scientific series
Photographs as art objects
On the Mechanisms of Photographic Art
byWin Labuda (2008)
More often than before, pictures on the wall today are of photographic
origin. Photographic images can be classified as images which have
mainly been created for a rational reason, as well as images which have
been created for an artistic reason. The former enrich us through their in-
formative content on things, people or memories. The artistically motiva-
ted images affect us through their connection with thoughts, feelings and
states of being, thus through the intellectual and mental echo which they
evoke in us. In the essay at hand, we will concentrate only on this latter
group.
Creating images for the wall is something different than creating them for
a newspaper or for a publishing house. They define a room and its speci-
fic culture more than all other elements in it. The images are to give off
their energy into this environment for years; often, they are also meant to
be icons. At the same time, they are to give testimony of the intellectual
and emotional quality of their owner.
Does photographic art exist?
Photography has become the cornerstone of the range of images
available in our time. It is distinguishable from painting or drawing
mainly due to its alleged claim of truth. Only photography can be a natu-
ral representation because it produces the desired image within a split
second. It is a momentary impression and a reflection of the present at
the same time. But the photographic image can be “forged“. With mo-
dern methods of image processing, photos can be turned into images
which not only resemble reality, but at the same time the fantasy of the
photographer – although they seem to reflect reality. It is exactly here that
photography has one of its great opportunities to be more than just a re-
presentation. Especially through the combination of camera and compu-
ter, it is possible for photographers today to develop and realise their own
visual ideas.
Photography is a technical process for storing images of the visible world
with the aid of a technical device. Within the process of storing, one or
two conversion steps occur which are of great importance for photogra-
phy, if one wants to classify it as art:
A – the conversion of three-dimensional perception into a
two-dimensional image and – possibly
B – the conversion of a coloured image into a grey-scale image.
Because a photographic image is in this way different from the pure re-
presentation of nature, a measure of artificiality is reached which is one
of the foundations of art. Thus, already the monochrome image of nature
can be viewed as a preliminary product of artistic expression. The photo-
grapher has a range of possibilities at hand to change the image accor-
ding to his or her intention. Fundamental for the design of the picture is
the selection of the view to be captured in the frame from the photogra-
1
