T
here is a group of photographic artists who have seemed to have determined what contemporary fine art photography should look like.
It looks something like this picture, but probably more precious in concept and explanation.
A friend of mine, a good photographer, has started to make inroads into that world. And, I have to wonder. He makes art that fits into that world. He studies it and sets his direction.
Don’t get me wrong. He’s been doing a long term study of crows. The work is wonderful, but as he gets closer to this art circle’s core his work looks more and more like theirs.
I suppose that’s fine, but I don’t see how it’s any different that stock, commercial or corporate photography. You work according to the creative brief.
That’s not art.
The most pure artist that I know is musical miss. Tell her that she should fit into some popular genre and she’ll head 180 degrees the other way.
Art doesn’t conform. It is wild. Untamed. Iconoclastic. It speaks the artist’s truth even though the viewer’s truth may not be the same. It angers. It enlightens. It explains. It doesn’t conform.
That’s art.
A
n explanation is needed.
I sucked all the color out of the photograph. I made it a black and white silhouette.
Then, I added color as I could, eventually coming to this brownish color.
I modified it slightly in OnOne and added a filter that looks like textured artist paper.
That’s what I did. It’s actually fairly simple when you think about it as long as you have the right picture.
That’s the key. The right picture. It’s always the key.
STORYTELLER 