the heart in our art

"Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art." -Ansel Adams

What defines art? I think this might be one of the great debates of this time. Perhaps made even more controversial in this age of digital photography, is photography art? Of course I fall on the YES side of this debate.  We are artists, our creative tool of choice being our cameras.  ALL cameras; "toy" Holgas, to Polaroid, to old school film, DSLRs, and IPhones. Photography is the blending of art and science. It allows us to express an emotion through the use of a scientific device, our camera.  Learning various techniques and the science of photography being only one part of our art.  The vision, eye and heart of the photographer being the other crucial part of the equation.  Paraphrasing something Ansel Adams once said,  there is nothing more boring that a technically perfect rendering of a fuzzy visual concept. I agree. The technical side of photography is a piece, but not the whole of our art. Sometimes we allow ourselves to get overwhelmed with the gear and science of it all, that we begin trying too hard,  or even worse, put our cameras down. Do not get bogged down with all the techie terms, buttons, and processing of this medium, return to the reason you pick up your camera, the passion, the heart, the emotion. 

Pick a favorite shot and share it here today.  Processed or straight out of the camera, iphone , film or dslr.  Fear no art.

Share your heART with us today. 

Comments

[Heather]

one of my recent favorites - I wanted to capture the joy I get from watching my hummingbirds - http://www.flickr.com/photos/heather-cox/7861749612/in/photostream

[Linda]

Art in the sky - straight out of the camera, the funky shade-cloth at an outdoor music concert:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/linda2012/7996199259/in/photostream

[Jess]

My heart is so happy with this one. My daughter and our new kitty watching the school bus leave and already missing their boys. http://www.flickr.com/photos/theoldnicholsfarm/7945099032/

[melissa]

Yes! I love this post. When I take pictures, there is very little science/techie/head-knowledge type of stuff happening. It is instinctual and heart-based with some limited knowledge of my camera. I have to learn slowly so that I don't overwhelm my heart with my head and ruin the process for myself.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/melissatalbert/7996283873/in/photostream

[Deb Schwedhelm]

my favorite right now...
http://www.debsphotographs.com/#/PERSONAL%20COLLECTIONS/whispers%20of%20the%20sea/1/

[Brenda]

I stayed away from photography for many years because of the technical side of things. I was lucky enough to take classes from an instructor who finally made it understandable and haven't looked back since.

Sunrise Lighting:
http://flic.kr/p/daEubf

[Diane M. Schuller]

very, very well said Kristin. I'll bear that in mind today as I'm seeking out my 365 photo (will try to post it later on).

[Diane M. Schuller]

Here is my current favourite. I hope you like it too:

http://www.dianeschuller.com/blog/2012/09/15/from-this-earth/

[Vanessa]

I have two.
One I shot almost a year ago while in Berkley, CA at a class that I won out here on Shutter Sisters...
it is one of my all time favorite Polaroids I have shot to date.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/glitch_nitch/7993204452/in/photostream
The second is a photo of me that I took just last week.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/glitch_nitch/7978161388/in/photostream/
The thing that ties these two shots together, both include cameras from the past- ones that were kindly gifted to me, that have history and love and so many stories they could tell if they could tell them...
Photography isn't just something I love, it is in my blood and in my heart...

[Sherralee]

Wonderful post. The technical stuff can kill our passion if we aren't careful. We need to focus on what lit us up in the first place...

http://sherrygaley.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/on-waiting/

[Elaine-]

my little kitteh hold my heart for God on this earth, and i love when i capture her heart in a picture :)

she's so beautiful

http://www.totallylike.me/me/portrait.html

[Lynne]

I was looking for old buildings to photograph one day when I shot this image. What I didn't see until I uploaded the file to my computer was the man sitting at the edge of the floating dock. This was an off the cuff shot while I was trying out a new lens.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynnylu/7296870342/

[Anne Jutras]

Great post today! What is art? A question that goes throw my mind often.

Here a link to a post named "falling in love" - you'll find photos taking with my new 50mm f1.8

http://annejutras.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/tomber-en-amour-falling-in-love/

[d smith kaich jones]

i haven't been taking many images lately, but this is one that touched me. i'd promised to write about the day of the aurora, colorado shootings, and it was hard, and i was agonizing over a picture to accompany the article, and, in the way of things, the agonizing was unnecessary. a leaf, a hand, a heart. i didn't even have to think about it.

http://www.emmatree.com/2012/07/aurora-from-northeast-texas_23.html

[Diane M. Schuller]

for some reason my posts never appear -- not sure why that is. Do we have to belong to something in order to have our comments & links appear?

I forget what I said earlier today but here's my current favourite, just in case someone allows this post to go through:

www.dianeschuller.com/blog/2012/09/15/from-this-earth/

[Jenny Rebecca]

Technically imperfect but a moment I'll love forever. http://www.flickr.com/photos/fanglord2/7998226813/in/photostream

[Holly {Soupatraveler}]

Excellent post Kristin! I've been shooting a lot in low light lately...man do I love this shot...a little soft, i little fuzzy and a whole lot of perfect: http://www.flickr.com/photos/soupatraveler/7974600489/

[Cassandra Oberlander]

her essence:)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cassandraoberlander/7966537348/

[Lu]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldb/7692888462/

I shot this at a food workshop. When I saw the image, it blew me away. I could not believe I took it with my camera phone and it looked pretty darn professional. I like that about it.

[Jenny]

something about the way he's biting his lip and how even though you can't see his toes, you just know he's standing on them

http://blog.jenniferblaauw.com/2012/07/sticks.html