Thread
1. Intent and execution are what take photography from “snapshots” to art. I think some people have a mistaken belief that photography is solely meant to capture what we see, but nothing could be further from the truth - at least with fine art photography. A 🧵…
2. The lesson is in the name “fine ART photography.” Like all art forms, the purpose of fine art photography is to evoke an emotion in the viewer.
3. Sometimes this is done by making every effort to capture the reality of a shot as it was lived by those who were there. We see this in street photography. For an example, see this piece by @anocam_.
@anocam/alone/10' target='_blank'>foundation.app/@anocam/alone/10
@anocam/alone/10' target='_blank'>foundation.app/@anocam/alone/10
4. Entitled "Alone" it truly makes us feel alone. It is street photography. While there is likely some post work here, it is to do things like correct white balance & perhaps bring up exposure in some areas, but those edits are to bring reality and reality creates our emotion.
5. Sometimes fine art photography is mean to capture a feeling like awe or wonder. We often see this in landscapes. To create that general feeling photographers often edit colors, skies, and more in their landscape to capture that emotion, and that’s ok. Because the purpose...
6. of the piece is to create an emotional response, edits like those described might help the piece better communicate the artist's intent. Here's a perfect example by @braybraywoowoo.
superrare.com/0x20c7344a1abced2fb32e8cb867329b4e5b1f12cb/light-up-the-night-1
superrare.com/0x20c7344a1abced2fb32e8cb867329b4e5b1f12cb/light-up-the-night-1
7. Entitled, "Light Up the Night", this image is beautiful and makes us look on in awe at the wonder of nature. The beautiful night sky, the colors of the mountains, and the perfect lake & lighting create the emotion in us. The feeling was intentional and...
8. was elicited in us by the artist through lots of planning and post work. The descriptions tells us that this is actually a composite image created by taking multiple photos at different exposures and blending them together to create the intended emotion. Post allows that.
9. Sometimes a piece is meant to meant to make you feel like something is "off" or go "huh, that's interesting." We see this in surreal photography where the subject is heavily posed.
@brokedidonato gives us a wonderful example shot.
superrare.com/artwork-v2/the-landscape-called-and-said-she's-lonely-35866
@brokedidonato gives us a wonderful example shot.
superrare.com/artwork-v2/the-landscape-called-and-said-she's-lonely-35866
10. This piece is called, "The Landscape Called and Said She's Lonely". There is so much here, none of which we would ever see in life. The clothes inside and the arms outside, the missing body and drapes for a head, the perfectly posed cat.
11. There is significant effort in setting this shot up. The artist likely took SEVERAL versions of this shot before deciding on the perfect one to mint to make viewers go, "huh" and just contemplate the weirdness of it all.
12. Occasionally, a work of fine art photography is intended to make viewers engage with their own environments. We see this in what I call mundane photography. Here is a brilliant example by @kristophershinn, and a piece that I happily own.
superrare.com/0x25de2e952b019c1a5d5329ff21e4f3dac2bdac0a/come-together----lawton-13
superrare.com/0x25de2e952b019c1a5d5329ff21e4f3dac2bdac0a/come-together----lawton-13
13. From the series, "Come Together", this piece shows us two simple stair cases. They are unique - different colored walls, different brick stairs, one with a rail and the other without, a small alcove on one side, and more little differing details.
14. We are asked by this photo to look more carefully at the world around us, because there are beauty & interesting things to be observed, even in the mundane.
15. Indeed, the description tells us so: "Both homes mirroring one another, offering their own personal touches, coming together to create a cohesive scene; simple, yet full of wonder.
16. It is the intent of the artists across all of these styles to evoke a certain emotion that dictates how they use the many tools available to them - from the camera and its raw output, to postproduction tools like Lightroom and Photoshop, to the very basics...
17. of the frame size and posing and setting the scene. Each of these tools, when leveraged by an artist and expertly executed turns a photograph into fine art.
18. This thread may seem a bit familiar, and it is. A while back I wrote a thread arguing that AI assisted work is ART, and my arguments there were the same as here: intent and execution are the keys to creating art.
