Here is a paper I composed last year, thought it fits with my upcoming project:
Unordinary Perspective
By Krista Kahsen
The ideal of expressing oneself through
way of artistic activities has been popular since ancient times. Visual arts
have been most admired, some being, drawing, painting, sculpture, and
calligraphy. Applied art can contain architecture, fashion designing, jewelry
designing, wood crafts, and interior designing. There are the performing arts
where dancing, singing, theater, and music are expressed.
For years, these arts have proved the test of time and are still practiced;
traditionally, and modernly. However, in recent times, a new type of so-called
‘art’ has been born, photography. Is photography an art? This question has been
around ever since photography was invented. When debating this topic, three
matters should be observed, the medium, the art work, and the artist.
There are many different types of media that
artists use, far too many to list all, although, a few will be listed. Artists
that tend to draw, use mediums like, ink, pencils, pastels, and charcoal.
Painters use acrylic, oils, watercolors, and tempera. Each medium takes years
of practice and even more years to master. Photography, however, is just the
camera. Anyone can ‘snap a shot,’ but can the camera be used as a media? The
digital camera is a detailed piece of equipment. It takes time to learn the
different technical pieces of equipment and the processes that produce
different results for the images. There are modern connivances such as
commercial printing, computer software, and different papers to print on, to
enhance the photo. For the photographer, though, knowing how to use what is
available to them is the central ideal for their media.
The actual photograph is considered just
a mere imitation of real life that happened, by chance, to be taken at the
right time. No real thought is put into photography, because there is the issue
of the camera being between the photographer and the subject. Although, when a
photograph is taken with care and thought, it could be considered an art. “Art
lives in the tension between abstraction and description." Tension
between abstraction and description, this is a pretty good depiction of what art
is. It is the point of being abstract enough to enthrall, but descript enough
not to bore. If a photograph captivates you, pulls you in and makes you feel
like you’re there in the picture, it’s art.
Even if some photographs are art, is the
photographer an artist? Edward Weston said “photography as a creative
expression -- or what you will -- must be 'seeing' plus: seeing alone would
mean factual recording -- the illustrator of catalogues does that. The 'plus'
is the basis of all arguments on 'what is art.’”
Anyone can ‘see’ a subject and take a picture of it, it’s could almost be
natural. However, a photographer sees it in specific ways, and that is where
the artistry comes from. In art, there is a personal response to the subject
that the artist is working off of. A photograph is not merely a imitation of
real life, but a personal response being captured in a way of ‘seeing plus.’
Taking a photograph is not seeing and shooting. But more so, understanding the
subject, and then captivating a unique response in a single image.
Artists,
who stay with the idea that photographers are not artists, are just stating that
having the camera between the photographer and the subject is not art, just
merely technology. I seem to differ. The camera is a wonderful media that has
been critically designed to fascinate the world with personal ideals presented
by the artist using the camera. The media, the art work, and the artist agree
that photography is indeed an art. The definition of art is simply this “The quality, production, expression,
or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of
more than ordinary significance.”
Good photographs, taken by artists that have mastered digital photography, are
most certainly beautifully appealing. Having an unordinary perspective of the
world, through the artistic talent of ‘seeing plus.’
The ideal of expressing oneself through
way of artistic activities has been popular since ancient times. Visual arts
have been most admired, some being, drawing, painting, sculpture, and
calligraphy. Applied art can contain architecture, fashion designing, jewelry
designing, wood crafts, and interior designing. There are the performing arts
where dancing, singing, theater, and music are expressed.
For years, these arts have proved the test of time and are still practiced;
traditionally, and modernly. However, in recent times, a new type of so-called
‘art’ has been born, photography. Is photography an art? This question has been
around ever since photography was invented. When debating this topic, three
matters should be observed, the medium, the art work, and the artist.
There are many different types of media that
artists use, far too many to list all, although, a few will be listed. Artists
that tend to draw, use mediums like, ink, pencils, pastels, and charcoal.
Painters use acrylic, oils, watercolors, and tempera. Each medium takes years
of practice and even more years to master. Photography, however, is just the
camera. Anyone can ‘snap a shot,’ but can the camera be used as a media? The
digital camera is a detailed piece of equipment. It takes time to learn the
different technical pieces of equipment and the processes that produce
different results for the images. There are modern connivances such as
commercial printing, computer software, and different papers to print on, to
enhance the photo. For the photographer, though, knowing how to use what is
available to them is the central ideal for their media.
The actual photograph is considered just
a mere imitation of real life that happened, by chance, to be taken at the
right time. No real thought is put into photography, because there is the issue
of the camera being between the photographer and the subject. Although, when a
photograph is taken with care and thought, it could be considered an art. “Art
lives in the tension between abstraction and description." Tension
between abstraction and description, this is a pretty good depiction of what art
is. It is the point of being abstract enough to enthrall, but descript enough
not to bore. If a photograph captivates you, pulls you in and makes you feel
like you’re there in the picture, it’s art.
Even if some photographs are art, is the
photographer an artist? Edward Weston said “photography as a creative
expression -- or what you will -- must be 'seeing' plus: seeing alone would
mean factual recording -- the illustrator of catalogues does that. The 'plus'
is the basis of all arguments on 'what is art.’”
Anyone can ‘see’ a subject and take a picture of it, it’s could almost be
natural. However, a photographer sees it in specific ways, and that is where
the artistry comes from. In art, there is a personal response to the subject
that the artist is working off of. A photograph is not merely a imitation of
real life, but a personal response being captured in a way of ‘seeing plus.’
Taking a photograph is not seeing and shooting. But more so, understanding the
subject, and then captivating a unique response in a single image.
Artists,
who stay with the idea that photographers are not artists, are just stating that
having the camera between the photographer and the subject is not art, just
merely technology. I seem to differ. The camera is a wonderful media that has
been critically designed to fascinate the world with personal ideals presented
by the artist using the camera. The media, the art work, and the artist agree
that photography is indeed an art. The definition of art is simply this “The quality, production, expression,
or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of
more than ordinary significance.”
Good photographs, taken by artists that have mastered digital photography, are
most certainly beautifully appealing. Having an unordinary perspective of the
world, through the artistic talent of ‘seeing plus.’
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