What is Photography?

[photoguy99]

It was proposed in another thread, not very seriously, that I take this up as a research topic. It's not really a research topic, but it is something I've thought a lot about. That thinking has helped my photography out to a surprising degree, in ways that I can't describe easily.

So, I ask the question here. Perhaps some discussion might ensue that might be helpful to some people.

What is photography?

What first comes to mind? A specific photograph or artist? A publication? A web site? In the past a common instant reaction might have been 'Time Magazine' perhaps now someone might reply 'Instagram.' Maybe you go first to fashion, and reply 'Vogue' or 'Terry Richardson'

Think on it for 30 seconds. Now what's on your mind? More general things, surely. A broader idea.

Now, what would you accept from someone else as a reasonable definition? Drawing with light? Does there need to be a lens? How broad can we go before you start to rebel?

Food for thought, perhaps. Perhaps not.

 

[Overread]

Photography is the art of drawing with light. The most typical form being through the use of a camera, which uses a lens to focus light upon a recording medium (this could be film, digital, glass plate etc...). The recording medium is then used to produce a print (direct or indirect) to be viewed.

Note cameras commonly use a lens, but they don't need to; the simple act of recording light onto a recording medium works - such as in the example of pin-hole photography.



Photography comes in many forms - documentary and artistic often being polar extreme opposite ends of the scale (yet both sides can make heavy use of the other).

 

[baturn]

For me photography is simply a hobby, a pastime that gets me out and about to see and do things I might not otherwise do and record same. For instance, on Sunday I went to a local soccer field and tried sports photography for the first time. I had fun and learned a few things about me and my equipment at a venue I would not ever have gone to otherwise.

 

[Gary A.]

For me, photography is the ability to capture a fraction of a second in time. With photography, the photographer can freeze time. That slice of time can be frozen in a fashion accommodating the reality and vision of the photographer.

Gary

 

[Braineack]

when i stare at the screen for long periods of time and close my eyes.

 

[Derrel]

To me, photography is creating images using light and a lens system of any type (a pinhole lens, a simple meniscus lens, or a multi-element lens) as a way to create a recorded image on a light-sensitive medium (glass or metal plate, paper, film, or digital recording sensor). I differentiate photographs from photograms, which are like the old blueprints, or simple photograms made using real objects like ferns, or scissors, and so on, to make basically "outlines of objects".

 

[imagemaker46]

Apart from it being a job for me. I see it as a way to create memories for other people. I may be the one with the camera, but for the people in the pictures, it's their personal memories I'm recording.

 

[sashbar]

Just read my signature. I completely agree with the guy.

 

[mmaria]

I really don't know

 

[gsgary]

I'm with Gary and Sashbar' i'm capturing a split second in time that will never be captured in the same way

 

[Overread]

For all you split second people - what's wrong with bulb mode?

 

[Fred Berg]

Externally memorised vision.

 

[gsgary]

For all you split second people - what's wrong with bulb mode?

And capture a blur ? i wouldn't mind if it looked like Alexey Titerenko's blurs

 

[sashbar]

For all you split second people - what's wrong with bulb mode?

I am just not patient enough for bulb mode. Bulb mode is almost video.

But if you want a correct definition, photography is the art of collecting photons.

 

[rexbobcat]

Depends on if you want the literal definition or the personal (and often existential) interpretation.

Literally it's what everyone above has stated. Writing with light. Using cameras and lenses, etc...

On a philosophical level; it's difficult for me to explain my feelings towards photography. I guess, on a broad level, I see photography as communication. Even photos that are taken just to be pretty are still trying to communicate to the viewer that they're pretty.

However, I feel that some of these forms of communication is more valuable than others. In a lot of ways, it seems that modern technology has popularized a type of photography that is very, like I've said before, technically competent but emotionally sterile. It seems like so many photographers are afraid of shadow and intrigue. Crank those shadows up and only shoot when it's cloudy. You need more fill light. While these platitudes are sometimes true, I think many times people cling too hard to these "rules" because they're simple. They're manageable and non-threatening. That's why they're touted everywhere.

Basically, for me, photography is about intrigue. It's a vague concept and one that varies from person to person, but if I am going to take photos of a pretty model in a pretty place with pretty lighting, I'm going to make them the most interesting, generically pretty images I possibly can.

Which is why I don't strive to take those photos. Because I can't do them justice.