Photography as Art – WPC Atop

“A photograph is not about the click in the camera but the “click” in the mind of the photographer”

Arturo Macias Uceda

AZALEA BLOOM

My approach to this week’s challenge “Atop” comes from a conversation I was involved in earlier this week about photography as art.  Other than photojournalists, I believe that beyond  documenting the world around us,  photographers can use tools such as textures and other effects to express creativity through post processing. Purists may argue this is not photography. Perhaps not in the classic sense, but applying one’s artistic vision is, to me, a wonderful opportunity to interpret our art in new and innovative ways.

BEAUTYBERRIES

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”

Edgar Degas

So what does all this have to do with our “atop” challenge? Well, first, when you apply textures to photographs, you place the texture atop the photo before you begin work on the end product. So using textures does quite literally meet the challenge. More figuratively though, we use editing tools to turn a photograph from a mirror image into our artistic interpretation of the object or scene – thereby offering a second meaning atop that of the original capture.

FADED BEAUTY

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”

Aristotle

As a young artist, I wanted very much to draw and/or paint but alas I recognized early on that it was not a talent I possessed.  When I discovered photography in my early 20s I felt as if an entirely new world had opened up to me.  The camera gave me a way to express myself – in my compositions, in the way I captured light, and in a thousand other ways. To me the amazing tools available to today’s photographic artists offer yet another avenue for expressing our individuality.

ABSTRACT ART

“The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.”

Alberto Giacometti

I love photography. Nothing beats the feeling of downloading a new set of captures and finding  exactly what you’d hoped to see. But sometimes a photograph can be a mere first step in the creative process.  Just as a painter might use oils, watercolors, pencils, charcoal, brushes, etc, so too today’s photographers have a wealth of tools from which to draw.  Personally, I’m an advocate of anything that helps us to achieve our artistic goals, especially when it also adds to the fun 😀.

Tags: art, weekly photo challenge

• March 16, 2017
• Abstract, Flowers, Impressionism, Photo Essay, Photography
• 73 Comments