Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/06/12

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Snapshots vs 'art'
From: "Felix Lopez de Maturana" <fmaturana@euskalnet.net>
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2003 15:49:20 +0200

>Snapshots have a lot of potential to have meaning to the subject and 
>even to other viewers.  They are unposed, unarranged, poorly lit, 
>ragged, wrinkled, and sometimes even tired, but they capture the
moment.
>
>What does not capture the moment or have any affective potential is 
>99.99% of what calls itself "fine-art" photography or "professional 
>photography."  I am always amazed at how people who photograph for a 
>living bill themselves.  It seems that the more mediocre the 
>photography, the worse the hyperbole (hope I'm not appropriating any 
>real trademarks, but you get the idea):

Dante

I cannot agree. If it's true that any pictures "capturing the moment"
mainly of human beeing acting are interesting, see HCB, that cannot
exclude many other ways of photographying in many other diverse styles.
If they are art or not it's a different question but I do not believe
that the main reason of shooting a camera is for producing art. In my
case my camera(s) is/are for producing a graphic memory (much more than
a souvenir) that gives me a pleasure when regarding them again and, more
important, for the pleasure of shooting a camera independing of the
output. Beeing an amateur I have made, for a friend, the Major of my
city, two portfolios, actually published and remunerated, and I have
found my pleasure during these works to be intact. None of the works
were "capturing the moment" but capturing the reality in images. BTW I
must be the only member in the list who does not shoot, practically
never, B&W. I hope I have not to go out of the list as a heretic...

Kind regards

Felix


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