Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/10/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]D Khong wrote: > During a recent discussion with a friend who takes mainly salon style > photography, he said that street photography is not artistic photography > because it breaks too many rules of composition, lighting, etc. > > I said that as long as street photography (including candid and some forms > of documentary photography) captures the essence of life and the heartbeat > of the environment and does not appear grossly badly taken in terms of say > horizon, exposure, perspective, it is an artform in itself. Art has no rules, only prevailing conventions, but these are moving targets. Willem de Koonig's paintings have a raw energy to them, and the heavy brushstrokes are by no means random or sloppy, however much a person might be tempted to compare them with the work of a 5 year-old. As such, I'd call it "art" even though I don't really understand his works very well, and do not find them pretty in any conventional sense of the word. On the other hand, crap run through strict artistic formulae is still crap, but now it's *pretentious* crap! - -- Jeff Segawa Boulder, Colorado www.boulder.net/~4season