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09-02-2014, 03:53 PM   #46
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QuoteOriginally posted by mikeSF Quote
i generally ignore everyone around me when I am out shooting, but when I've spent a great deal of time setting up my frame and someone comes over and sets up right next to me to poach my comp, that always ticks me off. One guy even had the gall to hand me his camera and asked me to set his camera to all my settings, so he could get the same photo as me...grrrr
I've come to call them "Photo Stalkers". The most extreme example I've encountered was one lady, thought she was discreetly following me for the better part of 3 miles on a hike through Oak Creek Canyon. She did her best to look otherwise engaged and avoid eye contact, but every place I stopped to set up a shot, she stopped for a photo after I had moved on....lol

09-02-2014, 10:53 PM   #47
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QuoteOriginally posted by Dartmoor Dave Quote
It's just Sturgeon's Law in action: 98% of everything is crap.

In the pre-internet world, a photograph would only appear before the public if an editor somewhere had decided it was worth publishing in a magazine or newspaper or book. There was a filtering process that removed most of that 98% of crap before anyone got to see it.

Nowadays anyone can publish any snapshot at the press of a button, so we all have to climb the mountain of crap ourselves in search of the occasional beautiful rose at the summit. The 2% of good stuff is still out there, you just have to look for it a lot harder.
Interesting observation. I have two friends who each managed photo labs up to roughly the peak usage of film. Each saw the handwriting on the wall and changed professions. Anyway....Both have said that substantially less than ten percent of the images that passed before their eyes appeared be the result of any artistic intent. Good, bad or ugly. The vast majority of images being little different than what are found on social media sites now. Having looked through family photo albums that span 100+ years I have to say that the motivations were clearly about documenting people, events, places for social reasons just like today. The intent never art/craft and lot less narcissism. I get the impression that the prior generations were more about we than me. At least with my family.

The "good stuff"/2%+ that shows up in the family albums was clearly made with artistic intent and for most part expensive to very expensive - one great uncle used Contax I kit late 30s on - gear. Not unlike how a fair chunk, not all, of the "good stuff" we see today is made with obvious artistic intent and expensive...ish gear. I'm getting off track here....

To answer the OP? No. The only difference today is that the all shoe boxes and photo albums of yesteryear have evolved and are now only a few clicks/taps/swipes away in the cloud. Right along with the 2% that ain't crap as Dartmoor Dave points out. What part of that don't Kate Upton, Jennifer Lawrence and others just not get? Anyway...... Separate subject. :-)
09-03-2014, 08:51 AM   #48
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It all depends on what you call photography art. There's a whole lot of meanings to that...

I don't think I could ever become a photography artist. My taste in pictures is too simple - a nice subject, good light and a pleasing, vivid image. It seems that right now you either have to dip your subject in a sea of bokeh, or create average large-format pictures and then mess with them afterwards like Matthew Brandt does.



And he's named one of the most influential "30 people under 30" by Forbes magazine. If that, my friends, is photographic art, then I think I'll stick to my boring pictures.
09-03-2014, 09:06 AM   #49
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QuoteOriginally posted by ChristianRock Quote
... or create average large-format pictures and then mess with them afterwards like Matthew Brandt does.



And he's named one of the most influential "30 people under 30" by Forbes magazine. If that, my friends, is photographic art, then I think I'll stick to my boring pictures.
having never heard of that guy, i looked him up and he appears to be primarily an artist/painter, who did a series of works that incorporates photographs of lakes and reservoirs whereby the print was dipped into the same body of water for "artistic effect". Call me old fashioned, but I am guessing the state of modern photography is not moving in that direction. That said, of all the possible artistic gimmicks, that certainly is one of them.

I think you have veered somewhat away from the OP's question, which I believe was asking if the same care and intent is going into photography today as it was years ago.

09-03-2014, 09:26 AM   #50
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Has the art gone out of Painting?
Has the art gone out of Sculpting?
Has the art gone out of Drawing?
Has the art gone out of Writing?
Has the art gone out of Composing?
09-03-2014, 10:14 AM   #51
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QuoteOriginally posted by mikeSF Quote
having never heard of that guy, i looked him up and he appears to be primarily an artist/painter, who did a series of works that incorporates photographs of lakes and reservoirs whereby the print was dipped into the same body of water for "artistic effect". Call me old fashioned, but I am guessing the state of modern photography is not moving in that direction. That said, of all the possible artistic gimmicks, that certainly is one of them.

