If you could paint brilliantly, would you photograph?

[JoshAustin]

Quite a cool quote from one of the few artists to have embraced and mastered both painting and photography: I paint when I cannot photograph - Man Ray

[JohnKoerner]

Stuarte, Don't let that get you down. If you check out a museum with a display of kids' paintings you'll probably discover that most seven-year-olds can sketch and paint better than most 47-year-olds. The difference is that most kids just draw or paint what they want to draw or paint. They haven't yet learned what's the "right" stuff to paint, and they haven't yet been stunted by learning the rules.

I have a friend who's a world class artist. He was pulled out of "regular" school as a young boy because of his unbelievable artistic talent ... yet as he grew up and continued his art education, he wound-up quitting art college precisely because his instructors kept trying to make him follow the "art rules" ... and in his words, "I could piss in the snow better than they could paint." He wound-up doing things his own way, for his own reasons. Here is an example of his art, that he decided to draw on an old piece of linen for added effect:



This man does not need to travel with a camera to create what he sees in his mind ...

Jack




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[ChrisS]

"I could piss in the snow better than they could paint."

Actually, those are the words of Egon Schiele.

[JohnKoerner]

Actually, those are the words of Egon Schiele.

Well, they're also the words of Kenny Miller




.

[tom b]

I just mentioned my friend David Stanley in another part of the site. He takes another approach which is to combine his art, photography and woodwork into one finished product. His web site is here:

http://whimsicalwood.com (Sorry in advance for the navigation – he is an artist)

The interesting thing is that he doesn't use real paint but instead uses the brushes and effects of Photoshop. He does his initial drawings using pencil and paper and then scans them into Photoshop. He then uses Photoshop to colourise his drawings. If you think you know Photoshop, there are groups of people out there using it in a whole bunch of different ways to the average photographer.

[Rob C]

If you think you know Photoshop, there are groups of people out there using it in a whole bunch of different ways to the average photographer.

That's the trouble: were it photo-relevant only, then even I would be happy to keep up to date with whatever it might cost to stay au courant; as it is, it's such a powerful and expensive programme that the pension would be swallowed in a single bite!

It's like wanting to cut the lawn but insisting on an upside down helicopter to do it for you.

Rob C

[Rob C]

  Sometimes I feel shame for myself cause I think I am a fool person. I am worse than those who are at the same age with me.So if I could paint brilliantly,I would photogragh day and night.

Ellie, you can't be that much of a fool: you have just voiced all of our own private fears.

It was summed up brilliantly some years ago when somebody wrote: I always feel people are having a better time somewhere other than where I am.

Rob C

[Alan Klein]

I'd love to be able to paint  But alas I can't so I try to express myself and the beauty I see with my photos.  That pleases me and I hope it pleases others.  I have a good friend who is a pro artist and I just am amazed how he can create anything beyond the stick figures I usually do.  On an interesting note however, he often looks through my photos and uses them as the basis of a painting he'll do and that makes me feel pretty good.  Here's a painting that he did that came from a photo that he took of me shooting a photo.  While the girl was actually looking over my shoulder in one photo, the birds were from another photo that he combined into his single painting.  Alas, the advantages of being an painter rather than a photographer.  No one ever asks him if he "photoshopped" the painting or cloned anything?

You can see some of his other work here http://www.melgreifinger.com/

[jhemp]

When I started my BFA degree years ago I was very concerned about my lack of drawing and painting ability.  I was so nervous that I thought about switching degrees.  But I was lucky to have had some great professors who encouraged me to continue.  Instead of driving myself INSANE trying to become a painter I would never be, they encouraged me to do abstract paintings of my photographs.  It was a turning point in my life.  Now when I approach a photograph I have multiple ideas running around in my head.  Sometimes I looking for the perfect B+W landscape image, or maybe I start seeing shapes in the natural environment that I photograph to turn into a painting later.  This approach constantly keeps my creative juices flowing. So don't drive yourself crazy and lock yourself into a creative box by trying to paint like you photograph.

jhemphillphotography.com

[RSL]

That's the trouble: were it photo-relevant only, then even I would be happy to keep up to date with whatever it might cost to stay au courant; as it is, it's such a powerful and expensive programme that the pension would be swallowed in a single bite!

It's like wanting to cut the lawn but insisting on an upside down helicopter to do it for you.

Rob C

Rob, You're right, but I keep on with Photoshopo because I've been using it for a long time. But have you looked at Lightroom? It's about all a photographer really needs.

[Rob C]

Rob, You're right, but I keep on with Photoshopo because I've been using it for a long time. But have you looked at Lightroom? It's about all a photographer really needs.

Hi Russ

So far, I'm getting most of what I need - well, really all of it - from PS6! Have looked at the CS thinggies, but the feeling I get is that they are ever more unnatural the more advanced they get, and how could it be otherwise? I use Nikon's NX2 (very unnatural) to get me as far as I can from the NEF, and then I go over to PS6 and am happy. Of course, I don't need to fake verticals etc. and I know that if I ever did, seriously, I'd go for TS lenses and do it in the camera like all good little boys should... 

