Would you give up the camera if you could be an artist?

[gsgary]

No never

 

[KmH]

I do both.

 

[DGMPhotography]

I would give up photography to be able to draw anime girls and tentacle monsters.

Luckily, I can do both! (Draw and photography). I'm not amazing at either, but I think I've gotten relatively good, but of course I'm always working to improve my craft(s).

As an artist of both mediums, it's hard for me to tell what the "equivalent" of my photography ability would be, because each piece varies. But if we're talking about ALL traditional art forms in exchange for photography, it'd probably be a strong maybe. But if we're talking eye for an eye, I'm happy just being adequately good at both xD

 

[slackercruster]

Artist. I can't imagine the amount of work I would have to do to make 200k as a photographer! lol
If I'm painting, the only limitations I have are from my own imagination.

Yes, imagination and many times fast art production. I was watching an old movie from the 90's about R. Crumb. The stuff in that guys head and the amount of art he produces is amazing. But he has talent and interesting ideas. (Although horrifying to some.)

I don't have much of a creative imagination. I'm OK, but nothing special. That is one of the reasons I do doc and street work. I just record interesting things I come across.

 

[slackercruster]

No. My cameras are the tools I use to make art and to express myself.

I might have started out frustrated by my lack of skill for traditional art, but as I explored photography, I realized that I didn't want to make traditional art anyway. I know that sounds like sour grapes ("Fine! Leave me out of your stinking group! I'll start my own and it'll be better!") but it's not - it was just a realization that I had come to at some point. There is still an urge for a more tactile involvement in the art, which I've mentioned before, and so using film and especially the Polaroids satisfy that urge, but it's a very satisfying medium for me and I feel no need to give it up in favor of the skill to paint or sculpt or draw.

I felt the same way about writing. I always knew I wanted to write and always assumed that I would write fiction. That's what "writers" do. They make up stories and write them in pretty ways. Then I realized that I kind of suck at writing fiction, but I do have a talent for non-fiction. That's when I understood that I didn't care about my suckage at short stories anymore because I could write the hell out of a creative essay. More importantly, that non-fiction writing fulfilled my desires to write, that they allowed me the self-expression that I wanted out of writing. So it went with my artistic pursuits. "Artists" paint, right? So that's what I assumed I had to do. Until I realized there was another way that turned out to be just as good.

I've noticed people with different artistic skills may work out life's details in the way their art guides them. Many time when something traumatic comes up a writer will write about it, an artist do a collage or painting, another writes a poem. With myself I explore it through photos. But they don't always have to be my own pix. I just prefer photos to words.