Friday, August 22, 2008

Is photography a form of theater (performance) art?

Looking at some current photographers' art, I feel very strange and awkward. Their photos are based on, for example, light setups, dresses, makeup and extensive post-processing of images. This is a way of changing reality or making up a reality which does not really exist.

My attitude towards photography has always been documentary. I shoot things I see (or family members) while walking around with a camera. I don't change things, I just move around a bit to find a good point of view, and sometimes I wait for the clouds or sunlight to be nice in a photographic sense.

But it seems to me that the biggest trend in photography right now is performance art, or a kind of exhibitionism, where the point of photography is to create a popularly interesting version of reality.

And I suspect that in this kind of photography there is a connection to the paparazzi photos of Paris Hilton etc., but I'm right now unable to put that in writing. A way of posing to the public, perhaps?

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