Re: Namecalling..

[P3D Gregory J. Wageman <gjw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Mike K. employs sarcasm to make his point:

>Then it's a complete waste of time to try and improve one's photography
>or to even bother to take off the lens caps, because the result will
>be as good as any other no matter what the image is?

>Hey!  This is easy!  

I've been trying not to get sucked into this, but...

As a photographer, I strive to improve my skills in getting the image
I envisioned when looking at a scene onto the film in precisely the
way I envisioned it.  I still don't always succeed, but it is very
gratifying when I do.  This is the craft element of photography.

One can certainly judge a photograph objectively on the basis of proper
exposure, correct focus, and lack of camera shake.  We've all seen our
share of grainy, underexposed, out-of-focus, shaken snapshots.  To call
the work of an Ansel Adams the equal of Aunt Martha's blurry snaps is
an insult to anyone who has bothered to learn to use a camera properly.

(Of course one can deliberately choose to use under/overexposure, lack
of focus or camera shake as an element of a photograph.  The key words
here are "deliberately" and "choose".  One first learns the "rules",
and why they are the "rules", before one can transcend them.)

The determination of whether what I do is "Art", however, is best left
to somebody else.  I just take pictures.

	-Greg

P.S.  I'm also a musician and a songwriter.  I write songs.  I don't
      "make art".  Any "artist" who sets out to "make art" will probably
      make junk.  "Art" is what happens while you're busy doing something
      else.


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