I have a friend who's film photography is very different from mine. He prefers old funky film cameras that randomly warp and scratch the film - randomness and accidents make some times for a very peculiar pictures. Just as dolphins given a brush can produce blobs of paint on the canvas (example from my home country) called abstract art, or a child splashing the bucket of paint on a paper. or random pictures we snap in thousands and then select few that look interesting. Is this art (my friend doesn't claim that, this is just me thinking)? Is randomness equal art?
Here is what I think. Art is a creation by the artist. An abstract or random-looking "art" can be a real art if it a result of conscious or even subconscious creation process, thought, dream, nightmare, act of self expression. But the random scratches produced by the dying film camera to me is still a random event, or at best art produced by the camera, not by the photographer. And that is my justification for using cameras where I can create by having a control over the outcome of the exposing the film.
But randomness does at times produce sensory products that have meaning to us - beautiful shapes of clouds, complimentary colors of flowers etc. As long as you do not believe in the conscious creation of art by the universe, I think it is you creating the meaning, therefore creating the art out of randomness.
As fas as dolphins go - it all depends whether you believe in their conscious or subconscious mind being involved in the creation of the "painting". I tend to believe it
But that is art. The photographer is still choosing to allow this to happen to this picture. Otherwise, it wouldn't ever happen.
ReplyDeleteThink about this. Your digital camera. The sensor is manufactured to do certain things. You're not doing it. The sensor is doing it. You're framing it, sure. You're choosing the lens. You chose the setting. But the sensor is actually making the art. Not you.
Now, zoom out (figuratively) and you can see how everything contributes to the final image. Not just your choices, but the chaos that occurs in between. It's all part of the art process.
In fact, if the artist knows something will happen when using a particular camera, isn't that art? Just like an artist knows that a paint brush has a peculiar characteristic when you do "this", and it does something strange when you do "that".