The Art of photography

Introduction

Thereisnoquestionthatphotographyis

apopularhobby,acraft,atradefor

many,aprofession

for

some,atoolofsci-

enceandverylikelyascienceinitself.

Whether

it

isalsoanartusedtobea

question,butthatargumentisover.The

useofa

camera

does

notdisqualify

a

photographerfrombeingtakenseriously

as

anartist,anymorethantheuseofa

typewriterdisqualifiesapoet,playwright

ornovelist.

Neitherdoesthecameraortypewriter,

howeverexpensive,maketheartist;they

areconveniences.Sophisticatedequip-

ment,
as

CarlMydansoncesaid,simply

"freesusfromthetyrannyoftechnique

andenablesustoturntowhatphotogra-

phyis allabout—creatingapicture."

Thatisalsowhatthisbookisabout:

creativityandesthetics,notmeteringand

f-stops.Thevocabularyofestheticsis

differentfromthevocabularyoftechnol-

ogy,andbothtakegettingusedto,but

one

is

no

moremysteriousthantheother.

Inthisvolumethereisagooddealofma-

terial,bothvisualandverbal,thatseeks

toexplainhowsomeofthefundamental

principlesofestheticsapplytophotogra-

phy.Theprinciplesarenotconfiningbut

liberating;theyallowformanyindividual

approachestoart,fromthe

dutifullycon-

ventionaltotheconvention-defying.

Oneunusualpicturemaking

technique,

whichappearsinthisrevisededitionfor

thefirsttime,abandonstheconventional

cameraaltogetherandemploystheof-

ficecopymachine,withmagicalresults

(pages166-172).Theprinciplesapplyto

itsproductsas

well

astopictures

made

withordinarycameras.Tobesure,sim-

plylearningtheprinciplesandseeing

howtheyoperatewillnotassureyoua

placeamonggreatartists,but,byshow-

ingyouwhygoodpictures

are

good,

the

informationwillfreeyoutomakebetter

picturesofyourown.

AsCarlMydans

alsoputit,"oneisnotreallyaphotog-

rapheruntilpreoccupationwithlearning

hasbeenoutgrownandthecamera

inhis

handsisanextensionofhimself.Thereis

wherecreativitybegins."