With this image I was consciously striving for a photograph that resembled something my talented younger brother would have created with his easel and box of oil paints.
There has long been an uneasy connection between photography and painting. The mid-19th century witnessed a hotbed of criticism surrounding the introduction of cameras. What need was there of portrait or landscape painting when a camera copied nature? Photographers, it was said, were lazy and untalented. A machine did everything while the photographer simply pressed a button.
However, painters soon began using photos as research and reference for their works. Impressionist painters such as Degas and Gauguin and even 20th century artists such as Norman Rockwell frequently used photos as a detailed record of the scene they wished to paint.
The argument made below by Mei Seva is a compelling one, claiming that such movements as Impressionism, Symbolism, and Abstraction threw off the stifling requirements of realism.
“Photography has allowed for the unleashing of artists’ imaginations and revolutionized all of art.” ~ Mei Seva in 2022
Location: The Sunshine Coast, British Columbia
Date: Summer, 1990
Source: Pentax ME Super with Kodachrome 64 slide film
