Art, Craft II - Overcoming the Wow Factor

I've been involved in digital imaging and graphics since the early 80's and have seen the trends and technologies from their earliest days. A lot of what I see in the way of "crimes" is based upon the "play" factor. Folks get a new toy and really want to have a little fun with it. They make several basic assumptions and start to throw features at their Photos till they in essence kill the image ... Call it a Cool or Wow factor. Hopefully as time goes by they temper that Wow response and start to actually learn something about the reason behind the existence of some of the features they are playing with and can refine their technique.

Think back to the early days of DTP when people started playing with hundreds of fonts on their pages. Talk about visual clutter ... some horrible Typographic crimes were committed in the name of DTP. Time eventually helped temper that impulse too, that and the fact that some people actually realized that having the tools didn't make you a designer.

I feel that with digital photography, the toys themselves provide an immediacy which classical photography doesn't reaaly have. It is this immediacy which betrays the art. In order for the user to learn they have to overcome the "wow" response and actually learn about the art itself. The art's history and traditions are something which these digital photographers will have to explore. This is as much true for photography as it was for the digital artist to learn how to draw and paint before they worked on a computer. It's not the tools that are important ... its the reasoning behind the use of the tools. Once this reasoning can be applied judiciously then the photographer will learn to appreciate the full scope of all the new options they have at their command. They can in effect capture, edit and output their images and do some justice to them.

You have to, in essence, show them the difference ... once they see the difference it opens up a whole new world to them and there's the rub, most folks really don't understand that vital difference the Art vs Craft. Learning the craft is difficult by itself and is a real journey in itself. The Art can really only be explored once you have enough of the craft under your belt to appreciate the possibilities. The Art is found in the expression and the application of the craft.

Photography as Art is about mastering the craft and creating images which match closely what is in your minds eye. Ansel Adams preached the concept of "Previsualisation" and it is as much about understanding your medium as it is about context.