I think you have veered somewhat away from the OP's question, which I believe was asking if the same care and intent is going into photography today as it was years ago.
Yes, I guess I did.

So let's get back to talking about things were so much better in the good ol' days...
09-03-2014, 10:31 AM   #52
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This thread has reminded me of an interview with a local Landscape photographer who I agree with many of his ideals.

check it out here:

The Photographer Studio: The Photographer Studio Interview series - Drew May



I don't think the art is gone from photography, or any other art form as we see it, they have all just evolved. It's easier for the general public to access and share the art now too which is why it's everywhere and why there are forums like this.

09-03-2014, 10:46 AM   #53
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I think the real question is whether the art has gone out of photographers.

To me photography is essentially documentary -- whether of people/places/things/events or abstractions like mood, color, and air -- and so as far as I am concerned the less art, the better.
09-03-2014, 10:46 AM   #54
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09-03-2014, 10:59 AM   #55
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I guess the question to me is linked to the question of post processing. Some people seem to think that straight out of camera shots are the most artistic. If you can't get your image right in the camera, then you aren't a real artist. On the other hand, a lot of folks process their images to the max and produce pretty surrealistic looking stuff.

I think a little of certain things (sharpening, shadow enhancement, etc) can be good, too much is as bad as too little.
09-03-2014, 11:20 AM - 1 Like   #56
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Yes, photography is an art...if you, as the photographer, decide it to be. If you are photographing purely to document an event, a crime scene, a landscape etc., then absolutely not. However, the way you approach and photograph an event, a crime scene, a landscape etc. can very well turn it into an art.

---------- Post added 09-03-14 at 11:21 AM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by asaru Quote
I think the real question is whether the art has gone out of photographers.

To me photography is essentially documentary -- whether of people/places/things/events or abstractions like mood, color, and air -- and so as far as I am concerned the less art, the better.
I believe the complete opposite.
09-04-2014, 03:10 AM   #57
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QuoteOriginally posted by asaru Quote
...

To me photography is essentially documentary ... and so as far as I am concerned the less art, the better.
What is art?

If You watch the beautiful landscape - this may be the most beautiful art (colours, shapes, light and shadows, etc)! This may be at the same time, for someone just "documentary", but it is an art! When the image says more than you can see - then it is an art!

Low key photography, silhouettes - how can You call it? Is it documentary or is an art?
09-04-2014, 04:18 AM   #58
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I wonder if painters used the same sort of argument when photography was first invented. Where it took weeks or months to create a single image before, it could now be done in a matter of hours. Albeit, just like in photography, not all painters were artists either. Or could live from it while pretending to be.

There's purists for everything. Like programmers who religiously detest using if-then-else loops, even if it could double the work effort for pretty much the same result. And if one wants to approach photography in such a fashion there's nothing wrong with that. But it's simply not the only way to do photography "right" and I find it rather snobbish, when purists look down on others because of such a silly idea.

For me photography is just one way of creating visuals, one tool. And, like any other tool, a good 99.9% of the time it is used to not produce art.
I like it how family pics and traveling snapshots look better because of my DSLR. Without too much thought about artistry. Work related I mostly use photos as foundation for a completely different picture. Take the sky from this shot, that piece of rock here, oh, and I need this mountain range in the background. Paint in some grass, remove them telephone poles and done is my set extension. It's just one way to do my job. Others paint everything by hand or create all of it on the computer. Well, as long as the result works who's to judge?
None of it is art, but I'm not planning to sell any of my pieces for a million dollars... although that would be nice.
09-04-2014, 04:23 AM   #59
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QuoteOriginally posted by halfspin Quote
blasphemer
I think we need to file a report with the inquisition..... is it still around? Where can you find a good inquisitor when you need one? OK, maybe an exorcist, I know there's a couple of those... OK we'll do the modern thing.... organize an intervention.
09-04-2014, 05:35 AM   #60
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QuoteOriginally posted by Undot Quote
... just like in photography, not all painters were artists either...
... but understanding the art is essential to good photography. Many photographers take technically perfect photographs, but their imagery lacks artistic content or meaning. Boring pictures ... if they are technically perfect, why they are boring?
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