russell

I recently wrote the following as part of a letter to a friend…

And if I may offer an opinion, take it or leave it, as you will, but it’s from a working photographer. I hear a lot of bile, mostly and most loudly from successful pros, about the “integrity of the image”. This somehow implies that Photoshop (and other digital apps) and the like are not part of the process and that’s factually ignorant and rather arbitrarily elitist. And don’t get me wrong, I’m all about elitism. I think that the democratization of photography ushered in by the digital era has been a wondrous thing. That said, I think that it is now all the more important for those among us who truly work at the craft to be recognized as standing apart from the weekend warriors and the wannabes. Nothing wrong with those folks but a DSLR and camera bag does not a photographer make any more than standing in a garage makes me a car.

So, and this is just my opinion, unless you’re a journalist I think anything you do is part of the process and valid as long as it’s done with the same artistic eye and competent craftwork. The argument put forth by some that somehow only images that flow magically from the camera, uncropped, unadjusted and untouched by digital pinkies are sacred is bullshit. Digital manipulation is no different than many of the darkroom techniques of the much heralded olden days. I know, I originally built my reputation in the photograph world as printer. I think most of the time the people who espouse these ideas are those whom, for some reason, feel keeping techniques secret or off-limits somehow protects their status.

An artist creates with a wide range of tools no matter what their chosen medium is. An artist who paints with only one brush is no better than one who uses a dozen. I say use whatever tool you have at your disposal and if those tools give your more artistic control to create something that reflects more of your vision and less a simple recording of a moment in time, then so much the better. This is the same argument that the uninformed toss at art of all kinds of things. The only art they recognize as great, usually pedestrian, objective works, are real art. Bullshit. Use whatever you can, use it well, use it judiciously and create amazing photographs. Then you’ll be a photographer.