Is a photographer an artist?

[Dusty Negative]

Ich bin ein berliner!

Jelly, or just sugar-coated?

 

[lecarp]

Some are, more are not. If you feel the need to ask, most likely you're in the later category.

 

[jtk]

He's not an artist if he's dead, and neither is she.

 

[awty]

Ich bin ein berliner!

Ha!
Love it that the discussion is pointless to the topic.....or maybe it has a deeper meaning.

 

[CMoore]

Like a lot of things in life, it is not up to the individual to decide.

Claiming to "Be An Artist" is like claiming to be a Hero, or a Muse, or a Saint or a Mentor.
Or conversely, claiming NOT to be a criminal, gritter, cheat or Liar.
YOU do not have the right to say..............."I am not an A-Hole"............that judgement is reserved for the society that you are part of.

What you ARE is a ...............dentist, photographer, carpenter, auto mechanic, truck driver, musician, actor, mattress salesman, bar tender, etc etc etc.

Society will decide if you ARE an Artist or NOT an A-hole.

 

[radiant]

Everyone creating art is an an artist.

Is your photography art?

"Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas." (Wikipedia)

 

[radiant]

Maybe the real question is, are you a gatekeeper?

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Gatekeeping

 

[Vaughn]

Who came first, the gatecrasher or the gatekeeper? And who set up the gate in the first place?

Is there a complete list somewhere of people recognized by society as being artists? Can one fall off the list? Are there rankings? Are dollar signs attached?
Since an artist makes art and thus a non-artist must makes non-art, is the junk an artist made before s/he got recognized and became an artist still junk...or does it magically transform itself into art?
One of the many qualities of an artist is to be self-aware -- how can we ask them not to be aware that they are artists?

Being an artist is a lot about how one lives their life. Lots of variety...

 

[radiant]

Since an artist makes art and thus a non-artists makes non-art, is the junk an artist made before s/he got recognized and became an artist still junk...or does it magically transform itself into art?

Junk? You mean the art the artist has made before coming famous?

If this isn't discussion to watch for gatekeeping, then what is.

 

[markbau]

Who cares? They're just words.

 

[Dusty Negative]

Who cares? They're just words.

Well, we don’t use pictographs, so words is all we got.

 

[ic-racer]

My Master’s Degree in Fine Arts was through the Art Department, not the Photography Department, but I still call myself a photographer.

 

[gone]

What happened? I looked at the first page of this thread, and it was all in German (I think). Great, I can't get caught up in what is probably another crazy thread, this was my first thought. Then I skip to this page and it's in English (I guess, I'm not sure of anything these days). Oh well.

Anyway, about the question, some are, and some aren't.

 

[markjwyatt]

What happened? I looked at the first page of this thread, and it was all in German (I think). Great, I can't get caught up in what is probably another crazy thread, this was my first thought. Then I skip to this page and it's in English (I guess, I'm not sure of anything these days). Oh well.

Anyway, about the question, some are, and some aren't.

Looks like Dutch not Deutsch.

 

[juan]

APUG used to have sections in several languages.

 

[radiant]

Looks like Dutch not Deutsch.

It is danish.

 

[Sirius Glass]

It is danish.

I will have mine with tea, thank you.

 

[Saganich]

Menos' Paradox, The artist makes the work and the work makes the artist..'What art is can be gathered from a comparative examination of actual artworks. But how are we to be certain that we are indeed basing such an examination on artworks if we do not know beforehand what art is?' (Heidegger Basic Writings, ‘The Origin of the Work of Art’, p. 144)...A photographer is an artist if what he makes is art...this suggests 'art' itself has an origin outside both the work and the artist. Is a Bach manuscript in the hands of a child, or in a world without musicians a work of art? No, the thing itself needs a world in which to be actualized or freed to be what it is. If it's 'art', that freedom of being unconseals that which was hidden in our world. The work as a thing shows a truth about a world that was previously missing, and as a proposition, it will have a general agreement. This thing is now a work of art. As we know a photograph seeks to do this as much as a painting, an etching, or a tapestry, etc. The subjectivity in art comes from the understanding (or lack thereof) of what is unconcealed in the world and from worlds being experientially dissimilar to one another.

 

[mohmad khatab]

The real practical reality on the ground says
(Very little is a photographer an artist.)

 

[faberryman]

Menos' Paradox, The artist makes the work and the work makes the artist..'What art is can be gathered from a comparative examination of actual artworks. But how are we to be certain that we are indeed basing such an examination on artworks if we do not know beforehand what art is?' (Heidegger Basic Writings, ‘The Origin of the Work of Art’, p. 144)...A photographer is an artist if what he makes is art...this suggests 'art' itself has an origin outside both the work and the artist. Is a Bach manuscript in the hands of a child, or in a world without musicians a work of art? No, the thing itself needs a world in which to be actualized or freed to be what it is. If it's 'art', that freedom of being unconseals that which was hidden in our world. The work as a thing shows a truth about a world that was previously missing, and as a proposition, it will have a general agreement. This thing is now a work of art. As we know a photograph seeks to do this as much as a painting, an etching, or a tapestry, etc. The subjectivity in art comes from the understanding (or lack thereof) of what is unconcealed in the world and from worlds being experientially dissimilar to one another.

Oh great, now we've got the phenomenologists involved. Abandon hope all ye who enter here.

 

[markjwyatt]

It is danish.

Should have looked more closely... "så sig til, så kan jeg holde øje"
Initial thought was 'could also be Scandanavian..." Dansk it

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Art is a matter of intent - if someone intends to make art via whatever medium they choose, they're an artist. The QUALITY of said art, however, will be determined by a jury of their contemporaries, and re-adjudicated periodically through time by successive juries and cultures.

 

[Vaughn]

Junk? You mean the art the artist has made before coming famous?

If this isn't discussion to watch for gatekeeping, then what is.

Does one need fame to qualify as an artist, too?

But yeah, the stuff (art) the artist made before s/he was officially recognized as an artist (fame or no fame). All pretty silly, but in an interesting way. But you are correct -- major gate-keeping going on...got to keep out the riff-raff and pretenders. Fortunately that only encourages them and they still make art anyway.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

When I was studying art, us "real artists" used to mock all the photo students when they were out and about with their K1000's, and Seagull cameras. " There go all the ones who can't draw!" (even though a couple of them I knew and could paint like there was no tomorrow!) I'm glad I picked up that banged up K1000 at a pawn job downtown Victoria. Photographers CAN be artists.

 

[Vaughn]

We ran two to three beginning photo classes a quarter, 24 students each. Mostly non-art majors looking for an easy fun non-academic class...and they had their Dad's old camera. Little did they know the work required and that they were trapped an art-based program where technique serves the art, and good craft will just get you a passing grade. The darkroom on the evenings before critiques was nuts. Our three beginning classes filtered into two intermediate classes per quarter -- and that into one advanced class per quarter where the art majors usually out-numbered the non-art majors (like me). And always interesting to have non-photo art majors take photo classes -- great for taking their images out of that tight and tidy little rectangle.