Photographic Fantasies

What is the purpose of photography in the 21st century? Do you see it as an art form or just a way to record events? I see a lot of talk on line about how photographs can't be trusted to record actual events because they can be doctored, using software like Photoshop. In fact "to photoshop" has become a generic verb for altering a picture.  What many people don't realize is that photos have always been a reflection of the eye of the photographer. It doesn't take fancy software to change perception; the angle, the lens compression, even the lighting, all work to change the image. This is why no two photographers will take exactly the same picture, even of a celebrity or a well known landmark.

For many creative photographers, Photoshop is a magical tool! I use it to create fantasies like the picture shown here for my young clients using licensed digital assets (the wings, the background) but there are true masters out there who create art from beginning to end. A few years ago, I was privileged to watch a demonstration by Richard Wood, the New Zealand artist. He took pictures of a model on stage before a live audience, which he then composited into a fantastic image of Joan of Arc. He demonstrated that the vision must come first, although the end result is more fluid. In the case of my little picture, I had my model look into an empty firepit and pretend it was a wishing well. Emily is a budding actress, so she was right on board with the idea!

Long before the days of computers or digital cameras, photographers took pictures which reflected their vision. In those early days, portraits were very stiffly posed and formal, mainly because the subject had to stand still for several minutes while the plate was exposed to light. The photographer then had to use a variety of messy and dangerous chemicals to fix the image on the plate. You had one shot at an image. An early photographer that I admire is the Victorian artist, Julia Margaret Cameron.  She picked up a camera for the first time in 1863 at the age of 48. This was the era of the romantic poets and Pre-Raphaelite painters, many of whom were part of her social circle at Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight. As well as portraits of her famous friends, she created illustrative studio portraits, using her family and servants as models, to illustrate Idylls of the King (a series of poems about King Arthur and his knights) by her friend, the poet Tennyson. Dressing her models in costumes, she posed them to illustrate the stories in the poems. Her work stands out for many reasons: she was a woman in a craft dominated by men, she showed women in a sympathetic and emotional way and she turned the tableaux beloved by the Victorians into permanent pieces of art. 

Digital photography continues to change an an ever accelerating rate! To keep up, we need to be in a constant learning mode.  Photoshop updates their programs all the time and each new camera does more than the last. Cell phone cameras are a real alternative for everyday photography as well as offering fun effects with the click of a button. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is behind those filters you apply to your cell phone picture to make you look like a reindeer, is also behind the  Photoshop effects that enable you to easily replace the sky or remove objects from your picture. There are even AI programs now that will create a whole picture from a few key words. Is that art? The verdict is still out.