Photography as Art
Photography of a thing is craft.
Photography of an idea is expression.
Without expression there is no art.
Ask anyone with a camera what they are photographing and 99% of the time they will answer with a thing. “I’m photographing the bear, that mountain, the sunset, my child, that building or a flower. Rarely will anyone answer that they are photographing an idea like renewal, fear, neglect, connection, joy or contradiction.
Although well crafted and slightly abstract in presentation this image is still a photograph of a canola field and sky reflected in a pond. There is not really an ‘idea’ expressed here beyond simple visual beauty. Most viewers will see this image as a simple, pretty documentary moment in time.
Photographing ideas, rather than things, takes photography one step closer towards expression and only through expression can photography become art. Of course photographing an idea can become as crafty and mechanical as photographing a thing with the result little more than a document of an idea. To move beyond documentation the expression of the idea must be a two-way communication between the creator and the viewer. The image must reflect the creative expression of the author while simultaneously allowing a viewer’s personal interpretation of the image. Two different viewers will come away with two personal and different interpretations of the authors expression of the idea. In other words, art expresses an idea from the unique viewpoint of its creator AND of the recipient.
The idea behind the making of this image was to express '“encroachment”. As the author I have my own view of what “encroachment” means and I expressed my interpretation in this image. However, viewers of this image often see something very different from my expressed intention. When there is room for personal expression in both the creation AND in the reception of the image by viewers, then the photo is approaching ‘art’.
The first step towards art is to move the photography of things. Photograph ideas but reveal these ideas through your heart and soul and you will reach the viewers hearts and souls as well.
