Art.

[scruffy_hobo]

Art is such a hard thing to define.
Here, I've been thinking to myself "Man, photograhy is so complex."
Which is true
but then I realized
all Art is complex

because Art is almost impossible to define,
yet we all know what it is
or at least, we think we do.

I guess just in the past couple of months, I've been more keenly aware of the
documentation vs. art debate for photography
but then I realized
drawing
and painting
were documentation at one point as well
and then my art history classes flashed back to me
and I realized that half the things we study as 'art'
weren't even considered art at the time.
a lot of it was just documentation of the way things were

and so photography isn't so different,
it's just that since it's the most recent technological development,
it's more freshly controversial. all that other stuff is old news.

and now that we've realized photography is not so estranged...
we go back to the debate.
what makes a photograph art?

as i'm wrestling with this, my opinion at this point in time is
Art is creating something
therefore
if you are taking a photograph of something that's already there (landscape, architecture, etc)
it is Documentation.

On the other hand
if you not only take a picture of something that is already there
if you create something
with arranging the subject matter
the lighting
the process
then you have created art.

Which is why am I mainly a portrait photographer
because I firmly believe that is artistic expression.

and taking a picture of an abandoned building
or a random mountain
or a shoe
is not art.
sorry