Fine Art Photographers don’t “Capture An Image…”
They set the image, and the imagination, free!
It is the goal, to me at least, of any photographer to create images… art, that conveys the emotion, the feeling, the sensory reaction that the artist desires for the viewer to feel. To me, the overriding concern is the emotion the artist felt, and strove to convey when viewing, or even creating, the scene.
A food photographer wants the viewer to taste the food portrayed in the image in their gastronomical imagination. The still life photographer wants the audience to their work to feel a connection, a passion, a memory to the image and conjure up feelings from the imagery. A nature photographer wants those immersed in their images to imagine they feel the sun on their face and can smell the freshness of a forest in spring.
Fine Art is not trying to re-create a scene or a setting, but creating an emotion or feeling, reacting… imagining.
The word imagination comes from the latin verb ‘imaginari’ meaning “picture to oneself.” It is defined as ” a creation of the mind.” Art is imagination, both for the creators… we photographers, and for the viewers of that artistic rendering. The viewer imagines the taste of the delicious meal portrayed in the image, imagines memories related to the items in the still life, imagines themselves in the beautiful landscape. In fact the word image, from the latin ‘imargo,’ relates to a “mental picture” as well as to a “physical depiction.”
I would suppose that before there is an image, there is imagination.
And after the image is made, the viewer’s perception of and reaction to that image, is in their imagination.
Wow… that’s way too heavy! I like making pictures that make others feel what I felt or would like them to feel. Simple as that. That is the art.
It’s what I think everyone strives for in making images… whether snapshots of family moments, pictures of the kids playing sports, or crazy vacation shots. We are trying to make a representation that we can look back on years from now and experience the feelings we had when we took the shot. In snapshots, it is more the moment that is the creation and re-creation. Snapshots only have meaning to those directly involved with the image… the kids, the spouse, friends. Fine Art Photography, indeed any art, is created to share with any viewer, and to intrinsically have feeling and meaning.
So next time you look at Fine Art Photography, open your mind to feel what the artist was offering.
Because…
Fine Art Photographers don’t “Capture an Image…”
They set the image, and the imagination, free!
