When Does the Artistic Outrank the Technical? Episode 46

Summary: Artistic? You want artistic? How about Rob opening with the last line of Happy Birthday for Rick's special day. Although, once you've had as many birthdays as Rick has, they're no longer very special. Artistic Versus Technical We've had similar conversations before: what's more important, how do we balance the two, etc. But in tonight's episode, we look at when photographs become so compelling that the viewer immediately is drawn toward the composition and artistic side of the photograph and the technical side is ignored. There are plenty of great examples of poorly-executed images (from the technical side) that are absolutely remarkable to look at. And maybe the problem isn't the lack of great photography but rather the glut of "workshops" and "seminars" where the instructors are spending so much time trying to teach the technical that no one is teaching, as Tony calls it, the respect for the subject matter. We need to be more intentional about our photography and be truly aware of our subjects and their flaws. Because that's what makes us better photographers. Otherwise we just become a digital scribe, simply recreating what is in front of us, without trying to find the beauty, or flaw, in the subject. For example, Weston's Pepper. Yeah, it's just a pepper, but then why is it such an engaging photo? Today's Artists This week, we’ll look at the art of bonsai instead of a specific artist. We recently looked at two artists (Enrico Rovira and  Rick Griffin) who work in mediums that are short-lived. Their art forms are created, finalized, and then destroyed/consumed. Bonsai trees, as an art form however, continually evolve and grow; they never remain in a fixed state. Our photographer is Michael Kenna, a landscape photographer known for his long esposures (of up to 10 hours per shot) to create some of the most beautiful and engaging black and white images.