# Photography isn't art



## unpopular

It's just pressing buttons and turning knobs.

Now.

Let's get the flaming over with so that the party can begin!


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## cgipson1

You must be feeling cantankerous again!

So I will say this.. I agree with you... that YOUR photography isn't ART!


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## 2WheelPhoto

hah!


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## Derrel

Who was that guy that was here for a month or two,and who did all the Leicaflex homage posts, and maintained that since photographs are created using machines, that photography cannot be a fine art?


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## Overread

Oh COME ON! It's not even Friday!!


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## jwbryson1

You can be wrong on a Wednesday too!


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## e.rose

Derrel said:


> Who was that guy that was here for a month or two,and who did all the Leicaflex homage posts, and maintained that since photographs are created using machines, that photography cannot be a fine art?



You're not talking about the dude whose name started with a P... that I can't remember... are you?

He used to talk about how his cameras were manual EVERYTHING and unless you did EVERYTHING manual then you weren't REALLY a photography?

THAT guy?


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## Overread

I remember the guy who was all "Photography isn't art cause you have a direct relationship with the subject" or something like that


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## bentcountershaft

Petralio Prime or something of that nature.  He was fun.


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## Overread

Yeah I think that was his name


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## Derrel

Petraio Prime--yes!!! Good old Pee-Pee!! He was a man of very strong convictions. Passionate.


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## kundalini

*Petraio Prime

*Ran across a thread today that I had a response in and he had responded in it as well.


Damn you Derrel.  I would have had you beat if I hadn't gone back to find a link to his profile.


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## mwcfarms

Lol we spend way too much time on here. Where's the popcorn and bacon?


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## Derrel

mwcfarms said:


> Lol we spend way too much time on here. Where's the popcorn and bacon?



Bacon? You mean there's *BACON??? *I gotta' get me sum uh dat!


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## mwcfarms

I would give you the bacon and see what delish creations you come up with. Hell if I mail it from Canada it still might arrive frozen its so cold right now.


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## kundalini

Bacon flavored popcorn?  Hmmm, you might be on to sumptin' Dee.


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## mwcfarms

Haha gross. I love bacon and love popcorn just not sure I would like them together.


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## e.rose

kundalini said:


> *Petraio Prime
> 
> *Ran across a thread today that I had a response in and he had responded in it as well.
> 
> 
> Damn you Derrel.  I would have had you beat if I hadn't gone back to find a link to his profile.



That dude used to PM me EVERY day.

I dunno if he thought we were gonna be best pals forever or what his deal was.  But he'd always come and try and tell me why he was right and why everyone else was wrong and he'd always go off about Italian music being superior to everything else... at least I think it was Italy he had a boner for... I'm not quite sure, my memory is a bit fuzzy at the moment.


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## Overread

What You got pms!!
I never got pms from him ---- darn it stop being all Miss Popular of the forum!!


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## bentcountershaft

I never got any PMs either.  I'm not sure I'm all that jealous though.


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## e.rose

Overread said:


> What You got pms!!
> I never got pms from him ---- darn it stop being all Miss Popular of the forum!!



I posted a conversation we had once because he pissed me off.  It was one where he claimed that he was intentionally causing all the problems everyone was having in a certain thread, and that pretty much was the straw that broke the camels back.  So I posted the conversation with him, including his confession, but Bike Mike gave me a slap on the wrist for that.    and it got destroyed.

I don't usually do things like that, but that dude was a SERIOUSLY pompous d*ckweed and I couldn't take it anymore.


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## Dr_Totenkopf

Art is more of an interpretation of nature, whereas photography is the exact capture of nature. So I guess you can say that photography is science as much as philosophy is art. But who said that science could not be beautiful.


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## unpopular

WTF? Who invited Overread?


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## unpopular

See. Even William Shatner agrees it's just "click click click click"

[video=metacafe;2391934/shatner_s_playboy_photos/]http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2391934/shatner_s_playboy_photos/[/video]
(no nudity, but perhaps NSFW ... if you're a monk or something)


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## Overread

unpopular said:


> WTF? Who invited Overread?



Wait you mean my invite wasn't just lost in the post?


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## unpopular

It's like when the professor shows up at the party, and nobody ist sure if you should keep the bong out.


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## Josh66

Dr_Totenkopf said:


> whereas photography is the exact capture of nature.


Exact?  Pretty limiting, don't you think?


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## bentcountershaft

unpopular said:


> It's like when the professor shows up at the party, and nobody ist sure if you should keep the bong out.



I need to know which type of bong before making a suggestion.


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## Dominantly

Paper bong.


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## bentcountershaft

I wouldn't be at that party.


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## MLeeK

Hooka bong. Really really big one


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## mishele

Here is that fun thread......lol Just in case you would like to read it again.....:greenpbl:
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-beginners-forum-photo-gallery/207617-art.html


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## Overread

Mish -- all those flower shots are old now - we need new ones!! Go do arty things with the camera


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## mishele

lol
I've been trying to stay away from flowers....lol But here is one just for you......


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## Overread

:mrgreen::mrgreen:
The Mish-flower-effect in full glorious motion! Or rather not motion.


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## Rick Waldroup

mishele said:


> Here is that fun thread......lol Just in case you would like to read it again.....:greenpbl:
> http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-beginners-forum-photo-gallery/207617-art.html



I read that entire thread and I thought Petraio Prime made some valid points.  Not that I necessarily agree with him, but he made a strong argument for his interpretation of photography as not being "art".

Too bad we was banned.  I bet he livened up any thread he was involved in.  Nothing wrong with that.

I still do not know if photography is art.  I do like visiting galleries and looking at photos.  And I collect photo books.  I am just an old snapshooter so my interpretation of photography as art is probably a bit skewed.  Technical perfection in photography, for the most part, is just dreadfully boring.  I need emotion in the photographs I like to look at.  And I try for the same thing in my own photography.  That may mean breaking most of the rules of _excellent photography.  _But I don't care.  Give me an emotional appeal, a depth of understanding- give me a photograph that speaks to my heart and makes me _think- _regardless of how it is produced or what flaws it may contain- then I consider that _art._


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## KenC

Some people spend way too much time arguing about what is or isn't art and too little creating whatever it is they create.  Most of us do whatever interests us and wouldn't change direction based on someone's definition that labeled it "art" or "not art," so what's the point, really?  The images people create are labeled one way or the other after the fact, or often labeled both ways from different sources.  In many cases the determination is influenced by publicists' or the artists' promotional efforts.  It's almost as bad as politics; maybe it's as bad, I don't know.


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## unpopular

I think it's much more useful to think about what is art than what isn't.


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## KenC

unpopular said:


> I think it's much more useful to think about what is art than what isn't.



When you figure out how to do one without doing the other, let me know.


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## unpopular

Just be more inclusive than restrictive, think in terms of "how is this art".


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