World Image issue 30 March 2016_1

Photoart
Gordon Longmead
There is much discussion about the validity of
Photoart as a part of photography. Photography is an
art form, one in which the photographer holds the
same position as any artist in history.
When we look at Constables ‘The Haywain’ no one
ever complains that the cart was not in the river
when the picture was painted. No one ever criticises
the glamorised portraits that hang in galleries across
the world.
Artists paint the scene in their studio from general
sketches and memory, the lighting is created in the
studio, even in the open the lighting is fixed at the
start of the painting but changes during the day, a
change ignored by the artist.
The artist is only interested in the end result. If
painting a portrait, the artist glamorises the subject
to hide the blemishes and make the subject feel good
about themselves.
In this image The main subject is a straight
photograph, but I wanted it to tell a story. In this
instance the story is a simple one, “Here we are on
Earth and just beyond the horizon is the maelstrom
that is space, and it is coming our way.”
Hidden with the view is a second story, “The
maelstrom is of our own making and is slowly but
surely consuming the natural Earth.”
Photoart is the vision you have in your heart at the
moment the image is created, be it a portrait of a
woman or a scene of fire and brimstone.
Do not hide behind the false purist belief that
photography is nothing more then a record of what
is.
Photography has many faces, record photography is
just one of them, any fool can take a picture, a
photographer produces artworks.
Website = photosociety.net Page 16 email = magazine@photosociety.net