What Is Fine Art Photography?
Sarcastic Answers: Photography that has no commercial value? Photography that is made for no reason? Weird photography meant for hipsters? Thinking logically I would think that "Fine Art Photography" started as a category, like "Commercial Photography" or "Street Photography" or "Portraits" Everything else, let's call it "Fine Art" A lot of use of the term comes off as pretentious, reminds me of the use of the term"giclee" instead of inkjet. In any event, I'm not a fan of labels so that is not why I use the term. I think it provides an important distinction to how I approach photography. All of us are photographers because a photographer is simply someone who takes photographs! I "take" photographs all the time, places I visit, things I want to remember etc., however this is completely different then photographs I "make" for artistic purposes. The use of the phrase "make a photograph rather than take a photograph" is something Ansel Adams emphasized in his teachings. Ansel was very focused on "pre-visualization" being an important part of the artistry of making a photograph. For me, the idea of making a photograph includes a lot more than just pre-visualizing. I have ideas of what I would like to photograph, they come to me all the time. However, invariably these ideas involve locations that I have no idea where I would find. So part of my creative process is finding a place to photograph in the first place. Once I find that location a whole other set of ideas guide my choice of where to put the camera. Galen Rowell impressed on me the importance of using graphically interesting techniques to emphasize the emotional impact of a photograph. His common solution was to use the color red which imparts a physiological response in most viewers. Well, I don't have the ability to use red! But I can use classic composition ideas like leading lines, S-curves, rule of thirds etc. to increase the chances of an interesting photograph. My fine art photography extends to the physical object of a silver gelatin print to put up on the wall. Ansel suggested that half of his creative input was in the darkroom, and I totally agree. The goal of creating a great print extends into my pre-visualization. There are some subjects I just know I will love to see in a really big print, and some things I have found just don't excite me that much. For example, I know that I really enjoy looking at abstracts, but I don't like looking at abstracts printed larger than perhaps 8x10 inches. That's just me, maybe someone else likes really big abstracts. I do know that I love super detailed, symmetrical scenes printed really big. So imagining the print on the wall is something that influences what I decide to point me camera at. So back to the question, what is fine art photography. To me it means photography approached with an artistic motivation, scenes that don't just happen but are steered by my artistic vision, and images presented in a tangible way that was somewhat under my control. So what's your definition? Do you hate the term?