Film and Photography
Film and Photography has changed dramatically over the decades, from the camera obscura, pinhole, lomography and now we are at an age where almost everybody in the world has the means to make films and photographs in their pockets. Since the means of making filmic and photographic art are still so readily available, the rarity and uniqueness of the media has been greatly diluted. This makes it harder for artists to establish themselves, on the other hand this also means ; because there is more competition that art pieces are becoming more and more exceptional. I will be looking at how this affects modern art and whether or not I believe this art form has attributed to it.
Although it is argued the use of photographs are not as diligent as traditional art forms such as painting or sculpting, it has opened up a whole new breed of art; which documents and “captures, instantaneous fleeting moments”. Photography gives a take on perspective that cannot be captured by hand and because of digitalised nature of the media, allows the photographer or film-maker an almost unlimited amount of versatility through editing. Francis Firth called the use of photography “an attribute” I very much agree with him. The use of photography has been a prominently useful tool throughout history, many artists used photographs to capture a scene or portrait to be draw or painted later thus extending their time-scale. I have used photography and film in my own work. I find
Abbott finds that extensive post-processing often inhibits the creativity of photographers (182). Instead, creativity in photography lies in the selection of significant content, which differs between photographers (Abbott, 183). A good photograph should be a strong statement with direct connection to reality; otherwise it will be worthless regardless of its artistic merits. Thus photographers should strive to develop a keen perspective to pick relevant content. Good photographs are also good documents, as evidenced by earlier works that have survived (Abbott, 184).
Meanwhile, photography as a commodity in the industrial world at that time, its status in galleries and museums is determined by the price it sells, which means the higher the price is, the higher position it stands. This situation increases the gap between this photography and another type of photography, which works simply for exposing abuses caused by jobs, races, sex, social classes and etc. that people are unfamiliar to accept and consume.
It is a debate that has been going on for years and years, especially in the twenty first century, of which medium in photography is superior, Film or Digital, Personally I use both, I will be discussing the issue over the length of this paper. Going through positives and negatives around both the processes, and techniques associated with the forms of photography.
When photography began to gain not only popularity, but accessibility, it became a topic of discussion on its place in art. Whether if it should be considered a fine art or whether its place lied in documentation. However, even with documentation, a broad assumption was that there could be an immediate trust. Gardner’s Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter proved that was not always the case, that although documenting the truth of the brutality of the Civil War. The addition of the shotgun that added the idea of fighting until the last minute was actually fabricated creating a disillusion. That photography is meant to depict a standstill truth subject, but viewers of photography can forget that it is still an artwork. That a photo is an image set and
The photograph is a very powerful medium. The French painter Paul Delaroche exclaimed upon seeing an early photograph “from now on, painting is dead!” (Sayre, 2000). Many critics did not take photography seriously as a legitimate art form until the 20th century. With the
Before photography was considered a medium of personal art, it was used for the sole purpose of portraiture. Carte de visites, daguerreotypes, and even tintypes were all used as a way to convey a person’s physical appearance into a print. As camera technology evolved, so to did the way photographers take portraits. It skipped from a stale faced man behind a backdrop to colorful and interesting photographs taken of people from all walks of life. Three of the innovators of modern portraiture are Robert Mapplethorpe, Irving Penn and Diane Arbus. These photographers changed the public appearance or ordinary people and celebities while integrating their own original ideas.
No matter it’s effect, photography was and is very pivotal throughout society. Photography can be a beautiful but yet haunting form of art. It displays an image which is characterizing
As early as mid-nineteenth century, astute observers were anticipating the consequences of the Graphic Revolution. Before the Civil War, a young Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote in The Atlantic Monthly that the advent of photography would separate form from reality. He said the “image would become more important than the object itself, and would in fact make the object disposable.”3
“Photography can never grow up if it imitates some other medium. It has to walk alone; it has to be itself.” – Berenice Abbott.
The beginning of 20th century was a time of drastic change. New developments were made in the arenas of the classical sciences, social science, psychology and philosophy - each challenging traditional thought. Industrialization and the introduction of many new, challenging concepts in the fields of politics as well as the development of new technologies gave artist more freedom to innovate and break the rules of traditional art. By using new materials, techniques and the new approach artists were pushing boundaries of what has previously been accepted art practice in order to invent radically new styles.
With images, words, and sounds been almost endlessly reproduced and distributed, various critics of modern culture suggest that traditional ideas about art and authenticity are no longer applicable. The problem is said to have been noticed back in the 1930s in the popular essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction that was concerned about what would happen to the “aura” of unique works of art when photography and other techniques if anybody could make unlimited copies of images. With the rise of digital technology, copying ability became vast and complex and hence the idea of originality is thrown into
Photographs are also manifestations of time and records of experience. Consequently, writings on photographic theory are filled with references to representations of the past. Roland Barthes (1981, 76), for instance,
Film Industry has been expansively affected by the changes in technology. The mechanical and digital innovations give cause to the influence of equipment, distribution and the way in which films are made and consumed. New trends shape directors and filmmakers to expand creatively towards telling stories in motions. The film industry has developed to one of the most important tools of communication, it's cause so powerful affecting the way individuals and societies think, act and behave. Among the new Era approaching film, and seeing celluloid film fade is that of the Digital Era and a camera that saw celluloid films passing hastened.
Between the use of film or digital photography, film is the more effective method when looking for originality and creativity. With the adoption of digital photography, the younger generations, as well as the older and more current photographers are becoming lazy. These groups must recognize that the art of the photograph is being jeopardized by the digital camera and the camera phone. For the current photographers as well as amateur photographers, this essay will serve as testimony to film as well as other chemical methods, and how they shouldn’t be ignored, but preferred. The digital era has had a massive impact on the art world and all of its mediums, but for photography this impact has resulted in the removal of the human from the photograph making process. This intimate process is what makes it an art form. All of films imperfections and unique qualities, as well as its monetary value and scarcity are just a few factors that have made it so precious. To replace this entire process with a microchip is offensive and undermines the importance of the process that is needed to make a photograph. Anyone can take a picture but you must make a photograph, and this skill is being simplified to a digital camera. The impact of the digital era on photography has hindered the process of making a photograph; painting the art form obsolete in today’s society.
Art critic Robert Hughes once said, “People inscribe their histories, beliefs, attitudes, desires and dreams in the images they make.” When discussing the mediums of photography and cinema, this belief of Hughes is not very hard to process and understand. Images, whether they be still or moving, can transform their audiences to places they have either never been before or which they long to return to. Images have been transporting audiences for centuries thanks to both the mediums of photography and cinema and together they gone through many changes and developments. When careful consideration is given to these two mediums, it is acceptable to say that they will forever be intertwined, and that they have been interrelated forms of