Questions and answers about the fusion of art and photography.
Artistic photography, what is it really? Every aspiring photographer, no matter if amateur or professional, should first deal with this question, before he wants to work in this field of photography. It should become clear very quickly that the question of when one can speak of artistic photography and what the term actually means is not so easy to answer. It would be easier to answer another question: What is not artistic photography?
For example, photographic reproduction of artistic works is not artistic photography, since a reproduction only photographs an artistic work without creating a new artistic work.
What is, and what does art in general?
Art is a work created by an artist. According to German jurisprudence, however, every photographic image is a photographic work (and thus a work) insofar as the image was created with the aid of a camera viewfinder or camera display. Nevertheless, most photographic images are miles away from being recognized as artistic works. More correctly, for this reason, it should read, art is a work of art created by an artist.
The emphasis of the meaning of the word artwork would thus have to be more on art than on work, better expressed, a work of art or the work of a creator of art.
A trained photographer with a master’s certificate is rarely at the same time a creator of art; he is only a master of his trade, but not an artist. An artist, on the other hand, can work as a photo designer, and a good designer is already an artist in his field. Art and design at least do not contradict each other, at most they complement each other. However, the essence of artistic photography cannot be deduced from this either, since design is supposed to correspond to a purpose, whereas art is not bound to any purpose and artistic works should only be created for their own sake.
When does a photograph become an artistic photograph?
There is no definitive answer to this question either. Thus, a nude or a still life, as well as a landscape photograph, can only be a nude photograph, a still life or a landscape photograph, but it can also become an artistic nude, an artistic still life or an artistically expressive landscape photograph.
Whether a photograph can be considered a work of art depends not only on whether the photographer possesses a pronounced artistic vein and understands how to implement this inherent artistic creativity in his photos. It also depends on whether a viewer feels touched by a photo, because ultimately art is also about conveying values, visions or emotions.
Whether the art experts of the galleries of this world recognize his photos as works of art, plays rather a subordinate role, since also these experts can fall only subjective judgements.
Thus a wise person could say, who feels called among the photo amateurs, who should let his fantasy run free and form with light and color artistic photos, only with acknowledgment he should not count. Recognition, however, find painters, musicians, writers and other art and culture often just as little. If you are looking for recognition, you should rather learn a recognized profession and not waste your time with photography or with the creation of works of art. Art was and is constantly breadless, unless art is associated with a name. But how poor would we be inside if we heeded these outdated life lessons?
Artistic photography is sometimes referred to as ‘fine art’ photography. A term that, like many other Anglicisms, first took on a life of its own, then became misunderstood and raised questions. Fine Art actually means nothing more than what we in German-speaking countries would call or count as ‘fine arts’.
The terms fine art photography and photographic art were and are still widely used, and just as fine art painting differs from artisanal painting, fine art photography also differs from artisanal photography, an outsider might think. Only there are associations that link the introductory word with the second word rather with artificial instead of artistic.
In order to distinguish artistic photography, or more sophisticated photography in general, from other photographic fields, the old spelling continues to be suitable and is still used.