By Karolina Debowczyk
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| Gregory Cewdson |
Alterations are not allowed in press photography, but they are one of the tools used in contemporary art photography? Why?
Press photography, much different then contemporary art, is about images that are true to real life which is why they cannot be retouched or altered in any way. Contemporary art photography on the other hand is based on the photographers imagination. The images created by the photographer are trying to evoke a certain feeling. These photographers are trying to tell you whats on their mind or let you in on their creative insights with their photos. This need for creativity allows alterations to be used. What a contemporary art photographer sees through the lens might need much more to be the desired final product. Editing is also a part of that creativity process. Changing lighting, creating effects and even cutting and pasting different objects or people into the photograph are all a part of the creative process. Based on the name “art” photography, this style of photographing allows the person behind the lens to be as creative as they need to be when it comes to their photos. The purpose of these photographs are not to tell the truth about a story, but to display the vision of the photographer.This is why i feel it is so common and accepted today.
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| Robert Adams |
Compare photographs of Sommer, Adams and Klett versus Parkeharrison, Muniz and Crewdson. What happened to the photography? Is this its future?
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| Muniz |
The photographs of Sommer, Adams and Klett are all black and white photographs with little to no editing done. Adams and Klett mostly focus on real life aspects such as landscape photography and capture the real life beauty from basic angles to create a natural and realistic photograph. Sommer also falls into the category of realistic images though he is a lot more creative with his work and uses his drawings along with photographs to create his images. All the images shot by these photographers are all what is seen and naturally captured through the lens. With Parkeharrison, Muniz and Crewdson, their photographs have a lot more creativity to them. They are all attention catching and have a fair amount of editing done. They each have stories to tell in their own creative ways. Muniz and Parkeharrison create real life and very staged images to paint his creative picture while Crewdson uses different effects to create an atmosphere for his photographs. All photographs create dramatic pictures and use editing tools in order to further express their creative minds. The shift from the first three photographers to the last three is their use in digital editing and staging events vs capturing them in real life. Both ways have their own beauty to them and though we need to ensure our photographers capture true and real life images that don't trick the eye of the viewer, the creativity of the last 3 photographers is refreshing and interesting. It allows an outlet for them to capture what they cannot see in real life and allows the viewer to dream, imagine and enjoy. This is a type of photography of the future but rest assured the real life and natural way of photography will live on forever.
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| Mark Klett |
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| Parkeharrison |
