Foreword
Dear friends,
After a heated week-long debate we are eventually coming to a moment of divine deliverance of Art Forum on photographyreview.com.
Photography was invented in 1837, and immediately some people realized that it had a great potential as an art medium, another words, saw it as a tool for artistic self-expression, while others maintained that real purpose of photography was to truthfully document the world.
Naturally, both views had and still have their own merits. What is interesting, however, after an initial period of so-called Pictorialism a new, more real form of artistic photography evolved. From hazy dream-like images of early photo artists photography went a long way to become an art form recognized and developed by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Rodchenko, Martin Parr, etc. These photographers managed to erase a barrier between Art and Journalism and made it possible to preserve documentary integrity of their photos while making them true works of art. At the same time artists like Man Ray, Irving Penn, Lenni Riefenstahl and others were pursuing totally different approach to art creating images that could not be possibly further from reality. The third group represented by such photographers as Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, David LaChapelle, Erwin Olaf, etc managed to create yet another form of art where elaborately staged scene starts living its own life and becomes a part of reality.
You may ask, if there are so many different forms of photography that are considered art, how can we determine art anyway? Certainly, there are many definitions of art out there, and most of them boil down to a simple notion that art makes its recipient feel something, wakes up emotions, invites to re-live a moment frozen in the artwork with its creator. None of those definitions are perfect, and the main purpose of our new forum is to try to answer this question: what is art?
Code of honor
You, as participants of this forum, are welcome to post photos that you consider art and share your opinions on works of others. There are several rules, though. First, try to be kind, no matter how naïve and primitive (in your opinion) somebody's photo you are commenting on. Second, be honest, but not brutal. By praising a photo that does not deserve it you will not do its creator any favor, on a contrary, you will deceive him or her. However, if delivering the truth is your way of satisfying your hidden sadistic nature, please refrain from this here. Remember, if you offend someone by your wording of the truth hard enough, he or she will never get the point. Be honest to yourself. Remember, that you can fool anyone in the world except one person - you. If you pass somebody else's work for your own, most likely it will be uncovered sooner, or later, but even if it is not, somebody else's crown usually does not perfectly fit. Be humble, and do not let your pride take over. Be fair to yourself and others. Be receptive. Enjoy works of others the same way you enjoy your own. Comment on their work because this is the only way to let them know what do you think about their creative efforts. Treat people the same way you want them to treat you, but please-please-please, resist temptation of flattery.
Rules of submission
If you'd like to discuss one of your photos, please upload it to the gallery and include a link to that gallery page in your post. Please do not post the photograph in this forum. Pornographic images and anything offensive to any race, ethnic group, or society of any nature will be removed from the gallery and related posts will be removed from this forum. Take pride in your work and try not to flood the forum and gallery with a series of almost identical images. Plagiarism is prohibited here, and people caught stealing will have their virtual hand chopped off. Submitting work under a nickname is fine, but we would really appreciate if behind the nickname there is a real person.