Is Digital Photography Art?

Is digital photography from Photoshop art? This variation of the hoary question "Is photography art?" is a debate gaining momentum.

Conventional photography is accepted as a legitimate art medium, attested to by the prices for works by masters such as Man Ray, Weston, Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus and hundreds more.

Acceptance of a photographer's work as art begins with the individual's vision and ability to transform it to an image: in other words, creativity. Another step is through publication, although not all published photographers are artists. Then there is exhibition and purchase by collectors.

The art world has been slow to embrace digital photography for several reasons. First is the role of the computer. For many years, "computer art" has been hallmarked by outer space themes with floating 3D spheres, star fields and ephemeral glows. Fine for a screen saver but not exactly the theme the collector wants for his walls.

Second is presentation. For some reason, art and huge size are considered to go hand-in-hand and the digital photographer has been limited to the output of inkjet printers or very expensive giclee devices.

Third is the very real concern of permanency. No one actually knows how long an inkjet or giclee print will last on a wall. Manufacturers make estimated claims for archival quality of their papers and inks based upon accelerated tests. Of course permanency has been a problem for artists since the first prehistory artist scratched into a chalk wall in a French cave.

Some art critics exhibit confusion between the quality of images created with pixels and those made up of grains of silver salts. Digital is simply another photographic medium and I'm happy that more photographers using that medium are being accepted as artists without resorting to glowing spheres and specular highlights.

In this column, I'll examine the work of two such artists from the UK. While neither is purely a digital photographer, each exhibits incredible skill in Photoshop.

Catherine McIntyre whose haunting photo collages include digital photos, scanned photos and found objects, nude figures (often her own), and a great application of imagination with Photoshop skills and understanding. A Scottish graphic designer with a traditional art background, Catherine's intepretations of themes from dreams to time are spectacular in their shocking elements and their use of nearly monochromatic color. You can see examples of her widely published creations at her home page: members.madasafish.com or at intangible.org.

On her website, Catherine describes the evolution of her work from the traditional live studio through her discovery of Photoshop: "The layering techniques available in Photoshop were a revelation. Initial attempts at collage had always been restricted by the given scale and colour of found objects and photographs, and by the physical problems of attachment; translucency, too, was not a variable. In Photoshop, there are no such restrictions."

Although the major body of her work has been done with conventional cameras and scanners, Catherine now uses a Canon Powershot S40 digital camera as well.

Another digital artist is Sandy Gardner, a British artist who works in themes very similar to McIntyre's. Indeed, the two may serve as inspiration for each other. At the present time, Gardner does not use a digital camera.

Gardner's photo collages are marked by a broader use of vivid color, elements from nature, and effective use of various distortion techniques. A visit to her home page at http://sandygardner.co.uk makes a very interesting comparison to the work of McIntyre.

Especially noteworthy are Sandy's illustrations for the book "The World of Fairies," which can be seen in Gallery 2 on her website.

In future columns, I would like to feature other digital photographers who work in the realm of fine arts. If you have a nomination, please email me at jsaurian@tampabay.rr.com.

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