I had an interesting experience at the Encinitas Street Faire this past year. Very often people will enter my booth, look at my photographs and turn to me and ask, “Are you the photographer?” My answer is always, “Yes I am.”
But on this weekend a woman asked, “Are you the artist.”
I was honored and told her so. So often the relationship between photography and art is a tenuous one in many peoples’ minds. These are the people that ask if the colors are real or if I manipulate my photographs. But an artist by definition would manipulate a photograph. Why? Well, for several reasons.
Art is communication and artists have something to say. A work of art carries the personal stamp of the artist. The artist’s personal style comes through. The stronger the artist’s personal style is, the more clearly it shows in her or his art.
Art is interpretation. We think of art as being a creative process. Landscape art is challenging because it is difficult to visit an iconic location and produce a work that says something new about it. And isn’t that an important aspect of creativity – saying something new about familiar things? But a successful work of art does just that, provides a fresh look as we see something familiar through the artist’s eyes.
I like to explore this aspect of photography in my workshops, providing insight into the artistic process and how it applies to photographers.
Photography can be so many things that sometimes we lose sight of it as a powerful medium for artistic expression. And clearly, not all photography is art. But to the photographer artist, photography is an eloquent medium.
Join us on one of our photography workshops for personal attention and great photography.
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