Images Old and New at Photo L.A.

Billed as the largest exhibition and sale of vintage and contemporary photography in the West, Photo L.A. will take place at Butterfield & Butterfield, 7601 Sunset Blvd., Friday through next Sunday. About 40 galleries and private dealers from Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Washington and a dozen other cities will display their wares at the annual fair, now in its sixth year.

Among the 3,000 works on view, visitors will find everything from 19th century photographic experiments to classic 20th century images and the latest in photo-based art. The Etherton Gallery of Tucson will display photogravures of Native Americans by Edward S. Curtis; Manhattan’s Laurence Miller Gallery will offer Helen Levitt’s New York street scenes; and the Halsted Gallery of Birmingham, Mich., will feature works by Michael Kenna, a contemporary artist known for dramatic landscapes.

A preview reception will be held Thursday from 6-9 p.m. Proceeds of the $35-a-ticket event will benefit DIFFA/Photographers+Friends United Against AIDS. Ticket holders will be entered in a raffle for a print of Marc Riboud’s photograph “Eiffel Tower Painter.” Tickets: (310) 652-6601.

Three seminars on collecting photography are planned before public hours. Denise Bethel, director of the photography department at Sotheby’s auction house, will lead the first session Friday, noon-2 p.m.; John Bennette III, a New York-based collector, will conduct a seminar Saturday, 10 a.m.-noon; and Beth Gates Warren, former vice president of photography at Sotheby’s, will wind up the program next Sunday, 10 a.m.-noon.

Tickets for individual seminars cost $45, including a three-day pass to the fair. Reservations are required: (213) 937-5482.

The fair is open Friday, 3-8 p.m.; Saturday, noon-7 p.m.; next Sunday, noon-6 p.m. Admission: $10 for one day; $15 for a three-day pass.