Day Seven: Editing

Today I was confronted twice with the question, "Isn't that Cheating?"
"Is what cheating?" I asked both times.
"Editing photos. Isn't that cheating?"

What are the objectives in the piece?
What constitutes art
What is the quality?
Its the intent behind the work.
If the artist does not have a foundation to work from, it can't be created from technology alone.
You can't create Dot and her house. You cannot create Zada running around in the rain. One needs to go out and get the raw image.

I had never really thought about this concept before, that editing or manipulating a photographic image could be cheating. I'm also frustrated that I wasn't able to give a good response to this question, which I took as more of an insult at the time. With time to think about it, here is what I came up with today...

One of the many great things about art is that there are virtually no rules. Sure, there are guidelines one can follow to achieve a certain style of artwork. Overall, art can be a scribble on a piece of paper or a coat hanger bent in half. Point being, art is whatever one makes of it and is open to interpretation. People have different artistic styles that they find appealing.  For instance a painter may paint a landscape and choose certain hues of paint and embellish certain elements within the scene to highlight what the artist feels is important in that work. The beauty is that no one needs to follow them in order to be right, because there is no right or wrong to art. Bringing it back to photography, if one believes that a picture should remain the way it was taken, than that is their personal choice that is neither right nor wrong. It is those choices that also bring zest and personality to an artist. The choices they make influence the piece and give it a style that is unique to any other piece of work.

Art is largely an interpretation of what the artist sees. In my editing process, which includes a bit of dodging and burning, I like to highlight and bring attention to what I see so that the observer can look at a picture through my artistic lens.

Above all, a prevailing theme in photography has always been to get the best image that one can. Going back to the origins of photography, different papers, grain, chemicals, lighting and shutter speeds were all taken into account when trying to produce photos for a desired effect. One might use Kodachrome to get deeper deeper reds and yellows, where Ektachrome gives more of a blue tone and Fugifilm gives a heavy purple influence in photographs. A photographer by nature will choose preferred materials in terms of producing the desired affect. This is part of the photography process. This is editing.

I'm glad I was confronted with these questions today, for it has helped me to define photography for myself and further strengthen my personal style in capturing the "Weight of the Moment."

Just something to think about...

-Jax