zarathu Loc: Bar Harbor, MDI, Maine

I started photography by taking what looked like interesting artistic photos in film.

Then I became a wedding and portrait PHOTOGRAPHER in film. Here my work started to blur into art. People never liked their photos and always wanted to look better so I had to arrange light conditions which avoided any stark looks.

After about 6 years as a wedding/portrait PHOTOGRAPHER, I was essentially burned out, and only took travel photos and photos of the kids, returning to being just a photographer.

With the advent of digital, and then increasingly complex digital editing, my photography became PHOTOGRAPHY again. And now, people look at my photos and the first thing they say after “Oh WOW!” is, “Nice Painting....Oh wait, that’s a photograph.... I wonder how he did that."

I have moved into ART. My photographs are the way I want to see the subject, not necessarily the way it is in fact. Mirrorless, focus merge, and extensive digital editing allow me to do this. And, in my mind, I became a PHOTOGRAPHER once again.

Bill_de Loc: US

Art vs Photography

They are not mutually exclusive.

Enjoyed your life history.

Bill

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Beauty is not in the eye, but in the mind, and knowing that others can't tell if PhotoShop was used.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

"My photographs are the way I want to see the subject..."

Adding to that thought, I get personal pleasure trying to apply post processing to get my image to remind me of the way I felt when I took it.

Because of that, I welcome the new tools and techniques we are getting from the post processing software suppliers. It keeps getting easier to do things like change the light and mood so the "art" gets closer to matching the "feeling".

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I don't shoot what it looks like. I process it until it looks like I want.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

It's a false dichotomy. Any medium can be art, or it can be used commercially. Photography can be art whether it is heavily processed or modified, or as realistic as possible.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Wedding photography is a contracted service. The photographer's job is to produce pictures with the content and in the style that the client wants. If what they want matches what you can produce, the relationship will be mutually beneficial and satisfying. If the photographer exercises an artistic freedom to produce something different from what he led the client to expect, they will be dissatiffied, disappointed, and, most likely, quite angry. And he just might not get paid. Without artistic freedom, you are delivering craft, not art. It is valuable and honorable, but it is still craft, not art.

The same is true for contracted product photography, architectural photography, real estate photography, or travel photography. The images may be perfectly executed and exquisitely beautiful, but they are craft, not art. They are in no way devalued because of the circumstances, but they are not art.

One of my favorite paintings in the Kimbell Museum is a portrait of a young girl outdoors on a chaise with her dog. It is art. Not because it is a painting, but because it was painted by the artist with permission, but to his own vision and expectations. He was not hired nor contracted to do the painting, and he was free to express his vision. Turns out that the parents did like the painting and ended up buying it. It has continued to be considered a work of art by the art community.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

My camera records what was there. My post processing shows what I saw

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

An artist can capture beauty with any camera. The rest of us need the best camera.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

Photography is art at the speed of light.

Real Nikon Lover Loc: Simi Valley, CA

Photography is like life... full of choices. We stand on our own each time we make the choice to photograph something and perhaps customize it to our own taste. The operative word is "our"... meaning it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Most hope our work goes along with the mainstream who would like it. But then if everyone likes it, that photo may not be that unusual and eye grabbing. Challenging ourselves and our minds to see beyond what is in front of us can lead to some fantastic photos and videos. That is done in the movie business all the time.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

If Ansel Adams was the photographer worthy of that name, he'd do a better job Straight Out Of Camera like a Real Photographer.

User ID

At first glance I cringed at your thread title, but on reading the post I now feel waaaaay sympatico. Ben Dare & Don Dat ;-)

srt101fan

Your definition of art is way too rigid. Of course "contracted photography" can produce art! If commissioned paintings can't be considered art the world's art collection would be a lot smaller.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

You are correct, if the commissioned artist is established enough to command the freedom to paint (or photograph) on his own terms. For instance, if you asked van Gogh to paint your portrait. But he would have given you a van Gogh portrait, which may or may not have been what you had in mind. It would be the same thing if you contracted Annie Leibovitz to do a photographic portrait of you. But it would be her vision of your portrait, not yours. Very few brides would hire a photographer on those terms.

This has been an ongoing discussion this year with an artist who doesn't consider photography to be art at all.