Dream Sequence Revisted

A lot of people don't consider photography an art.  It's too simple.  They don't think that it takes the same talent or training that is required to say...paint a picture or throw a pot or blow glass.  Art is supposed to be creative.  Art is supposed to look like something that can hang on the wall or sit on a table.  Any Joe Schmo can pick up a camera and take a picture of a sunset or an ocean or a kid.  You didn't make it.  You didn't create it from nothing.  It was there in front of you and you took a picture of it.  What's art about that?  That's not art.  It's barely a hobby.

And I say this because I've given a lot of thought recently to this craft of photography and my participation in it.  There are so many different aspects to it, it's almost dizzying .  You can be a wedding photographer.  A portrait photographer.  A documentary photographer.  A journalistic photographer.  A sports photographer.  You can focus your energy on nature.  On color.  On the abstract.  Just last night on the news I heard some guy refer to himself as a wildlife photographer.  It's whatever you want to be.  If you want to make money, of course, you go with the wedding/portrait thing.  And those that do will tell you that it's not about art for them.  Photographing you is about capturing your best, and I believe that.  I've tried it and I wish I could do it.  But, that's not the kind of photographer that I am, because these images are my art.  And, as much as I hate the saying, it is how I express myself.  I look through the lens and I create something that no one knew was there.  Sometimes it's beautiful.  Sometimes it's weird.  Sometimes it's why would you do that?  But no matter what it is, it's mine.  It's my extension.  And I don't want to justify it, or defend it, or feel badly about it.  I just want it to be accepted.  And I want to be accepted for creating it.  And, I would love it, if only for a moment, it was thought of as amazing.