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Thread: When is a photo one's own art?

  1. #1

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    When is a photo one's own art?

    Lately, I see a lot of "art" done by photographers using very fancy equipment or processes. Sure, it's great to see nice work, however more and more it seems that some photographers are doing a simplistic recording of another person's artwork in their books.

    In one sense, recording things around us or in our lives is surely part of the art in photography, especially when there is at least something special that the photographer brings to it. What bothers me is seeing people record the following in a very straightforward manner and then sell it or present it as their own "art" creation:

    photos of tatoos, where the tatoos are the prinicpal / sole subject.
    photos of a building, where the building is the only subject, presented in an plain manner
    photos of objects that are not in an artistic setting/composition, with plain light
    photos where a billboard makes the statement and is really the sole subject

    I would make an exception for recording nature or found art, or makeing statements
    through the use of one or more found objects, or taking us to a viewpoint or time point
    that we might not visit perhaps. A whole context of things, where the photo is about
    that context is fine with me too - for example, a cityscape at a particular time.

    It's an important and legitimate part of photography to record/document things, I'm not
    knocking that, however when the photographer puts it up as his or her great art, I'm
    bothered by it somehow. If I snapped a shot of a famous scupture, by itself, in isolation
    from anything else, I don't think I'd be pushing it as my art.

    It's a gray area at times Where do YOU draw the line on it?

  2. #2
    Kirk Gittings's Avatar
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    When is a photo one's own art?

    To risk being over simplistic......

    Much of the art of "straight" photography is in the simple act of pointing. Fine printing, technical mastery, color vs. black and white etc. are a function of the expression of emotion or thoughts related to that pointing.
    Thanks,
    Kirk

    at age 73:
    "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep"

  3. #3
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    When is a photo one's own art?

    Case in point: I just received a copy of Karambolage, the book of car-crash snaps by policeman Arnold Odermatt, that his film-maker son turned into an art phenomenon.

    So is it really "art"? Did Officer Odermatt have inklings of transcendence as he was making these record shots for the file, or was he just a really competent technician who happened to have a good eye in fulfilling his documentary responsibilities? I don't know, and I don't care. I appreciate the fact that the son's cleverness at playing the art-promotion game is what ultimately brought these pictures to my attention, but beyond that, all that matters is that many of them are just really good pictures, and lots of fun to look at.

  4. #4

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    When is a photo one's own art?

    Letssee,---If I changed my name to "Art" and took a really well executed photograph, then folks could say:

    "Thats really fine, Art"

    ;-)
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

  5. #5

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    When is a photo one's own art?

    Sounds a lot like what Walker Evans did and he's considered one of the great photographic artists of the 20th century.
    Brian Ellis
    Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
    a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

  6. #6
    Kirk Gittings's Avatar
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    When is a photo one's own art?

    One shouldn't confuse ones personal taste in art with an attempt at defining what or what is not art. Ones personal taste merely defines for that person what is good art. For each of us there is good, bad and indifferent art. Bad art is still art.

    Architectural photography is a genre that is totally preoccupied with the interpretation of someone elses art. For me it does not become my art unless I inject enough of my vision that the resulting image is more about my visual ideas than illustrating the design intentions of my client. I know intuitively when that line is crossed and it is very exciting. At that point usually the building or fragment becomes an abstract vehicle for my own aesthetic. These personal images of architecture are usually not appreciated by my clients until they become recognised in some public venue as my art. These crossover images from modern architecture are rare for me.
    Thanks,
    Kirk

    at age 73:
    "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep"

  7. #7

    When is a photo one's own art?

    Kirk wrote:

    "Much of the art of "straight" photography is in the simple act of pointing. Fine printing, technical mastery, color vs. black and white etc. are a function of the expression of emotion or thoughts related to that pointing."

    That's one of the best explanations of straight photography I've ever read. Right to the bone.

  8. #8

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    When is a photo one's own art?

    I like what Kirk wrote. But, it doesn't include the ideas of framing and selection of perspective. (Although, some framing can be done in the darkroom.) By selection of perspective, I mean selection of camera position to achieve the best perspective. Both of these are incredibly powerful tools that may or may not be applied in an artful way. Subtle changes in either can make a big difference in the outcome. I don't think that "pointing" is all that simple.

  9. #9
    tim atherton's Avatar
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    When is a photo one's own art?

    Atget, Pointing

    As a way of beginning, one might compare the art of photography to the act of pointing. All of us, even the best-mannered of us, occasionally point, and it must be true that some of us point to more interesting facts, events, circumstances, and configurations than others....

    To note the similarity between photography and pointing seems to me useful. Surely the best of photographers have been first of all pointers-men and women whose work says: I call your attention to this pyramid, face, battlefield, pattern of nature, ephemeral juxtaposition....


    Full essay at:
    http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Museum/7101/szark1.html
    You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn

    www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog

  10. #10

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    When is a photo one's own art?

    The devil's advocate says:

    "So the Artiste finds your photograph, uses a 16x20

    view camera and then photographs it, carefully interpreting

    it to not include borders, and then makes a marvelous

    platinum print of it. Subsequently, with no credit to

    you, it appears in their latest fine art book entitled

    ‘The Meaning of Life’, by Artiste. And yes, Artiste used

    even wet plates!

    Or next, the x-ray technician whose work is technically

    superior ( and large format at that! ), publishes a set

    of unremarkable x-rays ( though technically perfect )

    as "The Fine Art Human Experience".

    And a now famous building, which is quite deliberately

    a piece of sculpture, designed more with the intent of

    it being a sculpture than say, a functional music hall

    or something like that, appears as the isolated subject

    in a great new photographer's book, with major emphasis

    only on the greatness of the photographer. The architects

    designed every possible view of it, carefully considering

    the play of light, shadow and environment.

    Thus all the photographer does is fine art no matter the

    source of content or lack of meaningful interpretation?

    ‘I shall take some fine wine and cheese to have an opening

    at my next oil change, where the technical execution

    of flowing oil, perfectly done is such an art. ‘

    Meanwhile, fine art books with reproductions of the

    fine platinum reproduction ( carefully cropped to

    exclude those nasty borders! ) of your photograph are

    selling like hotcakes, and in bookstores everywhere

    they toast the Artiste, who expresses disdain for

    the banality of your work as it is, while taking credit

    for improving it so dramatically through use of the

    black art"

    Flip side:

    Sure - art in everything, every act, every part of life

    and death. Art with or without meaning or statement,

    and the artist always the legitimate source with no

    good or bad. There is nothing but art, thus the

    artist treads on, with reckless abandon?

    It sounds like there is a defense for the art of most

    anything from what people say so far. Perhaps the issue

    is more at the moral or ethical side of it as opposed

    to the art of it?

    Any thoughts on the ethical aspects?

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