Don’t know but in a kind of a debate mood. And I suppose this is the right topic to debate upon.
Few days back a friend gave me a book to read – Photography: A critical Introduction. It’s a book where issues and debates in photographic theory and history are talked upon. A book where documentary photography and photojournalism is discussed. Where, photography as an art is explained. And a book to be read by all photography lovers who think they know, who understand and who want to understand this art deeply.
Now, back to the main subject what we have here, takes us back to the 19th century. One of the most debated topics ofthe 19th and the 20th century by critics all over the world.
People knew it was already a technological advancement but how far was it considered as an art ??
It takes us back to as early as in 1859 where a French poet-critic Charles Baudelaire stated –“ if photography is allowed to deputize for art in some of art’s activities, it will not be long before it has supplanted or corrupted the art altogether.” Where he was so against accepting photography as an art that he had already published over 500 articles in the French daily ‘La Lumiere.’
On the other hand…
Eastlake a very famous photography critic who is known for her photographs as well as her articles stated that – ‘photography was the new form of communication between man and man..’
In 1863… Howard a famous artist of his time had his own views regarding this debateful topic. He said it’s killing the livelihood of the portraiture artists. His views were like- where a painter takes so many hours of hard work to sketch and paint a person’s portrait it’s done by the photographer in hardly 5 minutes. This statement of his really made me think a lot by both the ways, but at the end landed up with no good conclusion. Because, being a painter I do understand how much of patience, accuracy and hard work it goes in making a portraiture painting. And being a photographer as well I also understand the value of clicking a good portraiture and the study which goes behind it and what’s the output going to be. I think this article is going to tickle my brains for a lot of days now.
Moving forward in the 1960’s to the 1990’s people had virtually started understanding photography. The mob started to understand how important it can be for many social issues. How the world can get connected through this medium. But, the main aspect as an art had been left behind.
Where paintings and other art forms were reaching different heights day by day this beautiful art of photographing couldn’t match up with them. It was not until the late 1990’s people started appreciating photography as an art with the new camera technology coming up and the “strange way of clicking pictures coming into picture” people had started to love this form of art.
If we talk about the last decade, photography has evolved on a major scale. It has changed the man’s view of looking towards life and nature. It has made a big impact on many major issues throughout the world. People have understood it’s just not buying a camera and clicking random stuff but it’s a very deep art indeed.
Some day’s back I was reading this article about art photographers in the newspaper. The article talked about two famous art photographers in India and how they manage all odds and become what they are today. One of the photographers also mentioned where his photographs used to fetch him around 40k-80k some 12 years back, the amount has scaled new heights to his surprise as off talking today. I mean I’m really happy to see, read and hear how this art is coming up and day by day and people understanding it. If you’re interested in photography and your parents say no to it, tell them to read this next line.
Photography is just not clicking passport size photos, not clicking on family holidays but is a very beautiful and deep form of art. It’s not really simple to click those amazing wallpapers you have because you seriously don’t know how much of hard work has gone behind that picture worth making a wallpaper for your computer.
As I have come to an end for this article I still have my mind confused over this topic. No matter how much I accept it and know it’s an art form, somewhere down in those thought I feel why not accept it as a great achievement in the technological area.
I don’t know. But here I leave up to you to decide whether photography is an art or a technology..???
But in the process of your thinking don’t forget to click and hear that beautiful sound of the shutter.
Cheerrrsss till then …J
