A Journal Entry

Well, it looks like I am officially calling it quits on the 365 day photo project.  At this point there is no easy way for me to catch back up, and well, I’m okay with that.  For the past month, life has taken over and I simply couldn’t stay on top of it.  Now that that’s out of the way, I will proceed to the “real” journal entry.

The other day, I asked in a Facebook status for some topic suggestions to write about as I haven’t done too much of that lately.  Two of the sugested topics were about lenses, and the other was what makes photography a form of art.  I think for now I’ll just sit on the lens topics and will talk about what makes photography a form of art. 

Bringing the topic of art up can be touchy.  That’s okay because people tend to personalize art; it always ends up meaning something a little different to each person.  That’s exactly the function that any form of art should perform.  So does this make photography an art form?  After thinking about this for the past couple of days, I would say that yes, photography is art and an art form.  Is all photography art?  The answer here is a resounding no.  But does all photography have the potential to be art?  I believe this answer is yes.

Now all that crap from the last paragraph is really all surface level exploration.  Digging deeper is what makes this topic fun to think about.  The conclusion that I came to earlier today was that it is the final image that is the piece of art.  Photography is the tool or the method to get the final product.  It is in this that I can confidently support my statments from the previous paragrah.  The camera and technique is part of the process, then there is the developing processs (whether that be digital or analogue), and then the media that the image will be displayed on.  It is the combination of all of these pieces that bring the image to a place of recognition, it is at this moment that the image/piece will either be considered art or not by the viewer.

Art is subjective and people are fickle.  One shouldn’t let the ego in the way in assuming that just because the process was “artistic” in nature, that the final product should be considered art.  Even as the artist, the photographer should judge his/her final image from the viewpoint of an observer not the creater.  If one can appreciate the image, and find a connection to the scene, then I’d venture out and say that the image is art on some level. 

I think that this is one of the reasons why I enjoy photography so much, and I wouldn’t want it to change.

Comments

[Kristelle]

Good thoughts. I enjoy reading your journals so thank you for posting.

[Jared]

Thanks Kristelle! :-)