Today's Modern Painter

Unique experiences and technological advances promote opportunities for more creative expressions, as well as accommodates to modern day standards. The experiences that shape our world as we know and perceive it is kept alive through images brought to us by both photographs and paintings. Photography, a mode to visually communicate is the creative process of capturing a moment in time with a recordable device, such as a camera. Lighting and exposure are key factors in producing a descent photograph. Painting is another type of visual communication used throughout history. Although recognized as separate disciplines, photography and painting combined bring a new kind of mode for expression. Over the years, the two mediums have been the cause for controversy, raising the question to whether photography should be considered an art form. Photography and painting should not be viewed as counterparts to each other, but rather a synergistic model that reflects our everyday evolving world.

Photography As An Art Form
Today, a photographer has a plethora of creative tools to work from than in previous years. The first documented attempt to freeze an image in time was about 330 BC when Aristotle questioned why the sun could make a circular image when it shined through a square hole. At the time Alhazen had invented the pinhole camera or camera obscura, which functioned as a mode to view things and assist artist in drawing. It wasn't until 1827 that the camera obscura was used as a way to produce photographs, which at that time photographs were referred to as either heliographs or sun prints. This event signified the beginning of an optical revolution.

Since this time the camera has evolved in its ability to produce astounding photographs. The idea of using both photography and paintings to create a more realistic expression is a practice that's been in place since the invention of the camera. Photographs often helped the painter to create a more accurate depth of field. And then their were some artists who felt that,

"Photography has greatly disturbed the imagination, because one has seen things devoid of feeling. When I wanted to get rid of all influences which prevented me from seeing nature from my own personal view, I copied photographs(Quote by French artist Henri Mattise, 1933)."

Today, photographs are utilized with paintings much differently. It is common to see art

"mimic paintings, some paint pictures based on recognizable photographic source material, and some violate photographs by painting or drawing on their surface (Columbia College, 2005)."

Modern technology makes it possible to capture a more accurate image. For example software tools like Photoshop make it easy to take a photograph and upload it and use it as a template to paint over. It is important to note, images taken by another person other than yourself need to be properly credit for.

The ease of obtaining the creative work of another person should not be abused. It is a right and a privilege to share our ideas with one another. Enriching images help us to understand the societal changes as they occur. Applying photography with painting is just another way tell a story from a visual perspective. The modern painter is keen to recognize and utilize resources when necessary in order to effectively communicate ideas. Creative ideas are the result of our experiences combined with the ideas from previous thinkers, but is unique because it comes from our own perspective.

References:

-About.com Guide, Bellis, M., (2010) History of Photography
Pinhole Cameras to The Daguerreotype
http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/stilphotography.htm

-Ask.com (2010), Painting and Photography
http://www.answers.com/topic/painting-and-photography

-Columbia College, Museum of Contemporary Photography (April 2005),Painting on Photography : Photography on Painting, Chicago.
http://www.mocp.org/uploads/PaintingPhotographyPR.pdf

-Kleiner, F.S., (2009) Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective Wadsworth Publishing, Boston.

-Phaidon (1994) The Art Book, Phaidon Press, NY.

-Wells, L., (1996) Photography: a critical introduction, Routledge, NY.