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Photography as a way of life
By Irakly Shanidze
First more or less successful attempts to create a photographic image were made as early as
1826. Since that moment photography progressed dramatically, but from its earliest days until
now its fate has been rather complicated: for a long time it was not generally accepted as a
form of art. Partly the very nature of photography and an essence of photographic process
were at fault. In a nutshell photography is an instrument for fixing a moment of reality with
the highest degree of accuracy, i.e. documenting. Moreover, photographic process requires
use of precision equipment and fairly complex chemical and lately digital techniques. That is
why photography unlike any other form of art attracts people with technical mindset and, what
is also important, with rational perception of the surrounding. It is a way of perception that
entails meticulous analysis of information obtained. A rational thinker asks himself and others
«what is it?», «why?», «what for?», « what does it look like?» etc. When no answer is given the
seen is rejected and often times with extreme hostility as something than has no right to exist.
For people with discriminatory mind the main (and frequently the only)criterion of artistic quality is
faithfulness of representation of reality. They do not understand that technical superiority is not merely
corner-to-corner sharpness, but an ability to obtain a desired emotional response from a viewer.
Photography as an art form, however, embraces far more than just critical sharpness and correct
exposure; hence it does not fit the standard, and real works of photographic art drown in a
stream of dull, static and emotionally hollow pictures that are so abundant because they are
just all too easy to produce.
Irakly Shanidze Bio
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