You may be a photographer but are you an artist?

gr82bart · Mar 25, 2018

Do any of these questions matter? From an article at Lomography on the same blog:
1. Do you think about why some photos stay in the mind?
2. Are you willing to redefine your world?
3. Are you aware of visual relationships, including minute details?
4. Do you make photos that cannot be repeated?
5. Do you look within yourself for the benefit of your photography?
6. Do you push beyond the limits and confines of the mind?
7. Are you willing to face your fears?

Regards, Art

macfred · Mar 25, 2018

Joseph Beuys told us that every man is an artist - photographers not excluded ...

gr82bart said:
Do any of these questions matter?...

Not for me.

removed account4 · Mar 25, 2018

hi art

i think about all those things ...
and often ... but im not sure if i am an artist
that's for other people to figure out.
i'll be content being called someone who makes stuff...

john

Nodda Duma · Mar 25, 2018

I find I don’t have to ask myself those questions, but then again I’m not trying to make a living off of photography.

As a photographer, I reject the notion that one should strive to be an artist... smacks of elitism or at least the imposition of a duty to society.

What I do appreciate is the time and effort that goes into making a photograph. That is, not what the artists are trying to say, but how they said it.

guangong · Mar 25, 2018

A list that was obviously put together by someone who is not an artist.

Jim Jones · Mar 25, 2018

If one MUST make such a list, it should be more comprehensive than the one posted above.

Bill Burk · Mar 25, 2018

Such a short video, carries so much information from Roger Ballen about what he feels is important to be an artist.

Intesting. I pondered my fears for a moment after watching this. I'm afraid of skateboarders. I envisioned myself going to the local skatepark to ask some of the kids what trick they can do that is so stupidly simple anybody can do it... and ask them to do that trick for a photograph. Suppose it made it to a skater magazine, would they be embarrassed by a great picture of them doing something anybody who knew skateboarding would see right through... but the general public wouldn't know the difference.

(Roger Ballen designs skateboards).

Maybe I could do something like that with surfers. You can meet them on the street and not recognize them. A friend of mine reminded me of this fear because it happened to him. He told me a story after a city council meeting I attended. (I wanted to make sure the new owners of property I thought was mine wouldn't put a fence on the property line). At the same meeting, three community groups were up for a funding item on the agenda, so I got up to speak for them (since I was there anyway and I knew these people). So after the meeting the topic came up (famous people we wouldn't recognize) and Jim Fithian, a local coastside cleanup champion, told me a story about the time he was chatting with a guy who owns a small surf shop... turned out to be Jeff Clark (Mavericks).

Surfers really are friendly when you get to know them, here's a photo for the memory of John Kenny (standing in the back)... He didn't mug for the picture that's how he always looked with a million-mile wide smile. Miss him...

Front row, left to right - Don Curry (Ghost Tree), Peter Carr (Ansel Adams' apprentice) and my nephew

Not saying this shot (taken with a Kodak 35 which I messed up the rangefinder calibration on) is art. Just illustrating a fear.

Sirius Glass · Mar 25, 2018

michael_r said:
Personally I find questions 2,4,5,6,7 irrelevant.

+1

guangong said:
A list that was obviously put together by someone who is not an artist.

A list that was obviously put together by someone who does not have anything better to do.

Vaughn · Mar 25, 2018

The list is what covered in the video. The list is complete, very thoughtful, and very important information to ponder if one wishes to be an artist.

slackercrurster · Mar 25, 2018

Good to think about. But too long a list for me to run through my head when I shoot a street pix.

In short...if the outcome is uncertain and decisions have to be made, then there is art in the process. This art can be of the creative nature or the technical nature...but it is art none the less.

Vaughn · Mar 25, 2018

Be the list, slackercrurster.

Theo Sulphate · Mar 25, 2018

There used to be a column in Popular Photography called "The Hattersly Class" (I'm unsure of the spelling). I contemptuously skipped this column every month because I didn't want to read about philosophy, but rather wanted to read about equipment (the prime focus of U.S. photo magazines). Anyway, many years later, I returned to those columns and began to appreciate them. One in particular was about someone who photographed elderly people as a way with dealing with the fear of death.

faberryman · Mar 25, 2018

Theo Sulphate said:
One in particular was about someone who photographed elderly people as a way with dealing with the fear of death.

Looking at Roger Ballen's images, I would not be comforted.

Svenedin · Mar 25, 2018

I'm a scientist. I have no artistic ability whatsoever. Photographs are just interesting things to do with photons and chemistry. I'm not really that interested in the photographs at the end of it all just the taking of the photographs. A bit like what I think of cars. I am more interested in the oil and the technical aspects of the engine than driving it.

