Photography has many uses. It can be used to preserve memories, to capture special moments, to tell stories, to send messages, to be used as a source of entertainment and even be used in the sciences to record experiments. If one looks at a specific photograph, it can be considered either an art or technique.
Not all photography can be considered an art. For example, in modern day society we have the term “camera-whoring”, which refers to people who take countless pictures of themselves for the sake of having others comment on it on social networking sites. The person in the photo may be beautiful, or as Anthony said, use techniques from programs such as Photobooth, but it cannot be considered art, because that was not its intent. Another example of photography that cannot be considered art are most photos that are taken to preserve memories. These photos are often taken only to remember what had happened and as a result technique is often overlooked and these types of photos tend to end up blurry and unrecognizable except to those who were at the event. An example of photography in the Museum of Modern Art that would not be considered art include Eleanor Antin’s 1972, The Last Seven Days from Carving: A Traditional Sculpture. These photos only recorded Antin’s weight loss, there was no emotional attachment to it nor was there anything “artistic” that could come out of it.
Artistic photography would be photography in which details were chosen to evoke special situations and people or photos that were altered or grouped together to produce the same effect. Artistic photography has the ability to send a message or evoke an emotion, just as any art form can do. An example of artistic photography in the MOMA is Sibylle Bergemann’s 1986 The Monument, East Berlin. Although one may say it’s simply a photo of a monument hanging by a rope, there are political undertones in the photo, creating a sense of freedom from the German empire. Artistic photography is not a mere snapshot, but requires a process to evoke emotion and underlying messages.
Well written post.