Is photography art?

Art or photography?

Recently I decided to call myself an artist rather than a photographer

It’s not a decision that came to me easily. It felt un-natural to make the leap from photographer to artist. I wondered if I was worthy of calling myself an artist. And that was primarily because I use a camera rather than paintbrush and a printer rather than a canvas.

But I have decided that I am an artist, and my chosen medium is photography.

As you can imagine, the question of “is photography art?” has been on my mind a lot recently. In order to be happy to make the change I needed to create some definitions and boundaries.

What made me think about this change?

The tipping point for thinking that I might be creating art was when I decided to concentrate on abstract images. I now concentrate on creating images that are inspired by what I see but are not realistic depictions. I try to encourage viewers (and myself) to think about the images, to make their own interpretations and to see what they want to see in the images.

Isn’t this what art is all about?

There are numerous definitions of art, many of which are not terribly useful. To me, the important element is encouraging people to see differently.

Not all photography is the same

Genres such as documentary photography and traditional landscape photography are generally a much more realistic depiction of what the photographer sees. They celebrate their subjects but do they encourage people to see differently? Do they count as art?

In contrast, styles such as ICM and some street photography often do attempt to reinterpret the subject matter. To me, these images are as much art as photography.

And then there are plenty of other types of photography where a definition is not so clear.  For instance, is portraiture a realistic depiction, or does it encourage viewers to think about a subject in new ways?

Many photographers do think of themselves as artists

There is a growing band of photographers that say they would like to draw or paint but feel that they lack the skills. Others are transitioning from photography to other artistic media.

For some there is a halfway stage where they create one-off artworks by marking their prints. I think I will be moving in this direction as well.

And, naturally, there are plenty of photographers are quite happy calling themselves photographers. Some enjoy using their cameras to get them out and about. Others enjoy mastering the technical side of photography. The question of whether they are creating art or not does not worry them.

Do you view yourself as an artist?

I am interested in what others have to say about this. Am I being too hard on “conventional” photography? Should this be counted as art too? Conversely, many art shows specifically exclude photography. Are they right to do so? I’d love to hear your thoughts.