The Art of Photography
“A picture is a poem without words.”
A little while ago, I listened to a podcast called Overheard and its stories from people who work at National Geographic. They were talking about preparing for the “Year in Pictures” issue for Nat Geo and they talked to Whitney Johnson who is the Director of Visuals and Immersive Experiences at National Geographic. One of the questions they asked was if photographs are important and they ultimately answered yes. I would agree with that answer because photography is powerful. It got me thinking about if photography is art.
Merriam-Webster defines art in three different ways which are,
something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or expresses important ideas or feelings.
works created by artists: paintings, sculptures, etc. that are created to be beautiful or to express important ideas or feelings
methods and skills used for painting, sculpting, drawing, etc.
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”
If you asked me a couple of years ago, I would have probably said that photography documents and can be creative but I wouldn’t have considered my photography as art. I would look at others and say it was but mine didn’t fall into the art category. Comparing is a big reason for that. I would look at what others were creating and would look at mine and think I’m not even in the same league as them so what I’m creating isn’t art. I wouldn’t say that now. I still compare myself to others way too much and get envious of the shots they get but I do believe both of what we are creating are art. The first definition of art by Merriam-Webster is why I would consider photography art. Seeing a photo can create feelings while it’s being created and when it is seen by others than the photographer. The second and third definitions don’t photography or videography explicitly but they do include etc. so I think both would fall under that. So I’m in the camp that photography is art. What do you think? Do you agree or disagree?
