Photography Isn’t Just a Technical Process

(and why we need to stop thinking of it that way)

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I was recently reading an argument that was taking place online about critiquing photography. Specifically about how in the analogue photography community today many have strayed away from practicing correct technical processes and no-one wants to correct them.

The subject at hand was a series of photographs that one individual had seen posted online which had been incorrectly developed, creating flawed looking images with unusual characteristics. These images had been received with much praise, with many commentators stating that the flawed and “messed up” looking images were actually to their liking.

The issue that the original commentator had with this was that no one was correcting the obvious error that have been made during development. Something this commentator considered endemic to the modern analogue community. In this persons view the community had become diluted. No one was looking to offer or accept firm and constructive feedback on their work. Everything was praised, even with things having been done wrongly.

I tend to agree that doing things the proper way is usually the best way to do things. And I also tend to find myself more aligned with the argument that good feedback, honest feedback, even feedback that might not be liked, is necessary in order to grow; in anything, not just photography. However, in the pursuit of doing things correctly I fear that we expose a flawed way of thinking that seems to be unique to the photographic art form. The idea that there is a correct of doing things, when the subjectivity of art would suggest the opposite.

Photography is at the end of the day an art form, and not exclusively a technical processes. Yes, there are technical processes involved with photography, and there are correct and incorrect ways of completing these processes, however, we aren’t bound to them. Art is subjective by nature. If an artist can create something that they like, and that resonates with an audience, no matter how large or how small, does it truly matter if they followed all of the correct procedures to get to that result?

I’ve never encountered a painter whose work was critiqued based on how he held the paint brush, or a a sculptor who’s work was review based on his correct use of a chisel. The tools and processes that are part of photography are designed only to allow the photographer to complete his or her task, which is to create an image. If somewhere along the line the photographer deviates from the accepted standard to create a piece of art that might be viewed as technically flawed he or she has still succeeded in his or her mission; which is to create a piece of art.

That is not to say that we should just through the whole idea of doing things correctly out the window. There’s a time and place for precision, and doing things right, for playing by the rules. But there’s also a place for breaking the rules, experimenting, creating something new by using something differently than originally intended. We must simply not allow a desire to follow correct procedures to stand in the way of what photography is first and foremost, an art form.