The Photograph as Contemporary Art: Chapter 1 Response

   Chapter 1, 'If This Is Art', was extremely eye opening for me in that it destroyed a preconceived notion that I held about the great photographs that inspire me: they are staged. More specifically, different photographers have employed strategies and careful planning to pull off powerful photos (most of which give the impression that the image was taken spontaneously). Considering this, the role of the photographer is not to simply to be somewhere at the right time, but rather as a director who is able to produce a narrative.

   Being the culmination of a process of artistic vision and careful forethought that the audience typically does not see only adds to the depth and potential interpretation of these photographs. One such instance from this chapter that particularly stuck out to me was that of Zhang Huan, whose photograph To Raise the Water Level in a Fishpond  is equal parts performance art, protest, and photograph. In a political climate in which avant-garde artistic expression was banned, Huan was able to capture the culmination of a plan, its execution, and the results of that plan.

   This chapter changes the way that I look at photography and the ways in which I will approach my photography in the future. Before, I had been jealous of other photographers who seemed to get lucky with what they were able to capture around them. However, it is clear to me now that none of these people are lucky. They are directors in control of what they shoot.