The Art of Photography

World Photography Day is celebrated each year on the 19th of August. Photography, the art of capturing light with a camera, can be almost limitlessly complex. Photographs play an important role in everyone's life – they connect us to our past, they remind us of people, places, feelings, and stories. They can help us to know who we are.

According to Carla Crafford, lecturer of photography at the University of Pretoria and published author of numerous books on photography “Photography as an artistic medium is often misunderstood.”

We chatted to Carla about how photography is a valid art form and why photographers have a hard time being considered artists. She uses a metaphorical comparison between photography and playing the piano’ “You take a photograph by pressing a button. A piano contains 84 keys, and you can 'press' all 84 keys, but pressing those keys doesn't necessarily make music.” Photography has a number of fundamental elements, and each requires consideration. Crafford outlines the starting point for photography as:
1.    composition
2.    tonal variations
3.    chromatic variations
4.    rhythmic variations
5.    subject
6.    scale - or in the case of music - the length of the piece
South Africa has been slow to recognise photography as an artistic medium. Elsewhere in the world, it gained support as soon as the medium was discovered. Locally, photography has almost always been used for its representational, journalistic or documentary purposes. “Although there is nothing wrong with that - consider this: Other mediums may be used as abstractions - thus not about something. Using photography as an abstract medium is still rare. Viewers still expect photographs to be about something copied from the visible world”, Carla adds.

The human brain can process images up to 60,000 times faster than words. ... with a picture, you can convey so much more information than you can with words. It can take a thousand words just to describe what is in one picture. This makes photography an extremely powerful medium and South Africa has no shortage of outstanding photographers. Crafford’s list of those well-known for their artistic contributions includes Santu Mofokeng (RIP), Lien Botha, Cedric Nun, David Goldblatt, Michael Meyersfeld, Keith Bernstein and Roelof van Wyk.

Some notable Sasol New Signature winning photographers are Mohau Modisakeng (2011), Lebohang Kganye (2017), Kathryn Smith (1999), Sethembile Msezane (2015), Richardt Strydom (2008), Gerhardt Coetzee (2010, Renske Scholtz (2012), Cara Jo Tredoux (2017).
For those aspiring artists looking to explore the photography route, Carla has the following advice, “Look at art books wherein there are examples of photography. Study ART, collaborate with other artists (especially working in three-dimensional work), study the medium and technical aspects well. Consider that you are drawing/painting with the camera - not just copying something. Look at the work of other photographers such as the ones mentioned.  Consider the scale of printed work - as an example: If a print is very small, the viewer has to come close to the work to see it. Thus the viewer has a more intimate experience of the work. A very large image - like a billboard - puts the viewer at a distance, thus merging the space between the viewer and the work.”

Photography has experienced a revolution with more photographic works seen on computer - or phone screens than ever before. The latest trends in photography are fed by the instantaneous nature that pictures can be taken, compiled and moved anywhere in the world in a fraction of seconds - whatever the subject. It is an exciting time for photographers.

“Selfies have changed the way that self-portraits will be seen and used forever. More work has been seen around Afro-Futurism than was ever visible before. There is a greater trend towards merging documentary - and journalistic work with fine art.” comments Carla.

Carla has just completed a book on pinhole photography entitled Light for Art's Sake. The book will be launched in October this year at the Link Gallery (University of Pretoria). There are 90 participants in the book - including established artists as well as students.