Fine Photography Art
Past, Present and Future
When it comes to fine photography art there are many different interpretations so I find it a good idea to start with the definitions from Wikipedia that I agree most:
Artistic or Journalistic?
- "Art photography": "photography that is done as a fine art -- that is, done to express the artist's perceptions and emotions and to share them with others"
- "Artistic photography": "A frequently used but somewhat vague term. The idea underlying it is that the producer of a given picture has aimed at something more than a merely realistic rendering of the subject, and has attempted to convey a personal impression"
Steichen's Expensive Photo
A good introduction to fine art photography starts with Edward Steichen in the early 1900s, which is pretty early in any discussion of photography outside of how it was invented. Steichen was a master of both art and photography. The proof of that today is the multi million-dollar price paid for his photograph titled The Pond-Moonlight. My favorite photograph of his from is The Flat Iron Building dated 1904. Steichen also helped create the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession with Alfred Stieglitz, another early master.
Aperture Magazine
Other early artistic photographers of note include Nancy Newhall, Beaumont Newhall, Ansel Adams, Paul Strand, Edward Weston, Brett Weston, Minor White, Eliot Porter, Helen Levitt, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lisette Model and Barbara Morgan. Probably the most widely respected, if not the oldest magazine of its kind, is Aperture. Today it is a nonprofit arts institution dedicated to advancing fine photography art by publishing a magazine and books.
Digital Revolution
Photography Art is not just something from the past; actually it is quite the opposite. In fact Aperture magazine is said to be "a permanent testimonial to the great photographers of our time." Today it is easy to find art posters of Ansel Adams’ black and white photography in most web art galleries with prints from the well-known photographers for sale.
Stock Agencies
The surge of output from digital photographers has led to a huge growth in photography art from record numbers of photographers. Stock agencies have huge inventories from landscape photography to abstract art.
Yosef Karsh and Celebrities
Artistic Portraits in photography has also become very popular because it is generally much less expensive than paint media. That does not mean these portraits are necessarily cheap but it is more accessible and quality tends to be good. One of the earlier portrait photographers of note was Yousuf Karsh (sometimes spelled Yosef Karsh). He is famous because of his portrait of Winston Churchill but he did many other celebrities as well as public figures and I greatly admire his artwork. Karsh is one of the early portrait photographers that raised photography to an art form.
New Style Darkrooms
The digital cameras also opened up another dimension of photography because of the software such as Adobe’s Photoshop can be used to manipulate an image to make it look better. Photographers have always used devices and techniques to improve or somehow change the image produced inside the camera. For example, I’ve spent hundreds of hours in darkrooms and “pushing” the film’s development or dodging and burning the paper under the enlarger were all in an effort to make the final result look its best. Skilled digital photographers and software technicians have developed their own art forms using products like Photoshop to enhance their photographic art.
See Your Photos on the HDTV
The term “multimedia” has been around for a long time but new delivery systems for showing photographic images are constantly being introduced. As a simple example I have burned a DVD with some of my favorite pictures and run it on my flat screen HDTV at a decent resolution. For me it is even more fun than those little digital photo frames. I feel part of the future in photography will be how images are viewed and enjoyed.
Other Art of Interest to Photography Art
Web Gallery of Art
The Web Gallery of Art has Psychedelic art, Bicycle Art, King Kong Art, Photography Art, Graffiti Art, ASCII Art, Life Magazine Covers, and Landscape Art.
Psychedelic Art & Album Art
Psychedelic Art & Album Art advertised music and concerts and a lifestyle with LSD.
Bicycle Art
Bicycle Art started in paintings and posters but in reality includes the beauty of bikes themselves as artwork.
Life Magazine Covers
This collection of glamorous Life Magazine Covers has Robert Redford, Johnny Cash, Route 66, Christian Dior Dress, Ballroom Dancers for sale.
Landscape Paintings
The landscape paintings art gallery features a variety of styles, places and colors that should not be missed.
Art Deco Jewelry
Vintage Art Deco jewelry is one of the most exciting areas of antique art development. It started in France using geometrical design forms and bright colors.
Art Deco Furniture
The vintage Art Deco furniture movement started in France so design could abolish the curve and move away from foreign influences.
King Kong Art
King Kong Art is inspired by the greatest monster in motion picture adventure movies. The final scene with Fay Wray on the Empire State building in New York is a classic.
Graffiti Art
Create your own colorful graffiti art by typing in your text and save the image to your computer free.
ASCII Art Gallery
The ASCII Art Gallery is more than symbols because it is communication in text and other ASCII art small messages that expressing emotions.
See Doug's Art
To check out other artwork (including sexy shoes) by Doug Dourgarian and see more links for his online art gallery click here for his web gallery of art .
Related Pages
Be sure to see more of Doug's Shoe Art in the High Heels Gallery .
The New York City Art Prints gallery can be found on this page.
The Andy Warhol Art information can be found on this page.
Click here to leave Photography Art for more links to artistic styles, artists and their online art galleries, art prints and art posters. Browse the links found at the bottom of Home Page.
