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DPChallenge Forums >> General Discussion >> I'm confused, what is "Fine Art" photography?
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08/10/2012 08:04:25 AM · #1
I see this has been discussed many moons ago, but I'm left confused as to what it really means. After doing a cursory search around the web, all I can decipher is that it means whatever the photographer wants it to mean.

08/10/2012 08:05:53 AM · #2
Only when photographing. When voting it means whatever the voter wants it to mean.
08/10/2012 09:06:40 AM · #3
I believe there's specific focus on the interpretive meaning of the photo's aesthetics. Focus on composition, while carrying extra interpretation due to the elements in the photo. To me, it's similar to abstract art, but is not limited only to abstraction.

I guess it's just whatever tickles the brain just right.
08/10/2012 09:11:36 AM · #4
if you would want to hang it on a wall its fine art.
08/10/2012 09:20:44 AM · #5
The term "fine art" is vaguely useful to draw a distinction between "art for art's sake" and "practical" or "applied" art. It's a category more than it is a value judgment. In other words, a piece can fall into the "Fine Arts" category and still be a bad piece of art. So a book design, say, or a piece of furniture, or an automobile body, might be extremely artistic, exquisitely beautiful, but they wouldn't be "fine art".
08/10/2012 09:29:39 AM · #6
Gotcha, so it means everything and nothing at the same time. Glad we have this cleared up.

08/10/2012 09:31:59 AM · #7
Originally posted by Venser:

Gotcha, so it means everything and nothing at the same time. Glad we have this cleared up.


Exactly :-) But I know it when I see it, Senator.
08/10/2012 09:33:00 AM · #8
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

So a book design, say, or a piece of furniture, or an automobile body, might be extremely artistic, exquisitely beautiful, but they wouldn't be "fine art".


A urinal though... ;)
08/10/2012 09:41:13 AM · #9
Originally posted by ozmaster:

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

So a book design, say, or a piece of furniture, or an automobile body, might be extremely artistic, exquisitely beautiful, but they wouldn't be "fine art".


A urinal though... ;)


Right, you can now repurpose anything to make it into "fine art". And on the flip side, you could silkscreen the Mona Lisa onto a functioning urinal in a public restroom and thereby turn fine art into applied art :-)

R.
08/10/2012 09:48:07 AM · #10
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Originally posted by ozmaster:

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

So a book design, say, or a piece of furniture, or an automobile body, might be extremely artistic, exquisitely beautiful, but they wouldn't be "fine art".


A urinal though... ;)


Right, you can now repurpose anything to make it into "fine art". And on the flip side, you could silkscreen the Mona Lisa onto a functioning urinal in a public restroom and thereby turn fine art into applied art :-)

R.


And that would also be an unusual use of a usual item... I'm assuming.
08/10/2012 09:52:16 AM · #11
Originally posted by mike_311:

if you would want to hang it on a wall its fine art.

Ohhh man, voting will be rough. There's maybe a handful of images since I've been here I'd actually hang on my wall.
08/10/2012 10:04:52 AM · #12
Originally posted by Venser:

Originally posted by mike_311:

if you would want to hang it on a wall its fine art.

Ohhh man, voting will be rough. There's maybe a handful of images since I've been here I'd actually hang on my wall.

That's a bit subjective... it depends too much on the decor.
08/10/2012 11:17:42 AM · #13
Originally posted by jomari:

Only when photographing. When voting it means whatever the voter wants it to mean.


Exactly! :)
08/10/2012 12:23:57 PM · #14
I tend to think of fine art photography as including the following types(and probably a few more that I forgot)

Moody shots
Grainy shots
Blurry shots
Abstract shots
Graphic shots (hardline)
etc.

My real measure though, is this single question: "Would I hang this in a gallery and try to sell it to an informed consumer of art"?

Message edited by author 2012-08-10 12:24:11.
08/10/2012 12:47:06 PM · #15
Originally posted by Cory:

My real measure though, is this single question: "Would I hang this in a gallery and try to sell it to an informed consumer of art"?


Are you serious, or are you a brilliant satirist?
08/10/2012 12:47:23 PM · #16
From Wikipedia:

Originally, "the five greater fine arts were painting, sculpture, architecture, music and poetry, with minor arts including drama and dancing", and "fine" referred to the purity of the discipline, not to its quality.

Subjective definitions are always murky - what makes it a "snapshot" vs. "art". The truism for porn also applies here: you know it when you see it.
08/10/2012 12:55:02 PM · #17
Originally posted by posthumous:

Originally posted by Cory:

My real measure though, is this single question: "Would I hang this in a gallery and try to sell it to an informed consumer of art"?


Are you serious, or are you a brilliant satirist?


Probably a bit of both. Note though, that an informed consumer of art might well not be the majority of a galleries audience... Ever notice how many galleries do have one or two really nice works hidden amongst the more commercial work?
08/10/2012 01:57:30 PM · #18
personally, or maybe impersonally, I lie in wait for the uninformed consumer of art. it passes the time.

(edit to correct verb tense).

Message edited by author 2012-08-10 13:58:10.
08/10/2012 02:17:42 PM · #19
Originally posted by Venser:

Originally posted by mike_311:

if you would want to hang it on a wall its fine art.

Ohhh man, voting will be rough. There's maybe a handful of images since I've been here I'd actually hang on my wall.

But I am sure there are plenty you would hang in your urinal.
08/10/2012 02:27:34 PM · #20
Originally posted by tnun:

personally, or maybe impersonally, I lie in wait for the uninformed consumer of art. it passes the time.

(edit to correct verb tense).


To engage the viewer for a second, a minute, an hour or a century...

I lie in wait for an image that stops my sense of time.
08/10/2012 03:16:25 PM · #21
It appears to me that to define fine art photography would be akin to keeping a handful of thought in your pocket.
08/10/2012 03:23:49 PM · #22
Originally posted by bspurgeon:

It appears to me that to define fine art photography would be akin to keeping a handful of thought in your pocket.

Coat pocket or jeans pocket?
08/10/2012 03:54:48 PM · #23
Originally posted by bspurgeon:

It appears to me that to define fine art photography would be akin to keeping a handful of thought in your pocket.


Unless you're a hobbit!

The answer to the riddle of what's in your pocket may just get you into a whole heap of trouble! ;-P
08/10/2012 04:05:38 PM · #24
I am profligate with handfulls of thought...
08/10/2012 05:24:46 PM · #25
I guess I have a more basic question of what activates the imagination beyond the occupation of pixel space by the dreaded "comfort zone"...

Is that answer in Ben's pocket too?

Inquiring minds want to know...;-)
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