Photography as an Art
Let’s talk about what I want to do for a living. Unlike most of the people I know I have decided on a career that is, well, somewhat undefined. I don’t want to be an engineer or a teacher, or a business man. All of those have a relatively clear sense of what you need to do in order to make a living. Go to school, get an internship, get hired on, and work there until you can retire at 80.
I have chosen a career in the arts; more directly the photographic arts. You might ask of me, “Pray tell your plans as an artist.”
I would respond, “Methinks I doth not know dear fellow. I want to produce art; nay will that art produce for I? (Will Shakespeare would challenge me to a duel over this horrid writing.)
I have known for quite some time that I wanted to make my living with a camera in my hand. However, I don’t see myself as the typical photographer you’d see on TV. I don’t care too much for fashion, I hate the idea of working for a newspaper, weddings are stressful, and I don’t want to shoot your baby. This leaves me with the artistic side of photography; otherwise known as, “You better be damn good, or have someone to support you” side.
I have always told people I am a photographer, or that I’m going to school for photography. This inevitably leads to them saying something like, “I have a Nikon D60 and Photoshop Elements. I shot my cousins wedding last year in Del Boca Vista down south. I love photography.”
::break for cursing::
Having a consumer DSLR and a copy of some editing software doesn’t make you a photographer. It makes you a person with a camera in their hand. It makes you a person who trivializes the art of photography.
I know this sounds harsh, but imagine people taking what you love and watering it down to its basic elements, and then claiming they know the craft. This frustrates me because when I start trying to make a living, I’ll have to compete with soccer moms and their cameras. People don’t want to pay for a service that they can do themselves. Their results may be amateur, but it’s good enough for the family scrapbook.
What I need to do is find a wealthy backer to fund my expeditions into the fading art of photography. I’d shoot what I want, frame what I want, and then sell what I want. Is that too much to ask? Someone with money to blow on an aspiring artist?
From now on when people ask me what I am, or what I want to do for a living I think I’ll say, “I’m an artist.”
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:35 am
Sean,
After 37 year of creating Photographic Art, I applaud your desire. I am not sure where you are writing from but here in Vanilla america everyone is an artist it says so in the NPO [Not Particularly Organized or Non Profit Organization] hand book. Do it for the good of the community, do it for free, do it so Artocrats [carpet baggers] can survive. The quality is irrelevant, as long as it’s goodnuff, and the standard of goodnuff lowers every day. The Dept. of Education [counter intelligence] rewards mediocrity. An agency I used to be represented by closed a year ago in the closing letter the director says, the photo buyer has been educated/trained to except lower and lower standards ” We have become an anachronism of excellence in mediocre times.” I speak to photo groups on occasion and I always find at the end of my presentation that those who shoot film gather and talk about art, composition, emotion. While those that shoot Digital talk about the newest equipment. This medium I speak to you with also has so diluted quality that you might believe “Tang” grew on trees. I am rambling here so I’ll leave you with this, equipment doesn’t make you an artist. It is in your soul, your vision, your total commitment, your passion to speak visually, to inspire thought on a level that is higher than it’s cool. enjoy pjc
use your camera on manual make the decisions on your creations don’t let artifiscal intelligence have a place in your work. Caught me in a more than usual cynic mode.
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:37 am
PS if you are in the Connecticut area I am looking for an intern enjoy pjc
April 24th, 2009 at 4:14 am
I have been living with your observations since graduation…
Although you are from what I consider the Ansel Adams tradition and I’m from the Jacob Riis/ Henri Cartier Bresson tradition, we are very much like Samurai during the Boshin War period… We have a sense of respect for where photography came from, the affects that it can have on our understanding, and technical knowledge to reproduce a scene on any format. But all of this is seemingly useless in our hedonistic and vain society… However, I believe this might, if you choose, be the canvas for your greatest works: Our modern society and its obsession with photography. I am going out on the limb here and Im going to coin a new “McWord” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McWords)… Our society is obsessed with the Mcimage. Like fast food, people would settle for something quick, rather than something with substance…
Although the art world is seemingly an attractive field… It can be difficult, if not more, not commercial photography. What I can recommend is that you get your rhetoric up and be able to sell your photography as the greatest thing since birth control pills…
Stay in touch.