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Are you an artist?
#5

Here's how I'm thinking about this:

For my first question, no, I am not an artist. I say that because I don't intend to express a creative vision with my photography, and never intend to produce Capital-A-Art when I'm taking pictures. I look for a documentary approach, rather than an aesthetic one, with the subjects that appeal to me. I would rather use my flash to reveal than illuminate.

I neither create art in other media, or live as an artist. I wrote short stories when I was in high school (which is one cliche away from a child with divorced parents writing poetry) but suffered from a crushing lack of anything to say. I've remarked before that while most photographers seem to be frustrated painters, I'm a photographer because I'm a frustrated writer. My lack of anything to say is a frustration for being a photographer, as well.

Photography seems to suffer from a lack of confidence as an art form. Nikon sells its D50 by saying 'now you can take pictures just like a pro' and shows D50 LCDs displaying artworks in a gallery. (All makers have always sold cameras this way, all the way back to 'you push the button, we do the rest'.) Photography-as-art is sold as easy and accessible, so how can it be special? Many photographers, in reaction, seem eager to set the bar very high and become extremely protective of their specialness.

I've also heard the same kind of comments about painting; the "My three year old can do that" reaction to the Colour Field Art of Mark Rothko and company comes to mind. Yet painters don't seem to agonize over every schoolchild having a watercolour set.

David Levi Strauss correctly points out that photography is not art. Photography is a medium of communication. Writing, also, is a medium of communication, and it can be used to create a sonnet or a shopping list. Similarly, a photograph can be art, or it may not be.

As to my second question, is my own photography art... I don't think so. But, as with everything in photography, ultimately it's a subjective question that's best answered by the viewer.

matthewpiers.com • @matthewpiers | robertsonphoto.blogspot.com | @thewsreviews • thewsreviews.com
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Messages In This Thread
Are you an artist? - by matthew - Feb 16, 2006, 18:21
Are you an artist? - by Petographer - Feb 16, 2006, 19:58
Are you an artist? - by muzza - Feb 16, 2006, 20:51
Are you an artist? - by wulinka - Feb 16, 2006, 20:56
Are you an artist? - by matthew - Feb 16, 2006, 21:42
Are you an artist? - by wulinka - Feb 16, 2006, 21:59
Are you an artist? - by adam - Feb 16, 2006, 22:21
Are you an artist? - by shuttertalk - Feb 17, 2006, 00:07
Are you an artist? - by Schellamo - Feb 17, 2006, 03:08
Are you an artist? - by Don Schaeffer - Feb 17, 2006, 09:06
Are you an artist? - by wulinka - Feb 17, 2006, 13:21
Are you an artist? - by Banded Drake - Feb 17, 2006, 18:01
Are you an artist? - by matthew - Feb 17, 2006, 20:53
Are you an artist? - by shellby - Feb 17, 2006, 23:40
Are you an artist? - by Zig - Feb 18, 2006, 05:31
Are you an artist? - by Banded Drake - Feb 18, 2006, 06:20
Are you an artist? - by matthew - Feb 18, 2006, 13:35
Are you an artist? - by noisynoodle - Feb 18, 2006, 13:49
Are you an artist? - by Kombisaurus - Feb 18, 2006, 23:19
Are you an artist? - by Toad - Feb 19, 2006, 00:41
Are you an artist? - by matthew - Feb 19, 2006, 10:32
Are you an artist? - by Kombisaurus - Feb 23, 2006, 00:27
Are you an artist? - by EnglishBob - Feb 23, 2006, 11:33
Are you an artist? - by shuttertalk - Feb 23, 2006, 17:41
Are you an artist? - by EnglishBob - Feb 23, 2006, 19:53
Are you an artist? - by wulinka - Feb 23, 2006, 20:56

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