Photography is an incredible medium for capturing memories, sports and events. Is, however, photography art? Today, on #worldartday, I will emphatically and positively say that well…maybe!

Far be it for me to define what “art” is. My own home features a mix of oil paintings, photography and mixed medium pieces. So, for me, something becomes art when you hang it on your wall to gaze upon and ponder or simply to enjoy. But how have the great artists of history defined what they do?

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” – Edgar Degas Wow! I can so relate to this pronouncement. I have been asked multiple times what I see when I set out to create images. In trying to answer that question, I have come to realize that I tend to focus on smaller details of an otherwise larger view. Rather than the grandeur of large landscape, I am typically drawn to a fraction of the whole. When I can successfully pull that detail out for others to see, I suppose that becomes “art.”

“The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel.” – Piet Mondrian. So true! The images that I make are simply reflections of the world around me. I may put a different perspective on them or perhaps make a twist on the palate, but I am not the creator of the beauty that grabs my eye, just the channel.

“No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.” – Oscar Wilde. This brings to the forefront an interesting question I often receive: “did you enhance that photo?” Every single image that I create for a show, display or sale is “enhanced” in some way. I use light, texture, and color grading on all of my images to render them in a way that I desire. Not a single of my images is “point and shoot.” For some people, this seems to be a sacrilege to some – as if photography must be to document rather than create. Perhaps this is the critical juncture for what is art.

“If I were called upon to define briefly the word Art, I should call it the reproduction of what the senses preceive in nature, seen through the veil of the soul.” Paul Cezanne

Wow, Paul. Now that’s something to ponder!!!

Interested in my art? Click HERE to see the gallery