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State of the ART: The Purpose of Fine Art Photography

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Photo.net member, Pete Myers, is a fine art photographer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This is the first of four installments called State of the ART. You can visit this artist and explore his captivating portfolios here.

The debate or beliefs about what makes art can be absorbing and/or tedious depending on the person holding forth. I have had many conversations in class and with other photographers about fine art photography and the changes that came about due to digital photography. Some hold that fine art photography is a product of film and darkrooms, where the more organic approach to print making is apparent, others claim this is just evidence of an interest in the craft based aspects of an earlier photography model and is not relevant to a discussion about whether an image is fine art or not.

This article by Pete Myers on Photo.net address this question, we accept that any view on this is personal and therefore open to challenge, Pete makes many extremely valid points and this article is worth reading and thinking about

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Image caption: American Grasslands Homestead—Image 4 © 2013, Peter H. Myers

For me, the purpose of fine art photography is to ennoble the beauty of what is in front of the lens. It is the photographer’s job to fortify the photograph with a clarity of view unique to his or her passion for the subject. But the image is not about the photographer; it is not about the photographer’s camera system; it is not about the photographer’s technique. The photographer is the conduit for the formation of the image, and what tools and techniques are used should invisibly support the beauty within the photograph in celebrating what is before the lens………

That full-stride moment comes when the fine art photographer simply FEELS. The rest is irrelevant. And it comes at a personal cost of gaining maturity of self that is beyond ordinary “things.” It is beyond the point of worrying about what the photographer is getting out of the process in art or reward. It is beyond the point in what others might think of the work. The photographic tool simply has become the means for the photographer to connect with the meaning of life’s truth, through beauty. What is seen through the lens is a metaphor for truth as shown through beauty. And to get there, the artist must give up all the rest. The perfect light is that which is imperfect.

So how does this all have relevance to your own personal work? For most, photography is an advanced hobby or part-time vocation as part of a very hectic life. Driving one’s passion to the limit might not be fully achievable with the time available. But nevertheless, there is a lot that can be ventured that will have immediate benefit upon the direction of your own work……….

READ MORE HERE



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