Prof_Pixel · Mar 25, 2018

After following the activity here on the Forums for about half a dozen years, and looking at photos in the Gallery, I would say that most of us here are more experimenters than artists. There is nothing wrong with that, and it doesn't mean that an experimenter can't take a great picture.

Sirius Glass · Mar 25, 2018

Prof_Pixel said:
After following the activity here on the Forums for about half a dozen years, and looking at photos in the Gallery, I would say that most of us here are more experimenters than artists. There is nothing wrong with that, and it doesn't mean that an experimenter can't take a great picture.

That is a little racy making assumptions based on what is posted rather than the ensemble of all the photographs that APUGgers took. What is posted is a small selection that are posted to show a point and therefore an unscientific sample.

flatulent1 · Mar 25, 2018

I am an artist. Just not a very good one. I don't worry about it.

faberryman · Mar 25, 2018

I think the topic is a dead end.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 25, 2018

gr82bart said:
Do any of these questions matter? From an article at Lomography on the same blog:
1. Do you think about why some photos stay in the mind?
2. Are you willing to redefine your world?
3. Are you aware of visual relationships, including minute details?
4. Do you make photos that cannot be repeated?
5. Do you look within yourself for the benefit of your photography?
6. Do you push beyond the limits and confines of the mind?
7. Are you willing to face your fears?

Regards, Art

my images are the result of my conscience effort to create a message and therefore, I call it art. If people ae willing to pay for it so they can own one of them; even better.

dpurdy · Mar 25, 2018

I am a visual artist, born that way and for good or bad can't change it. It isn't an achievement or level of success, it is just the way my brain functions.
Musing over the meanings or definitions of it is philosophy not art.
Writing articles is writing.
I would be happier and have more family and more money if I hadn't been born that way.

jim10219 · Mar 25, 2018

1. Do you think about why some photos stay in the mind?
Yes. Many things on Reddit can’t be unseen.
2. Are you willing to redefine your world?
Yes. From now on, I’m redefining Earth from a planet to a organic solar orbital space station.
3. Are you aware of visual relationships, including minute details?
Yes. I once photographed a girl whose pimple matched her lipstick.
4. Do you make photos that cannot be repeated?
Yes. I always set fire to the abandoned buildings and landscapes I photograph. It’s kind of my thing.
5. Do you look within yourself for the benefit of your photography?
Yes. But it’s mostly just blood.
6. Do you push beyond the limits and confines of the mind?
Yes. Drugs are cool.
7. Are you willing to face your fears?
Yes. I once saw a scorpion and ran away, but came back with a shoe.

Hooray! I’m an artist! Take that dad! And you said I was too weird to ever amount to anything!

slackercrurster · Mar 25, 2018

Vaughn said:
Be the list, slackercrurster.

Yes, if you can be one with your list, then it is part of your nature.

If you have to rehash the list you are just a wannabe!

1. Do you think about why some photos stay in the mind? - sometimes. I just enjoy them. If they stick round they are good to me.
2. Are you willing to redefine your world? - don't know what it means?
3. Are you aware of visual relationships, including minute details? - a little.
4. Do you make photos that cannot be repeated? - yes, all the time
5. Do you look within yourself for the benefit of your photography? - photography, art, writing, composing, poets, etc...these are what we use to make sense of our world.
6. Do you push beyond the limits and confines of the mind? - don't know? I'm not very creative. My skill is with highest level candid work.
7. Are you willing to face your fears? - yes, but as I get older am scaling back. Or I had better start building my health and endurance back up for inevitable fights that come from the style of photo I shoot.

MattKing · Mar 25, 2018

I disagree somewhat with number 4.
I think there are tremendous artistic possibilities in making photos that can be repeated.
Does the fact that I currently have two photographs on display in a gallery space that is part of an artistic photography festival make me an artist? No, but my intention to become involved in that endeavour probably matters.
Art and artists are really important. And confoundingly difficult to define. Isn't it fascinating.

Vaughn · Mar 26, 2018

The exact quote for #4 is, "If you remember that every moment is crucial and that no photograph can be repeated, then you may be an artist." Quite different than written in the list. He is saying that a photograph cannot be repeated, not that one should not make a repeat. I think this is true -- yes, one can get images that are pretty dang close, but it is about appreciating the differences...reconizing the uniqueness of each moment --this can not be repeated.

SasquatchQB · Mar 26, 2018

I've been thinking about that somewhat lately as I explore more new avenues - more specifically, about what it is about my photographs that might set them apart from anyone else's. If what I make is substantially the same as what Photographer X also does, am I making art, or just images?

You may be a photographer but are you an artist?

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