Vieri Bottazzini,
Thanks for sharing your beautiful picture of the sunrise, I recognize the work in creating such a picture.. no, it's an image. This image is your creation which is what elevates from a 'point- and shoot' to a one-of-a-kind
creation. Your replies to the opinions expressed in this topic were perfect. They respect others opinions and were a constructive exchange between the creator of the work and those who viewed it. May we continue to learn from each other, the image we create together is always greater than the sum of its parts. (OK...most of the time!).
bgberlin01, thank you very much for your comment, that is much appreciated indeed! I am glad you enjoyed the image, and I completely agree with you about the learning value of keeping exchanges on a constructive and respectful level. When it comes to any artistic expression, it is certainly possible (in fact, it is desirable) to have different opinions, and it is through the exchange and discussion of these opinions that we grow.
I have been teaching art at college (grad / post-grad level) for two decades, both individually and in classroom settings. IMHO and in my experience, it is extremely important to always remember that when it comes to artistic expression there never is "right or wrong", and that nobody carries anything remotely resembling "absolute truth" in their pockets: there are just different opinions, more or less informed. Artistic growth results from the exchange of such opinions, so that our own opinion can become more and more informed, better informed, better grounded, and so on; this way, on the next exchange we will start from a "more informed" point than we did on the previous exchange, thus promoting growth, both our own and that of others. To do so we have to keep an open mind to other people's artistic proposals and to other people's opinions, provided they are grounded and clearly thought of, and the more so the more they differ from our own. Then we can go home and think about it, filtering what works for us and applying it to our work the next time.
I believe that a teacher's job is to offer as much information as possible, while never hiding one's ideas, opinions and preferences of course, but at the same time while being able to recognise the artistic value of proposals different from one's own (and this can prove very difficult because it often crashes against one's ego), while a student's job is to try and absorb everything he gets is touch with, and use all that information to create his own aesthetics and work, without being a copycat or mirroring the work of others.
Artistic growth never happens by forcefully trying to shove some self-perceived "truth" down the throats of others, and believe me have I seen that being tried in Academia without much success at all. That approach at best results in creating small clones of a teacher's artistic views (no progress and no individual expression at all in that!), and at worst it results in totally pushing someone away from its own art, often to the point of quitting. What most people don't see is that we don't have to forcefully "convince" anyone about the rightfulness of our artistic views, since if our artistic views are strong enough, they will not need any other force but their own to enter people's mind and find their home there. This is what I believe and what I teach. Artistically, I try to get my students to become their own man, to foster their individuality, to believe in their art and work every day to improve it by never stop studying and progressing. On my end, I try and apply these same principles to myself: to do so, I listen to everyone, always, provided they offer their opinions respectfully and in a constructive manner. So, I listen to everyone here on forum, to my Alumni during my workshops, to my dealers and to my customers, to my partners in crime, to everyone: I do so hoping that if there is someone who doesn't like my work, and whose reasoning make sense, I will be able to learn something from her or him, whomever he is and whichever level he is at.
My photography is not descriptive, nor documentary. I am not interested in realism in photography. My photography is interpretative Fine Art Landscape Photography: I know that this approach to photography is not universally accepted by other photographers holding a different vision and a different approach to our craft, and I completely respect that. That said, everything in my images is exactly how I want it to be at the time of creation, even though - with time - my aesthetics can (and do) change, and it is with such change that (I believe) my work evolves.
Thank you very much for offering me the spark to talk about aesthetics and vision, and for being so positive and constructive in your comment!
What our newbie said!!!
Indeed!
Best regards,
Vieri
