Frost

Love the depth and 3D effect in that image, Martin. Nice job!!
 
Reminds me of what Paul Strand tried to do. Irrepressibly.

But your picture is better.

I know, I know . . . but as Sherlock Holmes said, "I tell you it is so."
 
Paul Strand and Alfred Stieglitz had something extra that made possible their contributions to photography.

Private Income.

Funny how that ingredient can compensate for so many things . . .
 
Well, a lot of the masters had to work for living. Both Weston and Adams did a considerable amount of commercial work. Atget was hired to do at least some of his Paris work as I recall. In my humble opinion, the two greatest portraitists of our time were Avedon and Karsh, and both primarily worked for hire. It's funny how what starts out as "commercial" work becomes "art" with the test of time ...
 
Yes but those folks weren't as righteous and self-serving as Strand and Stieglitz. It's easy to martyr yourself for a cause if you have some magical private income.

I like plenty of Stieglitz's work, never cared for anything Strand did. Glad I don't have to be in the same room with either of them.

Good work is good work; interesting pictures are compelling and often wonderful. Labels aren't relevant. Lots of "fine art" photographs bore me to tears . . .
 
Let’s not forget that Michaelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo worked for clients for money. That was bespoke art. Things have changed. Nowadays art is readymade and you get whatever the artist chooses to produce.

Photography is a manufacturing process, just as casting and painting are. Some castings and some arrangements of paint may be called art, just as some writing may be called poetry.
My own perfectly clear definition is that art is what artists make and artists are people who make art.
 
George Braque hit the nail on the head when he said you can explain everything about art except the bit that matters. My take from this is that if a work - a painting, a photograph - doesn't have an inexplainable bit that matters at it's heart, then it ain't art.
Not that it matters....

Alan
 
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