However, since doing my wee jazz shots, I've been thinking that I may be interested in doing some design/layout again, and since my experience with design and calendars was when Letraset still held respect (as well as setting houses, of course), I wouldn't, currently, know where to start. Using the system of letters that are available in PS6 is very limited - perhaps that's my failure there, and PS6 does it all - but I have no idea how to slide letters all over the place to see how they fit the space and shape of a photo image. Doing it via th clicks of the keyboard is far too clumsy and limited - tiny movements matter a lot. I do have a book or two on PS, but I find I can't learn anything at all from books - by the time I read something and want to try it out, I've forgotten what the friggin' book said! Well, yes, I can drop a title into an image, but as for changing the spaces between lines of text etc., tilting letters around at angles, reversing them, I'm in the dark. I'd like to do a course on things of that type (oh dear!) but they don't seem to happen locally, at least not that I know of.

Rob C

[benuriyahmay]

Lately I find myself wondering whether I would have spent so much money, time and attention on photography if I could paint to express my vision.  Or putting it another way, if it were possible, would I be willing to trade all the photographic equipment I now own and have ever owned for the ability to paint pictures to a standard comparable to my photographs?

The embarrassing fact is that even at the age of seven my daughter could sketch and paint far better than I could, 40 years her senior.  It's always been a source of frustration for me that while I'm moved and inspired by what my eyes see, my hand can't even begin to express that vision.  

So discovering photography in my mid-20s turned out to be a wondering surprise.  I found that I could produce images that went some way towards satisfying the urge to express my vision - my way of seeing things.  I splashed out on cameras, lenses and darkroom equipment and spent a load of times immersed in it all.  Then along came family.  

Then along came digital.  And I'm now busily exploring the possibilities, and delighting in the even greater range of cameras, lenses, computers, software and output devices.  The investment runs to many thousands of pounds, plus a lot of time learning how to use each of the different bits of kit.  In my local photo group, even those with the simplest of equipment still use more than a moonshot's-worth of processing power to produce their images.



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Disclaimer

This musing is intended purely as a reflection on ways of expressing one's vision.

This has nothing to do with the relative merits of photography and painting in creating works of art.

It is not about commercial photography - clearly commercial photographers need to produce images quickly and in large volumes, and be able to process them

I dunno I mean for me, it's not something I would ever want to stop doing. I have a passion for it. It doesn't matter if I was able to be a painter I would not give photography up for it. I would probably split my time between the two. I'm working towards photography as a career though and maybe you don't have the passion I have. It sounds like you spend enough time and money on it for it to be considered a passion, but I dunno if your runs as deep as mine. For me, I feel complete with new photographs to work with. I've been at it for ten years, and painting doesn't have that history for me.

[Gemmtech]

I think "They" say there's no such thing as a dumb question, so I'll answer this one.  I've never seen a photograph in the world compare to a Rembrandt.  As Bill T stated, Apples & Oranges, I'd say Caviar (Painter) and Hamburger (Photographer).

[iamacamera]

Absolutely!!!  My degree is in art; painting etc.  When I was in art school I had to take a photography class.  That ended all aspirations to paint.

[fotometria gr]

Absolutely!!!  My degree is in art; painting etc.  When I was in art school I had to take a photography class.  That ended all aspirations to paint.

Is there anybody here who believes that if Leonardo was in our days would have chosen to leave photography ....be? Does anybody remember Mann Ray? Regards, Theodoros. www.fotometria.gr

[tessfully]

I love many of the examples of artists, both painters and photographers, as provided above.


Personally, I believe photography to have the same potential to create art as painting, and if I could paint brilliantly I would do both as brilliantly as possible and within both mediums try to re-create outside the box as much as my technology, talent and mind will allow.

[DeeJay]

I can paint OK. But I'm lazy and would rather take a picture.

Also what you can do in photoshop these days makes you more of a painter so my urges are satisfied mainly.

Painting is something else and I like to paint when I can find the time.

[tessfully]

When a Photographic image is also a Painting!

I am totally fascinated by this woman's work. I love the creativity and uniqueness. If I were 25 and urban I would be inspired in this direction.


from her website:



"Alexa Meade is a 25-year-old artist whose work lies at the intersection of painting, photography, performance, and installation.


Rather than creating representational paintings on a flat canvas, Alexa Meade creates her representational paintings directly on top of the physical subjects that she is referencing. When photographed, the representational painting and the subject being referenced appear to be one and the same as the 3D space of her painted scenes becomes optically compressed into a 2D plane."


and for some context:

Is it a Painting or a Photograph? | Inspiration


Her portfolio:

ALEXA MEADE \\ PORTFOLIO

[John Gellings]

Yes, I would photograph.  I'm very comfortable with it being a medium that uses a mechanical device.  I don't think it is inferior to painting or a substitute to painting. 

[Iluvmycam]

Don't know?

I draw poorly, so can't even imagine. Photography is my life, that is all I do know.