What is art? And who can be called an artist? What is the job of an artist? A few questions that have racked my brains quite a number of times. Who will have the final say in the given questions? A piece of art may appeal to someone and may totally repel another.
So, should we and more importantly can we leave the question to the witnesses of art, especially when the witnesses are such varied and have such amazingly contadictory perception for anything art. Who was a better artist, vinci, michelangelo or rembrandt. They all existed in the same era, but still had such different styles. And yet there were people who appreciated them. Moving to a more recent era, Picasso, Van gogh or Goya. Also, with such fast changing definition of art, with the contemporary art (the post modern era) coming in picture, no one can really know or give an exact definition of art. And still we think of all these people to be great artists.
So, if we cannot leave the decision to the witnesses of art. I believe there's just one person who remains, and he is the artist himself. A couple of days back, a phrase got stuck in my mind...
"Egotism is the rightful right of every artist".
And I think its as true as you and me. An artist should have full freedom to decide on what he wants to create. What he wants to show through what he sees. I as an artist, see something, I perceive it, visualise a story, a tale to say through it, and then I show this story to the people. This should be my and only my right to decide on what I want to show. I feel a piece of art is an expression that has been recreated by the artist.But why am i suddenly talking about art?Well, its not so much related to the artists I talked about above. It is because I wanted to answer to a question that I have faced myself and have seen a lot of people face. How much editing is accepted in photography? I feel whether a photograph should be photoshopped, edited, cut or pasted is all a photographer's decision. A photographer is an artist and its his decision what he wants to show the people. And when and to what extent he wants to use this right is also his decision. Its about time that the differential treatment meted out to photographers and artists (people who paint, write, act, direct or are associated with any creative field) be erased. I see something and then I visualise something, and its this visualisation that I want to show to people, otherwise I am sure people must have crossed a similar event/place/artefact quite a number of times.
The same photograph may be able to show different moods of mine or the event, by different composition styles, different color patterns or for that matter by keeping different things in focus or out of focus. Each photograph talks as much about the photographer if not more than the story behind it. A photograph is my signature on that event, and I want to keep that unique.
"Egotism is a rightful right of all photographers".
