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The Photograph As Fine Art By Graham Clarke

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Graham Clarke, in his book “The Photograph as Fine Art”, states that “photography can be considered as fine art”; which is a statement that I entirely agree with. People all over the world take photos everyday, so why is someone considered an artist while the other is just a person taking photographs? A lot of characteristics differentiate an artist from a hobbyist or a memory collector, such as the ability to properly execute his artistic visions and capture them in an photograph. Another characteristic is how he chooses to structure his photograph and how he positions the objects inside the frame. Artists observe their surroundings in a different way and capture moments in creative and beautiful photographs. “There is a major difference between a snapshot and a photograph. A snapshot captures a moment in time; a photograph captures the emotions, feelings, and beauty from that moment in time”1.
When straight photography came out in the early 20th century, it was a revolutionary approach to taking photographs that justly gave photography its own place in the world of art and far away from paintings. Straight photography encourages the purity of tone and vision and is strongly against any manipulation done to the photos after taking it.
As Graham describes its approach in saying: “Speaking against manipulation, as such, it distinguishes photography from painting as a unique medium in its own right with its own unique possibilities”2.
Edward Weston (1886-1958) is one of
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