Photography is an art form because it can take an ordinary view and present it in a unique manner. Photography can capture scenes that nature has created, such as sunsets, or exhibit the art a person has created through a lens, such as what we saw at the MoMA, that gives the photo a distinct feel. The lens of the camera acts as an eye, showing the art from only one perspective, and narrowing our vision of it. However, that one angle can create a different view of the sculpture by many factors, such as light, angles and location. Thus, photography can always change and what we see in one picture is not always what we see in another of the same sculpture. This is similar to what we may see walking around a sculpture as one view will not stimulate the same ideas as another view.
The puzzle created by photography of what is missing is fascinating; by taking photos from different views, a sculpture or artwork can be recreated. For example, Eugene Atget’s “Versailles, Vase” shows the sculpture from different angles. A character in particular that I noticed was the woman holding her dress in one hand and an object over her head in the other. She is seen in all three pictures and we get a different sense of her from each. In one photograph, we see her back and words scribbled across it. In another, we see only her face, which shows the detail with which Atget went about his work. In another, we see only the left side of her body, which shows her face and the object in her hand. All three pictures are presented from different perspectives of the same sculpture and reveal three very different images of the same artwork.
The photograph is basically a visualization of an art piece that we are not able to see in person, whether it is in a different country or has been destructed. It allows art to be everlasting for photography can capture an image and freeze time. Photography has taken technology to another level, allowing us to preserve art that exemplifies a time period. When we discussed the Buddha in class that the Taliban destroyed, the art, although physically gone, is still preserved through photography. We can Google “Buddha Taliban” and find images of this structure. We can see the clarity in the work and the artist’s detail with our eyes, although we are not able to physically be present. The towering nature of it is still visible from the photos. Photography allows us to save art, and is an art, because what one person sees in an image is not necessarily the same as what someone else sees. Photography is another manner in which our society has evolved to express art and give our respect to it by preserving it.
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