Last month I was interviewed by Ed Wedman from Exhibitions Without Walls. EWW hosts six competitions a year. These are juried contests that seek to promote fine art photographers and digital artists on a global platform.
I was really honoured to be chosen for the interview and very impressed with the depth of his questions. Here is his first question followed by my response:
EWW: Mike, a few months ago on one of the social networks on the web, there was a discussion on whether photography/digital art could really be fine art. Some commented that photography could not be considered fine art and that photography was only a documentation of a particular event/subject in time. How would you respond to the question of photography/digital art being considered as fine art?
MIKE: The simple act of pushing a button on a device and capturing photons of light is not art. Traversing the planet to find beautiful or intriguing things to aim the device at is still not really art. Choosing digital processing techniques and applying filters is not it either. In my opinion, an image becomes art when the photographer uses the skills and technology he has available to interpret what he sees. Every decision the artist makes should move the image away from a mere capturing of a scene and move it closer to what the artist envisioned when he pushed the button.
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