Problems of photography - is it art?

August 10, 2009 9:55 PM | Related Categories: iPhone,Photography

I thought over the next week or two I would post some stuff about what I call the problems of photography. Whether these are problems as such, I'm not sure, but I just want to talk about stuff. First of all, this photo is not part of the discussion - it's just here as decoration - hmmm, maybe that's already a problem.......

Before I start I want to get rid of that old chestnut - "Is Photography Art?" - or should it be "Are Photographs Works of Art?" Already you can see the problem......

But just to lay it rest, this old question is a complete non-starter. Why? Well nowadays anything can be regarded as art - if it has a capital "A" it's maybe worth more money - but given this situation it is meaningless to ask if photographs "are" art - of course they can be. Is it important? No.

Not an original thought, but if someone shows you a work of art, it might be better to ask "Is it Photography?"

UPDATE: I should also mention that we need to consider "is all photography art" or are there only some photographs that get elevated to that position. In the same way we need to consider are all drawings and paintings art....... etc etc, Best not to bother. Art has worn itself out.....

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You lost me around the beginning bit.... photography is art IMHO when the result becomes more than the photograph itself. The tweaks, the changes, the contrasts, colours etc etc... once these things change the picture so that it is no longer the reality of what happened or what was seen, then it may be art... HDR for instance... I think is art... street photography - that is real photography (whether titled or not :))) .... I recently saw a photographers blog who specifically stated he was an artist and not a photographer. BUT he was subscribed to all the photographer sites. I guess he wanted his cake and to eat it too... he knew he was an artist but thought he could submit his art as photography... I thought he was a fraud... he "painted" some pretty pictures but no matter what, I think that even my eyes did not see so many contrasts and textures!
# Posted By Sean | 8/10/09 10:00 PM
Sorry one other thing... photography is "what is"... art is "what I saw in my mind and my interpretation thereof"... sorry not categorically obviously... my thoughts on this momumental discussion!
# Posted By Sean | 8/10/09 10:01 PM
Can you tell me where I can see a photo that you consider "art"?
# Posted By freefalling | 8/10/09 11:39 PM
FF - I'm not falling for that one! But if you have a peek at the next post you might get an idea...
# Posted By richard | 8/11/09 7:37 AM
Sean - normally when I think about photography's relationship with art it's in a broader sense than the pictorial. I didn't really want to get involved in the "is it art?" debate, but I think your own criteria has a fundamental difficulty. At what point do you draw the line underneath the tweaking or modification? You see, for me that has already begun when you frame the photo, or move position, or decide to include/exclude this or that. You are already consciously editing reality.

I'm more interested in trying to understand what is the essence of photography in itself, what makes it stand out from the "community of iages" and when that starts to get blurred or lost altogether.
# Posted By richard | 8/11/09 7:46 AM
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