What Is Photography?

Cades Cove barn at sunset, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

 Blog Note: This is a repost from 2021.

 

What is photography? Is it a hobby? A craft? A profession? 

Is it art?

Are photographers artists? 

The answer to both questions is sometimes. Not all photographs are art, but some are. Not all photographers are artists, but some are. Some of the time.

Photography got off on the wrong foot at its birth, more than 190 years ago, because no one was sure just how it should be classified. Since it rendered three- dimensional reality in two dimensions on a flat surface, photography soon came to be regarded as a form of drawing, albeit inferior because it was achieved by mechanical and chemical means.  Most photographers accepted this evaluation unquestioningly and set out in great earnest to prove that photography could compete with the older media by producing work that looked like drawing, painting, or engraving. 

Part of the problem then and now is confusion of terminology; using the words medium and art as though they were interchangeable, when in fact they are not. Painting is a medium, as are sculpture, engraving, photography, and pottery.  When practiced at a high level of competence within the context of its own inherent qualities, each medium is a craft which may become art when imbued with an indefinable presence imparted by the being of the artist himself.

The essence of photography is that it is photographic. It is a picture made by the action of light reflected from something that has objective reality onto a sensitized surface. Light rays bouncing off something that is really there go through a lens and are recorded onto film, a sensor of some kind, or something not yet invented, but whatever it is, it is "writing with light." 

As distinguished from other visual media, the art of photography is primarily the art of seeing. A photograph is created at the instant of exposure, and nothing done to it afterward will make it art if it was not well seen to begin with. Throughout the history of the medium, the works that have had power, the works that have lasted, have been straight photographs. Furthermore, most of them have been documentary photographs. Their power and their art are in the photographer's ability to see and to present his vision in a tangible form.

So what about the photograph at the top of this post? Is it art?

 Maybe. Maybe not. Some people may consider it art, others won't.

Am I an artist?

Maybe. Probably not. But I always work with artistic intent and an artistic attitude. Other than that, I don't worry about it. History may declare that my photographs have staying power and that I was an artist, but I won't be around to receive any plaudits. So I make my photographs the best I can and am happy in the doing. That's all I can do.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.50 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography  art     art of photography     barns     Cades Cove     Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Hello? Hello! Is Anyone Here?

Abandoned  home near Armuchee, Georgia.

Writing a blog on a regular schedule is like having a baby and then waking up pregnant again the next day.

Don't get me wrong -- I enjoy writing this blog. It helps me keep up my writing skills, and sometimes I even write things that surprise me. It also helps with discipline -- something I'm not very good at. I've written nearly 600 posts over the last three and a half years. But writing can be a lonely craft. And always, I wonder: is anyone listening? Is anyone reading what I write? Is it of any value to anyone? Or am I just writing for myself?

So I launch my babies out into the blogosphere, seldom knowing where they land or how they fare.  The Blogger stats say my posts get a fair number of hits, but I get very few comments. 

Which brings me to my point. I would like to ask, Is Anyone Here? Is this blog of any value to you? If it is, will you please post a brief comment? Anonymous is fine, don't need any attaboys, just a quick "I'm here" will do. I would just like to know if you're out there.

Thank you.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.50 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

I Sold My Truck -- Finally!

 The mighty Beast. The 2018 RAM 3500 with dual rear wheels.

My truck is sold. The new owner is picking it up tomorrow. It has been a long haul, if you'll excuse the expression, getting it off to a new home.

We sold the trailer last October, but I kept the truck until the trailer was gone because I was afraid I might need to move the trailer, and of course, couldn't do it without the truck. So I listed the truck on AutoTrader on November 1st and got six inquiries immediately. And then I came down with Covid that same day and had to inform the prospective buyers that I wouldn't  be able to show the truck for a week. They all apparently moved on, and I had few serious inquiries from then on. 

Over the following six months I kept lowering the price, but had no takers until Sunday afternoon, when a man called and came to see the truck. He checked it out thoroughly and made me an offer that was far from what I had in mind. I told him thanks, but no thanks.

After he left, I called my son Don and asked him what he thought. He said "Take it!" 

I prayed about it, and thought about how the truck had become an albatross around our necks. We need another car, but have no place to park a third vehicle and the diesel truck is too expensive to drive on a regular basis. So I called the man back. He raised his offer by a thousand dollars and I said "Deal!"

So, I'm relieved. We can move on.

This post is obviously not about photography. But as it says in the intro on the left of your screen, I write about photography, about life, and about my life in photography.This post is about life. But just to say a bit about photography, both photos were made with a Fuji X-T20 camera and the very fine (but cheap!) Fujicron XC 16-50mm lens.

 

 The Truck and 5th-wheel trailer. Ready to roll on our very first outing.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.50 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography   travel  RAM 3500 trucks     Fuji X-T20 camera     Fujicron XC 15-50mm lens

A Final Word about Perspective Control: Put It in a Frame

 

Blog Note: I didn't want to leave the subject of perspective control without mentioning a very important way to do it -- put the subject in a frame. I've written about this in the past, so this is a repost from early 2022.

Above are two photographs of the beautiful, old Starr's Mill, a few miles south of Fayetteville, Georgia. They were taken at different times and with different cameras, however, looking at each file at high magnification, there appears to be no difference in photographic quality.

Which one do you prefer? Can you say why?

Although the second photo is sharp and has beautiful light and color, most people prefer the first one, even though many probably could not say why. The mill looks great in the second one, but there's no feeling of depth and no place for your eye to rest. In the first one, the tree on the right, the rocks on the shore, and the dam all combine to lead the eye to the mill. They form a frame around it,  which gives the picture a a sense of depth and dimensionality.

"Framing" a photo is a very effective compositional technique, and one I use a lot. In this photograph of Short's Mill near Clarkesville, Georgia, the mill is actually only a small part of the picture, yet the stone ledge, flowing water, and autumn leaves form a frame to lead the eye to the old mill. 

There many ways to put the subject of your photograph in a frame. For instance, in this photo of a children's Sunday School class, the way the children's heads are turned direct the viewer's eye to the teacher and the child she is speaking to. 

I don't use this technique of framing for every shot, of course, but I think if you learn to look for opportunities to put a frame in your pictures it will improve your photography.

You can read more about framing here. 

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.50 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography   travel   Georgia     old mills     perspective control     photographic composition