No, actually, I got into photography not because I was a "wanna be" painter but because my skills and talents lay elsewhere (and this was when I was 18 and I'm now 57)...
Yes, actually, you're just saying the same thing all over again, just in different words. The end result remains the same: you originally
wanted to be a painter, but you couldn't do it, so you found it was easier to excel as a photographer. I hear you Jeff, the same is true for me too
![](http://www.johnkoerner.org/Emoticons/laugh.gif)
and I was fortunate to have an award winning commercial career shooting instead of painting.
Well, congratulations on that!
The same is
not true for me here though
![Embarrassed :-[](https://forum.luminous-landscape.com/Smileys/default/embarrassed.gif)
As for the "stupid" comment, ok, let me amend that to "ignorant"...ignorant of the facts and what makes a stellar image regardless of the medium used.
You forgot the apology for being rude, Jeff. (Is that from bad breeding or just your own personal bad manners?) I was never rude or insulting to you, and I still don't know why you were to me. Just because I have my own set of beliefs, that differs from yours, doesn't give you license to be rude. Again, I am not even going to say you're "ignorant" to the facts, but I do think you are in denial of them by not giving credence to the level of difficulty it takes to excel at painting versus photography, especially when your own story is a confirmation of these facts.
Ironic that one of your examples of world class painting was a direct ripoff of a photo...and so it goes.
Oh lord, those weren't his commecial works Jeff ... Kenny's original works
have no duplicates and are hanging on private walls and in museums, not at his home. He just created those pieces, for fun and for practice at home, and had them lying around for his own use. I took photos of these particular pieces, that were laying around his pad when I paid him a visit, because I thought they were cool ...
not to sell them (either for myself or for Kenny). If you wish to digress the topic to the ethics of using photos for subjects, to take focus off of the facts of the original subject, that is your choice, but let me remind you of
the fact that it sure was a lot easier for "me" to
photograph Kenny's work than it was for "him" to
create it by hand ![](http://www.johnkoerner.org/Emoticons/laugh.gif)
Really, you might want to reevaluate your world view...it's a bit skewed towards classic arts and away from photo as a fine art.
Not so. I absolutely appreciate photography as fine art very much. However, I am
not blinded by my love of photography to the extent that I don't acknowledge
the fact that it takes
far more skill to be able to paint well than to take a photo. I am also not the one who invented the saying,
"Photography is the artistic pursuit of those who can't paint." That saying's been around for awhile Jeff, which means I am not alone in my beliefs.
And exactly why do you shoot photos? Is it your medium of choice or is that the best you can do? For many, it's the medium of choice...
I shoot nature photos because I love nature. I try to see the beauty in nature and capture it to camera. I shoot macro photos in particular because it brings to clear focus that which cannot be seen well with the naked eye, and so it allows me to celebrate beauty that is otherwise missed in our day-to-day lives. Photography is
both my medium of choice
and a pursuit I enjoy because I can't paint. And I love macro photography!
Even if I could paint, I personally enjoy the instant gratification of photography more than I would painting (especially for macro shots). With photography, I can set my tripod and camera up, take several photos with these tools, and with a little bit of processing enjoy seeing the beauty of nature immediately ... whereas even if I had the ability to "paint" what I saw, it would take too long and limit me to the number of "images" I could create. And that is
if I could paint. Yet, because I can't paint, I could
never be satisfied trying to capture images of nature pursuing this medium, simply because I don't have the skill to record what I see as clearly and beautifully "by hand" as I can get it by camera.
Which brings us back to my original premise ...
Jack
.