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Photography as an art medium is not a new concept. Alfred Stieglitz epitomized it as early as 1890, and fought to establish the medium as an art form, distinct from painting, sculpting or any other visual art. Time Life's series on Photography stated, "After Alfred Stieglitz no one ever again needed to question whether photography could stand on its own as a creative art." Yet photography is still struggling for that recognition. How can photography be an art when all we have to do is press the shutter button and let the camera do its thing and record what we see. Largely we have ourselves to blame for this misconception. Much of the photography we see is the beautiful recording of our surroundings. We keep forgetting that art goes beyond the obvious. Art requires us to give meaning to our work, to express ideas, impressions, thoughts, dreams, fantasies if you wish, or make statements about the human condition. Art can be simply beautiful. But it must not always be so. Often our thoughts, angers, frustrations, disagreements with the world around us make us want to express these feelings. Yet we often fail to see the potential the camera gives us to do just that. What follows is our attempt to shed light on that artistic potential. As Degas said "Art is not what you see, but what you make others see," and photographer Ernst Haas summed up the medium thusly... "Photography is a transformation, not a reproduction." |
