Your Camera as a Tool for Expression

I thought I'd write this blog post to explain my role as a photographic artist and my use of the camera as a tool for expression. The term 'photographic artist' was deliberate but I am equally happy calling myself as a photographer though the former really fits what I do.

The picture of this boat gives an example of how software such as Photoshop is blurring the lines between photography and art. The left half is as was shot but the right side has been given a palette knife artistic filter. I could have even applied other techniques to make this more abstract. A program such as Photoshop therefore offers techniques to aid the photographer as well as encourage artistic creativity.

My interest in photography goes way back but I started taking it more seriously over the last few years so really I have come to it from a literary background, itself another mode of creativity and I think if you're creatively-inclined you can channel this in different ways. Just as there are different forms of writing, there are different types of photography and art. In literature you have writers who create works that paint vivid pictures, describe all manner of minutiae right down to the kitchen sink interwoven with characters shifting moods i.e. realist literature, whilst on the other hand you have work that follows completely different 'rules' such as the modernist works of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. What is essential here is that what is written on a page does not necessarily have to follow particular patterns, and it is good to experiment to create new possibilities and effects.

How does this apply to my photography? I think very easily. I am quite happy to use the camera to shoots scenes in the traditional way as I like creating landscapes and such and utilising the functionality of camera setting to create interesting effects via the use of aperture settings, shutter speed, filter choice and so forth. The end result may not be true to what was seen with the naked eye but it doesn't matter, it is a form of expression and a viewpoint on reality. That is why I like to carry this form of expression further in the form of my digital art. The camera, like the keyboard/pen of the writer and the brush of the artist is after all a tool and there are no ten commandments out there saying you should produce your work in particular ways and forms. I am happy with my photography also being a basis for art. The creativity between my photography and my digital art is cross-transferable. I could make some mistakes in my photography that I'm not happy with from that particular viewpoint but wearing my other hat I can see something in that which can spur on an art project.

I believe every photographer can work like this. Not every photographer wishes to do this and this should be respected but for those who hover somewhere between photography and art I would say keep onto your work even if you're not happy with it from a photographic perspective as there may be some value in it as a basis for an artistic piece.

As long as we understand the principles of composition and other visual rules nothing else matters. Feel free to follow and break the rules. Your camera is your tool for expression limited only by your imagination.

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