Just Saying (7/20/2011)
If the majority of your portfolio consists of compositions you know have been made by others before you; please don’t refer to yourself as “the artist”. You haven’t earned it.
Category: Just Saying
Guy Tal Books
© Guy Tal Photography Journal 2012. All rights reserved.
Thanks Guy. Here’s a thought, though. If one is an aspiring photographer, and a particular image strikes you, isn’t it acceptable to shoot that composition? Will it not still be unique because it is yours?
You do seem to come down on this artist description folks chose to label themselves and for the most part I understand and can agree. One of the first things any aspiring person who has a goal of becoming an artist should practice is to take themselves seriously, to believe in themselves and their chosen craft. To treat yourself anything less than your goal is to not be committed to attaining it.
That being said the term is thrown around like old hat and most seem to think all the have to do is put a label on a website and presto they are an artist. Is there a reason anyone should think of themselves as an artist or is this ultimately up to history to decide, then again it will just be another person deciding who or who is not worthy of such a description.
So is this best left up to strangers or should one take control of their own destiny portraying their own desires to become who they want.
Thanks Guy for the thought provocations.
Hmm, I have PDF portfolios on my blog and when I read something like this I always find myself wondering, Do I do that?
lol I hate that word.
I think the actual definition of an artist does not stipulate their work must be original. Most artists copy. After saying that, you could always add the word Bad or unoriginal or boring before artist and then it might be more accurate. Or in my own description not a great artist
jk……I mean bad……
I really enjoy this feature of your blog, Guy. This short statement says so much. But… I really want to hear more of your thoughts on this topic.
In many of your comments on this and related topics, you seem to focus on copying compositions. I would be interested to hear how you think about or draw the line when it comes to copying or being “inspired by” things like techniques or an approach to a scene. If someone seeks out a scene with layers of colorful foliage because they have been inspired by your images of such scenes but do not seek to recreate your exact composition, the work is still derivative but could be original or unique. How do you think about the boundaries of creating derivative work and the line between inspiration versus imitation? If you have more to say on this topic, I would be interested to hear about your thoughts in a future post.
Thanks for the insightful comments, everyone!
Lesli: there’s nothing wrong with copying or mimicking in the process of learning. All artists do it as part of their development. It’s also acceptable as “fair use” by copyright laws. Still, this doesn’t make the resulting image an original creation. Think of someone trying to learn to play the piano and rehearsing “Chopsticks” over and over again. Can any them claim to own it?
Brad, it’s a good question. I don’t think it should be left up to strangers. A writer, musician or plumber will not leave it to others to guess what it is they do or aim to achieve. Why would an artist?
Charlie, the problem is not so much the formal definition as social convention. If someone copies a popular song, or the written/painted work of another and tries to pass it as their own, they will be met with public scorn, if not a lawsuit. For some reason the same doesn’t apply to photography due to a perception that the image is just a rendition of the subject and nobody owns the subject. This is a very limited and ignorant view of creative photography and what I hope to dispel.
Sarah, those are excellent questions and well worth a separate blog post. I’ll put it on my list to address in the next few weeks. Off the top of my head, I’ll say that if the technique IS the subject, then it should fall under the same category as composition.
Guy
Amen!