Photography: an art form that never stands still

Titled "Rhein II," the chromogenic color print face-mounted to acrylic glass was sold for $4.3 million Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011, at Christie's in New York City, setting a record for any photograph sold at auction. Like several of Gursky’s works, Rhein II is a digitally manipulated image – a factory building and some dog walkers were removed from the original photograph by a high-end version of Adobe Photoshop. Photograph: Andreas Gursky/AP

Siren Song V, 2011. Photograph: John Stezaker

Untitled from 'Beneath the Roses', 2004. Photograph: Gregory Crewdson

Cindy Sherman's Untitled Film Still, 1978. Photograph: Cindy Sherman

A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai), 1993. Photograph: Jeff Wall

Shipbreaking #13, Chittagong, Bangladesh (2000). Photograph: Edward Burtynsky

Untitled, from the series Illuminance, 2009. Photograph: Rinko Kawauchi