The Golf of the Art World
Posted by: sdo in Color, Photography, tags: Color, Personal Philosophy, PhotographyA friend of mine told me something once about why he loves golf.
What he said was something along the lines of “every so often you hit the ball, and just know that you’ve hit it as well as a professional would. That is a good feeling”.
Ok, that version isn’t even close, but it captures the spirit of the quote.
In that light, I would like to describe photography as the “Golf of the Art World”. Even a total beginner can pick up a camera, get a lucky shot, and have it be one of the best images you have ever seen. This is an exciting thought. At any time, there is a chance that anyone might make a photograph that will just take your breath away.
My photography professor would have a slightly different take. He described photography as a democratic art form. It really is open to everyone to enjoy as they wish. Taking a good photograph is not hard, but painting and drawing can be somewhat difficult and require skill and talent that not everyone will have.
Case in point:
(click on image for full size)
While looking through my very old photos, I came across this one. Yes, that is me, but this is from my 1997 trip to France. I hardly even look like that guy anymore.
I remember setting up the framing on this image, but at the same time, I obviously did not take it. And it came out fantastic, even if it was a disposable Kodak panoramic camera (I long ago lost the original image and the negative is who knows where, but this old scan was sitting on the hard drive of my college laptop). Even still, it is one of my favorite pictures I have of myself. As you can probably assume, I an more often the one behind the camera than in front of it. It means I end up as the group archivist, and the one who rarely appears in the images. A role I personally prefer, but I digress.
Anyone has the chance, at any point, to take an image that is as good or better than a pro would take. But a pro will be more consistent.
-sdo
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