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Is Photography Art?
Ok so I was having a conversation with two photographers yesturday and we got into a discusion on whether photography is really art. You know comparing to Van Gogh, Michelangelo etc. Do you think it is? Personally I do think so. It is a different form that yes Van Gogh and what not but I still think it is. Another topic was how do you define "fine art Photography" I couldn't quite put the it into words. How would you describe it? Brittni Lynn May 17 06 02:36 pm Link Some is art. The rest is craft. May 17 06 02:38 pm Link Ticking....?!?!?!?! Does anyone else hear that ticking???? *tick... tick... tick...* ! May 17 06 02:39 pm Link Ok I can agree with that. May 17 06 02:39 pm Link May 17 06 02:40 pm Link May 17 06 02:40 pm Link Some is art, some is craft, some is the recording of events or places, and very much is schlock. -Don May 17 06 02:41 pm Link You're asking an objective question to a subjective audience. Art in any form is subjective, therefore photographers and models can't be objective May 17 06 02:43 pm Link D. Brian Nelson wrote: Yes. However, that is true for all the arts. I believe photography is an artistic media, and that talented artists can use photography as a means to make art. I also think that there are a lot of oil painters that I would not call artists. Schlock dominates in every creative field. May 17 06 02:44 pm Link Eric S. wrote: Well said ERic. I think we are all driven to make our crafts art... May 17 06 02:45 pm Link Well I was having a great convo w a great photographer and was shocked to hear that he doesn't think its art at all. thats why I was curious as to what everyone else thinks. I think some of it is. And like they said before craft as well. Mind you, i dont think all of it is. May 17 06 02:45 pm Link It can be, anything can be art,really. Because the definition is subjective. But yes, photography is displayed in many galleries.Some of my work is in an exhibit right now and I have another next month. Yet there have been a few I have shown my art portfolio to and was told that photography is too new of an unprovenmedium to be considered art.Oe of the curators who told me this, I later found out was a photographer himself and displays his photography in various galleries and does not like competition. Therefore he will not display photography in his gallery. I was reading in one of the handful of fine art photography magazines I subscribe to that there recently was a photography which sold for just under 3 million dollars,too. May 17 06 02:45 pm Link yes, photography is art. May 17 06 02:46 pm Link Tick. Tick.... May 17 06 02:48 pm Link Is photography art? I think it can be, or at least has the potential to be just as I think some paintings are simply "craft" and not art at all but just a by the numbers use of the medium to record something. Fine Art Photography - to mis-quote an oft used statement of how to define something, "I can't put it into words or define strict boundries on it, but I'll know it when I see it". May 17 06 02:48 pm Link Brittni Lynn wrote: Usually the photographers who do not think it is art do not do any photography with art in mind when they make the photograph, some do it purely for money. So, I can see many photographers saying what he said. May 17 06 02:48 pm Link Glamour Boulevard wrote: Ok well I kinda understand now. May 17 06 02:50 pm Link WG Rowland wrote: BAM!!!!!!!!! May 17 06 02:50 pm Link Just because someone puts paint on a canvas doesn't mean it's a painting it's the knowledge that is used in creating the image that makes it "art" the same is true for photography I don't buy the argument that a photo taken for commercial purposes can't be art There are a number of illustrations that are the equal to or better than a great many prominent paintings May 17 06 02:52 pm Link Yes Photography is one of many arts ... painting, drawing, sculpture, culinary, various designs are others. I also find it an art to manage a 6 figure income from it !! Several Examples of Fine art in photo are in my port. https://modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic_id=432ebb06cafc5 Please feel free to view. E L May 17 06 02:53 pm Link Brittni Lynn wrote: I call it fine art if I hang it on the wall. To get on the wall it has to please my most important customer (me). Finally, I never ask anyone if they like my pictures and I don't encourage any critique. That way I can delude myself into thinking I do exceptional work which easily qualifies as art. May 17 06 02:55 pm Link Dave Krueger wrote: thats great!! May 17 06 02:57 pm Link Dave Krueger wrote: LOL, spoken like a true artist. May 17 06 02:58 pm Link "The function of art is to provide what life does not." - Tom Robbins Photography crosses from a skill into an art when it transcends depiction and becomes creation, i.e if it contains a visual lyricism that could only exist as the result of synthesis between the subject and the manner in which the image is captured. If a photo's main draw is that someone was there with a camera when something interesting happened, then it isn't art, though it may still be a great photo. To me, this includes most 'look at how hot this woman is" photographs. technique + interesting subject = good photo technique + interesting subject + eye + idea = ART! May 17 06 03:03 pm Link Niesha