(Here’s a short excerpt of a talk I gave last Saturday night (6/6/09) at the reception for my one-man-show in South Pasadena, California.)
When I do art festivals and street fairs, many people enter my booth and ask me if I’m the photographer. I answer, “Yes I am.” Very rarely does someone ask me if I’m the artist.
It seems there is not a strong connection in many peoples’ minds between photography and art. That is further evidenced by another question I get a lot – “Do you manipulate that photographs?” My answer to that is, “Of course.” That’s the short answer. The longer answer is, “I approach photography from the mind set of a painter. I reserve for myself all the creative and artistic freedom a painter has.” To this they usually respond, “Oh, I get it. You’re an artist.”