A couple of months ago, I got an email from a student taking a photography class at Jamestown College.  The art professor had referred me to him as I have more experience with digital photography than she.  The following grew out of the response to a him and was published in Professor Cox’s column “Art Voices” in the Jamestown Sun. [It is split it into three sections as it is quite long.]

Many people start photography as a hobby because it is one of the most accessible art media there is.  To start you don’t need to learn how to apply paint to a canvas or worry how to draw something more than a stick figure. You need only to press a button. Inevitably, some will have (rather romantic) aspirations of becoming the ever-elusive “professional photographer” and will seek to make saleable images. Some people want to learn to take better pictures while others want to learn to make better pictures. Make no mistake; there is a world of difference between those two words. I’ve included in the following some of my own philosophies which have grown out of my own readings as well as my art education (including, but not limited to, my time at JC and my personal experimentation in the medium). Take from this what you will and - it should go without saying - with a grain of salt.

In its basest form, art is merely the physical representation of the artist’s intent. It is by this very definition that a urinal can be called art (Fountain by Marcel Duchamp). Despite the opinion of art critics, it is my belief that it is not for the viewer to judge the quality of a work. It may well be the intent of the artist to create discord with his work, which some may view as “bad” art. However, I think that the viewer is fully within his right to express his views of art in light of his personal tastes. For example, though I realize it serves as a mode of experimentation and self-expression, I personally don’t care for abstractionist modern art. I don’t think I’m qualified to deem such work “bad.” I can say without hesitation, however, “I don’t like it,” or “It doesn’t appeal to me.” A maxim by which I judge works of art is “Would I hang it on my wall?” I apply it not only to others’ work but, more importantly, my own. As such, I personally try to make photos that I like and without regard to others’ opinions.

First and foremost in the creation of art is a person’s ability to see. By this I mean the ability to understand what makes one thing compositionally better than another and to apply that concept to his own work. In teaching photography, I spent a large amount of time getting the students to think critically about what attributes - be they subject placement, contrast (color, tonal, or textural), leading lines, repetition, or any combination thereof - make one image more appealing than the next. Only by being cognizant of what factors most appeal to you and knowing how they interact with one another can one expect to truly make photos; otherwise, you’re just taking snapshots. So in looking at various images (photos or otherwise - good art knows no medium), I suggest you think deliberately about what qualities of each image you like or don’t like. Each class period, I had everyone grab a magazine from the piles that I’ve collected over the years and each person had to pick a few images and express why he was drawn to them. By quantifying the qualities of an image that appeal to you, you will, in time, internalize this process and apply as if it were second nature.

Photography, as a medium, is inherently much different than other media (it is, in some ways, more akin to sculpture). While other media may be thought of as additive processes (the painter must physically paint his subject in), a photographer must subtract distracting elements out of a photo to make a worthwhile image by either physically moving until a more pleasing vantage point is found and/or zooming; he must distill out that which detracts. In terms of general composition, the strongest images will have a readily apparent subject (which is often the area containing the highest contrast). More interesting images will also include some (or all) of the attributes listed above. These are basic design concepts about which volumes have been written.