Taking Crappy Photographs and Calling Them Art

That's one problem with having a photography class that doesn't give much direction. It relies on you, the individual, to create your own syllabus and follow through with assignments until you come up at the end with a printed portfolio and an artist statement of your work.

That's what the Personal Vision class is for. I hate being given lack of direction, but it is necessary. The professor is only there to give us guidance and to keep us on track, make sure we are producing enough work to form a cohesive portfolio at the end. The Personal Vision class is for each student to create our "own" work. Sounds easy enough. But it's not. Trying to create photographs that are unique to us. Creating photographs that do not look like everyone else's. That do not look like any Tom, Dick, Harry or Jane can take the same photo. So not easy. Not in the slightest.

But I am trying. I am trying hard to create more than just a pretty picture.

More than I can say for some of these people in my class. And it's highly irritating. I don't want to walk into the classroom and look at blurry photographs that someone is trying to say is art. Purposeful blur. Ok there IS a difference. There is a difference between purposefully throwing something out of focus and someone taking a photograph NOT on a tripod or not knowing how to use the focus ring. And to call it art? I did NOT pay $2500 to sit in a two and a half hour class to look at fucking blurry photographs. I can take a fucking blurry photograph. I do it on occasion. I do NOT bring them to class.

Then this one takes photographs of boring ass trails. Ok. I can do that but they are the most uninteresting photographs possible. All she did was walk down a trail and photograph what was in front of her. And during the worst time of day EVER to take a photograph. In the middle of the day. And she's a fucking senior? O M F G

I actually do want to create more than the simply beautiful photo to hang up on the wall. It will take a long time. But if I want to make a career out of this eventually, I can't simply have one-hit wonders. Bodies of work are hard, but I'm willing to work at it.

My digital printing class is way cool. I'm learning so many new ways to create better photographs using computer. I have always thought I wanted to keep what was shot straight out of the camera but you know what? Cameras are very limited. VERY. Film and the paper used were limited too, but you had so much control in the darkroom. Well, I'm learning the digital darkroom is similar. You HAVE to use it in order to create the vision you had when you pushed the button. Because, I realize, that what I got in the camera is so not how I saw it, or how I envision the final product. Of course that may mean adjustments and corrections. That I don't mind. I am not a huge fan of extreme manipulation. I am looking at HDR (high dynamic range) photography. Those are awesome. A classmate is doing HDR panoramics for his project. Not to the extreme as some of the professional ones do. Some of them look too "science fiction" for me. But they serve a purpose if that's what they go for. IN a nutshell, it's the digital equivalent to the Zone System for film. Gives you more tonal range and brings details and colors out. Of course I don't want to be extreme so that it looks fake.

I'm learning more and more :)

Some sites for you to browse. I thought I'd pass on places that I am learning about. They are all related to the digital field

http://www.nasheditions.com/

http://www.danburkholder.com/

http://www.stevenkatzmanphotography.com/

http://www.paulericjohnson.com/