I am regularly surprised by some of the images captured by my digital camera and have occasionally got myself into hot water in certain circles by proclaiming that a 'proportion' of some 'art' photography today is more a gift of the 'medium' rather than the product of the genius of the photographer. I've had many heated debates on this issue with colleagues and peers and struggled, like generations before me, to explain why certain types of photography is called 'art' and others, not. I have no intention of getting into this debate here, it resurfaced today when I was deleting some images from a compact camera I use for teaching. I discovered I'd taken some photos a while ago with the camera in 'manual mode' using long exposures and exaggerated camera-shake. The above is one from the set. I'm not trying to say that this is art but it is a good example of a gift of the medium for me. Firstly the colour, not enhanced in PS by-the-way, but the result of a long exposure taken hand-held in tungsten lighting. I love that deep red and warm yellow mix. The ghostly figure is my daughter peering into the camera lens but not staying still long enough for clarity to be established. I have dozens of this type of image and I am not promoting them as samples of creative photographic practice, however, I'm reluctant to subject them to the delete button treatment. They have their place and they have their value.
Photo: Taken with a Canon G9 compact camera.
