Have you ever gone to a gallery, or happened upon a website where your first thought was, “That photograph is proof that not everything in front of a camera should be photographed.”
The effusive praise for all artistic efforts does not support the growth and advancement of art. We are told to praise all efforts in order to avoid damaging the fragile egos of the budding artists. We praise all results because all art is good and we cannot make a value judgment on whether art is “good” or not. Welcome to the endgame of these two misguided premises.
There are many things that should not be photographed, but left as cherished memories, or completely forgotten. The ability to judge between these two alternatives is missing from today’s artistic photographers. The key element of photographic education that is missing today is the ability to edit and discard work that is not worthy.
Comments