Sam Chrysanthou

Thanks everyone for your comments on the article.  We want to get you thinking with this 'positional' article! Stan, I can see you spent some time thinking about the arguments Darwin and I presented and your response.  I agree with you that one of the most valuable things a photograph can do is communicate information about reality.  My only concern occurs when people think that the photograph faithfully represents reality (which it cannot do; everyone sees things differently albeit within perhaps a certain range of reality).  You yourself expe

Hi Arnab, That pro's advice is spot on:  My partner and I whine quite a bit about how little we get out to photograph.  And then with digital, you have to factor in the time processing at your computer, too.  I agree that many photographers are more artist than businessman as well.  There are many other learned skills to acquire before you are successful. Funny you say many lawyers turn photographer--a doctor I once knew joked to me (about me) that lawyers weren't creative enough to be photographers and that there were far more doctors turne

Ha ha!  "Partist"--that's hilarious, Steven.   David, I read your piece and agree that in some instances a photographer should be open about what they are doing.  With general art, no one assumes that the piece is 'reality'.  But until people don't equate a photograph to reality, some acknowledgement of the possibility of deception may be required of photographers.

Thanks for the comments; glad the article was helpful.

Very true and useful words, Guy!  I always feel a bit frustrated when, if I take out my Nikon -- which is a big-ish camera -- I hear people say, "That's a good camera!"  The assumption being that it takes good pictures.  I don't get that when playing with a point-n-shoot.  It's all baloney as you explain.  But why would people who don't even own DSLRs think that big, black cameras take 'better' images than a point-n-shoot?  It's in the marketing, I tell ya.

Hear! Hear!  I'm always put off when the photographer 'bookends' his (or her) image with hero stories.  It can be difficult to get past the constraints the photographer's story can impose on an image.  I think, as artists, a certain amount of humility should accompany presentation of a photograph.  We are, after all, asking for people's attention and time which are precious.