Does a photo need to say something?

[gaivie]

As someone who has had (thus far) a career split between "Fine Art" (as a painter of portraits and other subjects) and "Applied Arts" (as an art director and graphic designer) I have a bias toward photography that resonates in some way with the end user. It may be so personal that only a small audience can truly appreciate it, but I've found that art and photography work best when it 'serves' that end user (and client/customer/patron) in some way. When I was studying at the University of Florida in the early 70s I took a course from the now famous Jerry Uelsmann who had a low regard for commercialism and the "Applied Art" side students and our tendency to 'sell out' rather than create art for art's sake. (I was amused to see his work and endorsement appear in an ad campaign for Kodak a few years later.) His photos always said a lot to me, as enigmatic as they were, and were in no way diminished by his profiting from them.

I have recently been combining my experiences in a collaborative effort to let people choose how to best enjoy their personal and most meaningful photos (those that say the most to them) at http://www.yourphototopainting.com