top three New York auction houses (Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips de Pury & Co.) cover just about all periods and styles, and offer a great opportunity to develop an educated eye.

Auction previews bring a completely different perspective to looking at pictures; on view are works for sale by many owners rather than a select group of images chosen by a curator. To the uninitiated, these seemingly random installations can be daunting in their variety and unevenness. For the strong-hearted, it's that very unevenness that offers an education you won't get anywhere else. A preview I attended a few years ago included black-and-white photographs from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among some stellar examples of mid-century modernist works by Edward Weston and the f64 group were several bad prints of important images by Walker Evans. They were probably work prints made for Evans' use in organizing an exhibit, and their iffy quality made the fineness of nearby exhibit-quality prints more readily appreciated.

Print quality is one of the key factors that determine the value of a photograph. Important auction previews will often include gelatin silver (black-and-white) prints old enough that a high percentage of silver was in the paper's emulsion; this results in prints with spectacular detail in highlight and shadow areas as well as in the middle tones. Today's enlarging paper contains less silver, making it necessary for the photographer to make a perfectly exposed and processed negative in order to produce a luscious darkroom print.

Seeing original prints made in a variety of processes is an education in itself. This fall, for example, Christie's has several images by William Eggleston, including two dye transfer prints from 1980. Visitors can compare the quality of the dye transfers and a chromogenic color print, also by Eggleston, to appreciate the depth, richness and detail of the dye transfers. This chemistry and film was discontinued by Kodak in 1993 and is now out of reach for photographers who cannot afford the cost of the materials and a trip to Germany, where the chemistry and the process are still available. Those who develop a fascination for this almost-lost color method should plan to see the upcoming show of Eliot Porter's vintage dye transfer prints at Hasted Hunt Gallery, running from October 12 - November 18.

Last but not least, auction catalogs of the Big Three are available online. An hour spent quietly viewing images before going to a preview can propel a hopeful collector to the next level of awareness: discovering an idea, an image, a motif that sparks a passion for collecting photographs.

Photo New York runs from Thursday October 5 through Sunday October 8th at Metropolitan Pavilion. Visit the website to view the select list of exhibitors and a series of seminars offering collectors opportunities to refine their approach.

Aperture, a leading publisher of books on photography, limited edition prints, and more, is hosting an all-day seminar on Sunday October 15th. Presentations by six prominent collectors, each in dialog with a curator or writer of their choosing, offer new and experienced collectors an opportunity to hear a variety of authoritative views on photography. Among the experts on hand will be Adam Weinberg (Whitney Museum of American Art), Winston Naef (Getty Museum), Alison Nordstrom (George Eastman House), W.M. Hunt (Hasted Hunt Gallery), Vince Aletti (New Yorker), and Lesley Martin (Aperture).

With the world record sale of a contemporary photograph last November at Christie's (Untitled [Cowboy] 1989, by Richard Prince, which went for $1,248,000), the Fall 2006 photography auctions promise to bring even more excitement to the art of collecting. The more than 350 lots at Christie's include works from the early days of the medium until now, including a portrait of Andy Warhol by Robert Mapplethorpe (above - estimate: $200,000 to $300,000), and a 1950 platinum print fashion image by Irving Penn, with a similarly high estimate. Viewing: October 14-17. Auction: October 17, 18.

High points from Sotheby's fall catalog include Ansel Adams, Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico (estimate: $150,000 to $250,000); Edward Weston, Study of a Nude, 1922 (platinum print, estimate: $250,000 to $350,000) and Diane Arbus, Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey (estimate: $120,000 to $180,00). Viewing: October 11-16. Auction: October 17.

Phillips de Pury & Company's catalog leans more toward contemporary works, with notable celebrity and fashion portraits by Annie Liebowitz, Helmut Newton and Richard Avedon, and images by hot-topic photographers Hellen Van Meene, Rineke Dijkstra, and Wolfgang Tillmans. The list of 347 items is well rounded and covers many important 20th century figures.
Viewing: October 11-18. Auction: October 18, 19.

For event details, please check websites.

Photo: Andy Warhol, 1987 by Robert Mapplethorpe © Christie's Images Ltd. 2006.