“One might compare the art of photography to the act of pointing. It must be true that some of us point to more interesting facts, events, circumstances, and configurations than others … the talented practitioner of the new discipline would perform with a special grace …. endowing the act not merely with intelligence, but with that quality of formal rigor that identifies a work of art, so that we would be uncertain, when remembering the adventure of the tour, how much our pleasure and sense of enlargement had come from the things pointed too and how much from a pattern created by the pointer.” ~ John Szarkowski
I HAVE COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THERE ARE, picturing genres aside, only 2 type of photographers; 1) those pointers who make pictures of–according to the well-worn advice–things they “love” or things that interest them deeply, or, 2) those pointers who make pictures simply cuz they “love” to make visually interesting-to-view objects, aka: photographic prints.
Or, think of it this way …. the #1 pointer is a documentarian–a person who creates photographs that document reality; photographs which grant a sense of pleasure from the thing pointed to. The #2 pointer is an artist–a person who creates photographs that are about some-thing other than the literally documented thing, something which grants a sense of pleasure from the pattern created by the pointer.
Another distinguishing feature that separates #1-ers from #2-ers is that #1-ers, in their picture making, tend to gravitate toward the more spectacular / dramatic things in the world whereas the #2-er, while not necessarily avoiding spectacular / dramatic things tend to gravitate toward more prosaic things in the world. The almost inevitable, universal result of that picture making dichotomy is that #1-er simply cannot fathom why anyone would make pictures of the the quotidian world–much less appreciate them–and #2-ers most often dismiss the work of the #1-ers as rather boring, cliche-ridden dreck.
And, let’s not forget one other difference: #1-ers are rather inclined to be gear-oriented, even gear obsessed in many cases. #2-ers tend to settle on a single picture making instrument that suits the way they see and stick with that.
All of the above written, I just thought I would throw it all out there for your consideration.