March 15, 2010
Photography, is it an art or a skill? It’s an old question but also rather ridiculous, photographs can be both pleasingly artistic and require great skill in their creation, and then there are even some types of photography which require little skill and no artistic talent!
Modern cameras allow even the most fumble fingered to take great pictures without delving into instruction manuals, an instinctive artistic talent for composition & subject can start to create photos at the push of a button. At the same time today’s camera technology and software can help the less artistically gifted to create stunning results simply through learning and practising some few easy rules and methods.
Undoubtedly though, the best & most interesting pictures will come from those lucky people with both an artistic vision and the technical skills to realise their creativity. In such cases the most basic of cameras can be just as useful in the process of creating photos as any expensive and complex collection of equipment. If you know how to best use your camera, all that is needed is a little imagination to create interesting photos from any situation.
I’ve long thought that this mixture of art and skill aided by a knowledge & experience of the tools you have available suggests the most acceptable definition for myself is that taking photographs is more often than not, a craft.
So with this “photography as crafting” spirit in mind I’ve started exploring different ideas for sharing and presenting my photographs to compliment traditional prints. Taking inspiration from the wide range of crafting communities and techniques they use I’ve already gained new avenues of enthusiasm for my photographs which I hope to blog more about in future — to start with I’ve created a flickr set for my photo crafting.
But after all that is said and done, I think it’s important to note that photography has it’s special cases, not all photos fall into being works of art or craftsmanship. Probably everyone can think of snapshots without discernible artistic merit, taken with no apparent technical skill and very little creative input but which are favourites we will always enjoy looking at – simply because they remind us of a moment in time. Maybe what taking photographs really works out as is just plain old magic!
What about you, how do you consider your photography? Are you an artist or a crafsperson? Or do you share your photographs in any non-traditional ways or are well displayed prints still the best option for you?
February 9, 2009
Original Scan by SpoiltCat, on Flickr
A passion for old photographs is a fairly common trait amongst photographers. That interest can lie in the methods of how such antique prints were created, the black and white printing on classic papers or even glass slides, or it can be an interest in the equipment used and the skills required to tame the awkward beasts that are vintage cameras. Another area of interest comes from the often distinct style of old pictures, the portraits almost always so stiff and formal due to long shutter speeds required, the sepia-toned colour bias of days gone by – prints which were sepia toned more often survive the decades better than those which were left in their original black and white.
Then there is what fascinates myself and many others in looking at old photographs and vintage prints, the journey into the past which they offer. Snapshots of a time gone by, another world, recognisable but often so very culturally different from my own modern 21st Century technology ridden lifestyle. The paradox of these glimpses into days so different from my own current experiences, so unrecognisable at times but also these very same old photographs having a sense of familiarity, afterall they’re depicting the lives of people I have known. The sepia faces that look back at me from their youth I only knew as ageing grandparents, others I never knew but still recognise unmistakable family resemblance in their faces.
Restored Photo by SpoiltCat, on Flickr
Of course many of these photographs suffer harsh treatment through the years, the paper and the image suffering many hardships and becoming rippied or torn, even the photographic image itself fading away to almost nothing. Each of these old photographic prints have a history unique to themselves, a vintage picture split across the middle revealing that it was carryed for many years as a keepsake folded in a purse or pocket book. The scratches and blemishes become part of the story the picture tells, these are the things that can’t be faked by a simple digital sepia filter and it’s these imperfections that can give a true sense of age. So I feel the process of photo restoration is always a balancing act, trying to reveal lost detail and tidy up an image while being careful to not remove the originals character or it’s place in history. There is little value to me of restoring an old photo to the point where it looks like it could have been taken yesterday.
The photo restoration example pictures for this blog post are my Father’s Mother. The original is a cropped scan of an old postcard photograph from, I think, the early 1920s and restoration work completed in around 4-6 hours using Adobe Photoshop CS3. You can click the images to view larger versions on Flickr.
November 2, 2008
I’ve always been fascinated by Fungi since I learned of their rebellion against the “plants & animals” view of living things & taxonomy. Since then I’ve learned to love the common supermarket chestnut mushroom as an almost vital ingredient when cooking. Pizza isn’t pizza without mushrooms, pasta dishes only ever lack them because I eat so many during preparation that the cost becomes prohibitive!
So it’s slightly unusual for me to think that this year is the first time I’ve taken time to try seriously photographing them – even now I have very few in my collection. Which is a shame as I think they look amazing when you get right down in the dirt to shoot them from a low angle rather than the easier “looking down at” viewpoint.
This evening then, I offer up two favourites of my mushroom photos so far – the first from a pine forest near Aberdeen & the second, much more earthy, from Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow.
[flickr ids=2821400483,2995710387]
July 21, 2008
Seagulls can be quite the pest on the ground – stealing food and/or ripping open rubbish bags – but they are quite majestic in flight.
This photo is a bit of a cheat as the gull was almost stationary in the air, gliding on the wind blowing along the River Clyde.
