What is Photography? [Debate]

[ChrisAdval]

It's not preferences or opinions on how photography is defined... I just don't see photography as a point and shoot with nothing but good composition. I think its a mixture of the pre-production, during the shot moments, and post production. People will disagree with me, but that would be a different subject in what is art, but we're not talking about that (yet)... What is photography is the topic. When a person shoots a photograph does that make it photography? I don't think so... The planning stages, framing, composition, and especially other aspect such as post processing. A photo without post processing is like in the film days of not taking the film into a dark room (at least it feels like that to me).

What do you guys think?

[graciousness]

So what do you think of toddlers or grade school students picking up brushes and paint and painting on paper? Or crayons, even? What are they doing? Isn't that art? Painting? Drawing?

Art is art. Anyone, and I mean ANYONE who picks up any sort of medium to create images whether it's two dimensional or three is doing a process of art.

A photographer is a person who takes images with a camera. Photography is a process of reproducing an image using a camera.

Anyone who want to define photography as anything more than that is just being an elitist.

Now what you do with a camera, how you produce your images and most importantly, the end result of what that image looks like is what will define good and bad photography.

End of story.

[RichardTaylor]

+1 graciousness (except for the term elitist).

and in my words.
"capturing a permanent image by a mechanical + chemical/electronic means".

Now to specifics.
There has always been processing after image capture, and not necessarily by the person who captured the image. The image cannot be viewed unless the capture has been post processed (either by the camera or out of camera).
Also consider that if you get it right in camera you may not need to do any PPing except possibly to print it.
------------------
Is this a photograph?

The 35mm reversal film was post processed by Kodak to produce the transparency (slide) from which this scan was taken.
(1)



Define planning.
Is this being in the right place at the right time?
In this example I was on the beach at least 1/2 hour before sunrise (and it is 1.5 hour drive from home) . I had the right gear, and knowledge, to record this this unplanned image. The shooters were a bit more prepared as they had a very powerful torch to help with focussing (very difficult in the dark) and composition.



However is this not a photograph?
Taken on vacation - no pre planning except to be on site (~10,000 mile or 16,000 km from home) and to capture interesting scenes as a tourist. My only skills were having the ability to capture the image and post process it.

[Doug Sundseth]

Oh yay, another equivocation debate.

Ya'll have fun.

[RLucas]

True photography is evil. It steals souls.

[andyw]

Take your pick

photography (fəˈtɒɡrəfɪ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
—n
1. the process of recording images on sensitized material by the action of light, X-rays, etc, and the chemical processing of this material to produce a print, slide, or cine film
2. the art, practice, or occupation of taking and printing photographs, making cine films, etc


Anything else is just personal opinion (bovine scatology)

[puts on silly top hat of seriousness]

Well, Good Sir, I do say the topic is one of--.....ZzzzzZZZzzzzzzzzz






*already bored and don't care*

[NathanFranke]

pho·tog·ra·phy n \fə-ˈtä-grə-fē\
the art or process of producing images by the action of radiant energy (esp. visible light) on a sensitive surface (as film or a CCD chip) (Merriam-webster)

It doesn't matter the skill, talent, or training of the user, if they can click the shutter release then they are making photographs. That's kind of why it's so popular--it's pretty much immediately accessible to anyone. Learning to draw is hard--the first cameras were indeed just tools to aid people in drawing or painting (pen[cil] on paper/paint on canvas). Reference Camera Obscura and Camera Lucida. The one was a dark room that the subject had to sit outside, the other could be taken out in the field and clamped to anything. Both were just drawing aids.

If you're trying to come up with the authoritative definition of "what is art as it relates to photography," then good luck. The jury's still out on "what is art," and they've been deliberating for at least 17,000 years.

It's always going to be a personal definition. My own definition of art is: "a work in 2-d or 3-d media that illicits an emotional response (usually pleasant) and/or encourages the viewer to consider the subject in a novel or unique way." If Aunt Betty with her SureShot takes a picture of a tomato she just pulled from her windowsill planter that makes me rethink the whole concept of tomato, is that any different then Ed Weston and his bell peppers? She's not using a view camera and hand processing the b/w prints--does that make her image worth less?

Finally, I submit these two images. Which one is Art? Are they both Art? Does neither one qualify?

[Jonbar18]

Photography=imaging of light.

[SwissJon]

How long is a piece of string? What is string? Who says? What gives them the right to define string as such? What is length?

You can't ask a subjective question and expect objective answers. Simply, photography is whatever you want it to be.