Studio wrote: very nicely put ! May 17 06 03:05 pm Link This might seem like a shameless plug, but here is my art photography site, still in progress of being made but it is up and running. I am adding and removing things here and there. Some of these prints are in an exhibit right now, from still life to nudes. some 18+(according to MM rules anyway) http://www.primallens.com I also read somewhere that, in the state of California anyway,the term fine art photograph/print is actually determined by price of the piece. I believe it was said to be $125 and up. May 17 06 03:06 pm Link D. Brian Nelson wrote: Hahahahahahah dammmm Don that was good why do I find that word so amusing now? *my laugh of the day* May 17 06 03:09 pm Link ~Krista~ wrote: Damn, it went off prematurely.... May 17 06 03:11 pm Link It might be art if a gallery will show it or a critic will review it. -D P.S. Or it might be schlock even then. P.P.S. Too often people want their stuff to pass for art so they don't have to otherwise justify photographing naked chicks. P.P.P.S. It's not so much whether one tries hard (to make art) as whether one succeeds, and that's mostly judged by people with money who buy the stuff, just like all other art. P.P.P.P.S. Don't forget there is such a thing as bad art. There's lots of bad art. May 17 06 03:12 pm Link I dont think photography is specifically art, photography is capture (ignore digital effect that are more computer graphics then photography). You can capture an artistic moment (marines raising a flag and such), you can create a n artistic moment then capture it well (art phoography). But it is hard so say the photography in its self is art. I think if well view photography as the craft of capturing a scene and art the creation of a scene we can differate the excellent craft photographt skill (not me yet) and the artistic scene creation and envisioning skill (sorta me). Although this same logic could be applied to other medians, not sure. thought on this thought? Martin IV May 17 06 03:14 pm Link Niesha Studio wrote: foot + mouth = embarrassment. May 17 06 03:14 pm Link Well, I've always said I'm a photographer because I don't have the talent to draw or paint. Photography is a "technically assisted" art form. It takes much of the same asthetic vision as drawing/painting/sculpture, etc. But realistically it is not at that level - even though as a photographer I'd like to pretend it is, purely at an ego level... John May 17 06 03:15 pm Link art is subjective and can be anything really. the only difference in things that aren't art and things that are is if it has meaning. does it have purpose to represent something? does it convey an emotion and raise questions? take for example the gates that use to be up in central park in NY. to many people those gates were huge orange things that were an eye sore to the area, although the only question they ask is why it was put there. well, that's one question at least. now the purpose for why it was put there. they are a representation of the gates of many people from many lands passing into an area they can explore and that they can call home. now why was it placed there in the winter instead of the summer? because everything would be covered in white and it white is a representation of renewal but also the representation of new beginnings. what is it's purpose? to stand out and show the world simply that we have come so far to have so many great people from so many different lands pass through a "gateway" into a place that we all call home and a place that people have passed into for great opprotunities to make something of themselves and their family name. So, back to your question, is photography art? Yes, if it has a purpose and inner meaning, otherwise it's not truely art but something pretty to look at. Same thing goes for anything on any medium. May 17 06 03:19 pm Link I guess this would depend on your train of thinking. There are traditionalists who think that anything after the 1920's (Modern Art, Pop Art...etc) is not art. There some modern artists that think that digital medium, whether it be graphic design, computer animation...etc is not art. I feel that almost anything can be art if it is the creator is able to create an image that expresses a feeling of emotion or is able to enlighten the viewer to an aspect or side of the world around them. Be it photography, finger painting, smearing crude oil on canvas....etc. Crude oil is not art....paint is not art.....cotton is not art......they are merely tools. You can make a t-shirt or a gallon of gasoline with them....or you can make a painting or a woven wall hanging....same with a camera. You can take a family snapshot or insurance claim picture....or you can capture an artistic image. May 17 06 03:20 pm Link It is art if done by an artist May 17 06 03:25 pm Link Of course it is. May 17 06 03:29 pm Link Q: Is a urinal art? A: Sometimes Q: Is photography art? A: Sometimes mjr. May 17 06 03:31 pm Link Marcus J. Ranum wrote: And by reflection: May 17 06 03:34 pm Link Don, Is the work of WeeGee or Roxanne Lowit "art" or "craft"? Hmmm. Funny enough, I took a class in college called Philosophy of Art. For our final exam, I seriously considered turning in my exam paper with nothing but a stick figure on it. May 17 06 03:37 pm Link WG Rowland wrote: You forgot the ketchup- May 17 06 03:45 pm Link |