(embiggenable)• iPhone
(embiggenable) • iPhone
(embiggenable) • iPhone
IN A RECENT ENTRY ON T.O.P. MIKE JOHNSTON MADE a stab, re: defining the idea of "fine art photographer" and "fine art photography". All things considered, he did a reasonable job of it. That written, it got me to thinking about my own self / work....
....inasmuch as, coincidentally, I had been, one might accurately write, festering / pondering upon putting a label on my recent travel pictures. Is it art? Is it documentary-ish? Is it artful snapshots? And, ultimately, does it matter what label I put on it cuz, other than me, who cares?
AN ASIDE To set the record straight, in the dark, murky, cobweb filled recesses of my mind, I consider myself to be a "fine-art" photographer. Although, for public consumption purposes I label myself as a "simple" (humble) picture maker. That's cuz, in part, I deem it to be rather presumptuous to declare that I am a fine-art photographer cuz that implies that my pictures are "fine art". A value judgement that is best left up to the opinion of those who view my pictures. END ASIDE
Re: putting a label on my recent travel pictures. The thing that got me to thinking about the pictures I made during my recent travels came down to this: when I travel, my primary picture making intention is to make pictures of what I see. That is, to create a record of my travel experiences. Although I still attempt to make such pictures with my primary picture making aesthetic-line, shape, tonal / color values, et al in mind-it is primarily a documentary exercise of sorts in which the depicted referent is what the pictures are "about".
That "documentary" M.O. differs from that of my "fine art' picture making M.O. inasmuch as the depicted referents in those pictures are not what the pictures are "about". That is, my "fine art" are about how I see, not what I see. It could be written that I picture quotidian referents in order that the depicted referent, aka: what I see, does not "get in the way" of how I see, which, ultimately, is what my "fine art" pictures are "about".
All of that written, I guess that my little hill of beans label festering was just a tempest in my personal teapot. That's cuz, no matter what label I choose to put on myself or my pictures, the only thing that matters is the work itself.