finding art in my photography

in this day and age of the internet and digital cameras when everyone's hobby is photography and everyone's a 'photographer', the craft that was once difficult and expensive to master is now within reach. there's an explotion of interest and while film sales is taking a nose dive, digital camera and accessories sale is skyrocketing. dozens of photo sharing sites are mushrooming all over the net faster than you say 'cheese'.

while the revolution is an on-going phenomenon, much of the character of this craft has suffered. gone is the anticipation and the excitement of going to your favorite lab and waiting for your film to be developed while half wishing you got the exposures right. darkroom afficionados misses the smell of the chemical and the trial and error messiness of developing their own film. people rarely hone their skills by joining camera clubs, working as an apprentice or having their work critiqued by their peers. in other words, the hard work and labor of love was replaced by quick fixes and complacency. now, when people talk about photography, gear talk dominates the exchanges. it's more of the brand and the megapixels and less of the technique and the discipline. many would rather shoot (and shoot a lot), view, delete or photoshop later. at the end of all these the art in each photograph is lost. i look at on-line galleries and nine of the ten times i open one, i find nothing interesting. incredible landscapes, beautiful faces but sadly without a heart.

i once had an interesting conversation with one of the senior artists of tam-awan village in baguio. in the middle of it, i asked him if he considered photography as an art. he said 'yes'. it was the answer i wanted to hear because i always thought that in general, photography was considered as a lesser art form than say painting and sculpting. some even don't consider it as an art. thinking that way made me feel a little inferior from those who can draw and paint because just as i loved visual art, i myself can't even create a decent figure on the canvass.

i took up photography to at least be able to create something from my imagination or capture a moment or a scene that's beautiful to the eye. i've been (or still am) that kind of photographer, the kind who would settle for a postcard shot instead of seeing beyond the obvious and understanding the true fabric of the place or the event. while it is still a bliss to see the images i captured displayed on other people's desktop wallpapers, friendster galleries and house walls, somehow there's a sense of longing for me to create something unique. i want people to be affected, to move, to think, to interpret, to question, to debate after viewing the images. until that time arrives, i can't call myself an artist or at the very least a photographer.