Photographer’s profession. A merchant or an artist?
The professionalization of artist’s work itself could endanger his own fertileness. Combining a professional approach with art is a hell of a task. There’s a high risk of developing mediocre and repetitive art.
The risks within photography
Choosing a single scheme of photography, you exclusively develop the skills of its application. In case you stay within the lines, you could get a hold of a fallacious impression of being perfect. Such feelings are being strengthened by the viewers, who make most of the trend, picked up by the artist. Such loop within one’s own scheme could bring the author low, making him become a merchant, who reproduces the same images.
Nowadays, merchant photographers have become a part of social systems. They carry out the work, aimed at wide scope of viewers. A merchant does his best to satisfy the clients, having their needs in mind, not crossing the line set by the society. On the other hand, an artist photographer is not fettered at all and can feel free to create. He could fully express himself and present his art beyond the influence of the society and neither does he pay attention to the viewer’s desires nor copies the achievements of other artists. Such approach grants him unlimited freedom of creativity, which however, sometimes could be unapprehend to the commonalty of the society familiar with certain schemes.
The vast majority of talented artists put the needs of the viewers over their own style and development. Such practice slows down the development of art and the artists themselves, making them stop searching for the means of expression. Art becomes less important and the expectations of the viewers start to play the first fiddle.
The fusion between the creator and the viewer is the direction of photography development
Knowledge and its utilization allow you to combine those two totally different worlds. The need of expressing oneself trough the art and giving the viewers exactly what they need. It requires great labor input and involvement within the scope of commercial photography, as well as, within a pure artistic approach.
The boundaries of art are blurred. Over time, the growing works of future generations could turn out to be a distinctive course, shaping particular era. The division and categorization of a person, who professionally deals with photography, is a tough nut to crack, no to mention the fact that artist’s activity involves both the creator and the viewer, so the work itself is a consciously made element of esthetical perception. A photographer capable of combining own expression with the needs of the viewers, can call himself an artist and a merchant, simultaneously.
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