What is Photography.?
By: Ishika Gaba
Tags: Artist, Cameras, Express, Art, Photography

This question has been answered by many great artists and photographers. Most of them consider photography as an art. But from the moment photography was invented ,there’s always a debate on whether it is a form of art or simply a way of using an optical- mechanical contraption to document reality.

Leo Tolstoy wrote a whole book called “What Is Art”, yet do not expect getting all the answers there. However, going back to the classic definition, one can see that photography possesses everything to be an ideal medium for creative expression.

Merriam-Webster defines art in a clear and concise fashion as “something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings”, things are not that simple. It has been realised that photography’s unique features make it distinctly different from its closest relative painting.

It can be a form of expressing something using visual elements similar like a language, mostly used for artistic purposes. Just like any other languages, it conveys message without any contradiction. It is a human ability to interpret any piece of information in a variety of ways that gives an artist of being literal . Photographers work is always open for interpretation.

Likely any other art form , it makes us experience emotions that move us and compel us to do things that we otherwise would not even think of it. Unlike painting, photography requires a real physical object and this is the reason we perceive any photo as something more real than any other type of visual representation of reality.

source: unsplash

It is a fact that photography represents reality and cannot exist without it but on the other hand, it can misinterpret reality with different degrees.

It is the transparency of photographic technique that makes photographers look for things that define photography as art. This the reason artists who use photography is their means of creative expression see the world differently , give us a fresh and unusual view on reality and find ways to play with our emotions making us feel and even see things that are not even there.

By analysing the history of most of the photographers , we can easily notice that most of them were fine artists, for the most part, were trained painters. Those who were not, still were greatly influenced by traditions and techniques of painting. They saw their work as photographic paintings.. Only difference between painting and photography is the fact that photographic technique is transparent. Painting needs some techniques as an art form but photography is not like that , it is possible for anyone to take a technically sound photo and even accidentally create a masterpiece.

Photographers use their cameras as tools of exploration, passports to inner sanctums, instruments for change. The purpose of photography can vary depending on what photographer is trying to achieve. For example, documentary and news photographers capture images for the purpose of providing detailed account of actual events, while hobbyist photographers aim to capture life moments with their families and friends.

There are many different types of photography, such as landscape, macro, wildlife, portrait, documentary fashion, travel and event photography and many more.

Ansel Adams quoted” If the idea behind a photo is weak, using the right camera settings won’t make it better”.

Many people today believe that their phone is good enough for most photography, and they have no need to buy a separate camera. Somehow its true, if you have any camera at all, especially a cell phone camera, you have what you need in order to take great photos. But at the same time, camera settings are some of the most important tools one should have at their disposal. Their settings are worth learning.

Understanding of photography will improve tenfold when one gets to know how camera settings work.