I, am an artist..

Death Valley, 2017

Nowadays, the term photographer is just too broad a title, especially considering the vast range of ‘photography’ it can cover. From images made on 8/10” film (above) to the tiny camera on an iPhone, to compare such devices is as vast as Death Valley itself (see above), albeit they produce the same thing: a photograph made by the photographer.

If I call myself a photographer, I will be asked to take pictures of weddings, kittens, and my neighbor's doll collection. If I say I am a landscape photographer, the conversation usually stops there. But even 'landscape' is too broad a title as one imagines rolling hills, flowing streams, fluffy clouds, and maybe a rabbit in a field, all of which I do not photograph unless they are hills littered with dumped cars, streams full of pollution, or rabbits driving old motor cars.

Long ago, it was easy as photographers only photographed three things: Landscapes, people clothed or unclothed, and inanimate objects like a manky pepper. Back then, the term photographer was enough because, unlike today, hardly anyone called themselves a photographer.

As a result of everyone now being a photographer, the term artist is often used to describe someone working with photography, or rather Fine Art Photography, as their medium. Perhaps a good solution for someone like myself, but I wonder how long it will be before everyone calls themselves an artist.