A hand went up in the back of the room at a presentation and someone asked, “What’s your definition of Fine Art Photography?” As it had been a long day I kind of joked with a line borrowed from the late Dean Collins, “Beauty is in the eyes of the check book holder!”
What is Fine Art Photography??
Today’s Sunday Photo/Art Quote is a little more introspection and thought about the question as we photographers tend to agonize over it on a regular basis. So here goes….
Let’s start with some semi-official definitions on Art and Fine Art in general. (Thanks to Jerry Burch for theses links from our email conversation!)
Take some time to follow the links for some more in-depth observation on the subject with the links below. Go ahead… I’ll wait and give you my thoughts below after you poke around on the web. If you find something cool others should see bring the link back here and post in the comments section…
From Collins World English Dictionary
fine art
1. art produced chiefly for its aesthetic value, as opposed to applied art
2. ( often plural ) Also called: beaux arts any of the fields in which such art is produced, such as painting, sculpture, and engraving
From Dictionary.Com
fine art
a visual art considered to have been created primarily for aesthetic purposes and judged for its beauty and meaningfulness, specifically, painting, sculpture, drawing, watercolor, graphics, and architecture.
From Wikipedia
Fine art photography
Fine art photography is photography created in accordance with the vision of the artist as photographer.
Chip Jones Fine Art Photography Blog post
One challenge that many artists face throughout their careers is having a brief, but articulate description of their work at the tip of their tongue. You know, like a two-minute elevator speech that can be expressed in a moments notice when asked. For most people, this might seem like something that’s easy to do. For artists though, this can…. See link for the rest of Chip’s post.
The question you ask about Fine Art Photography is one that has been difficult to answer because there are so many facets to it.
There are photographers in the portrait industry that I consider to be ‘Fine Art’ photographers. Much of their work would stand up to the classic portraits created over the centuries that will still be considered beautiful examples of the best of the genre a century from now. People like Tim Kelly in Florida and Tim and Beverly Walden in Kentucky. Their work is exquisite! Does that make all portrait photographers ‘Fine Art’ photographers? Not by a long shot.
Ansel Adams was what was considered to be a ‘Fine Art’ nature photographer because of the detail and techniques he created and mastered for getting the vision from his head onto paper. I see stunning examples of other Landscape photographers that would definitely fall into the ‘Fine Art’ photography category but that doesn’t make every landscape image created a ‘Fine Art’ piece.
There are stellar images made by photographers creating images using multiple elements from different photos in composites that are museum worthy (see the work of Thom Rouse in Illinois as one example).
I guess I’ve been formulating a more concise answer as I answer your question. So here goes…
‘Fine Art Photography’ to me is defined by the mastery of technique to create an image. Do I consider myself to be a ‘Fine Art Photographer’? Yes I do. Is every image that I create ‘Fine Art’? Definitely not. Each individual work should be judged on its own merits as to it worthiness to be called ‘Fine Art’.
Join the conversation in the comments section.
Yours in Photography, Bob
