art | ärt | noun
the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.
I cannot always give a reason for a photograph. There are those who would say its better to not take a photograph than have it mean nothing. I would dare say that the picture is actually much bigger than that – pun intended.
I guess its the art-donkeys I have heard that look at photography as some sort of high art putting all these bizarre interpretations upon the simplest of photographs – some barely even intelligible grossly blurred or looking like the starting frames of a roll of film. Photographs, “art photographers” and the artsy populations out there that put those bizarre interpretations on there are of the same ilk that put these heavy exegetical interpretations on poems with 9 words.
Whatever, I digress…
But, for my part, and as I stated before, I cannot always give a reason for a photograph. In fact, I rarely can.
I photograph for two reasons, one for myself and one very much larger than myself.
For one, I don’t want to forget. Ever. Forgetting is just as well that something did not even happen. And, in this life, everything and everyone around us is our teacher. Photographs are my lessons learned.
On the other hand, I make photographs in hopes of doing something greater than myself for reasons greater than myself. I have a few photos that have taken a life of their own – one that I took the first day on the job has been reproduced more times than I have ever known: its been blown up 50-inches across and its been printed a million times for postcards for my University.
But had I ever thought: “Hmmm… what is the reason for this photograph? What explanation do I have for making this photo?” That silly photo would have never been made.
So, here comes to my photo of the day:
In the spirit of the things I have written just now, I have no idea the significance of this photo. But, I have no doubt, in 92 days of my 365 Days of Daily Photos project, this photo of my good good friend Christie and her German shepherd Mischa is far and above my favorite. Likely even much farther back than 92 days…
The photo stands alone. It needs no caption, no explanation, no title… anything else detracts. There is no “reason” for this photo. At its soul its just a girl and her dog.
And, I love this photo.
Stay tuned…
-Noah D.
