Photography

By: Tony Spiker

When Photography was first invented, it was not considered an art form, but rather a scientific tool of documentation, a minor curiosity. To the academic artists of the day, the grainy, soft images could never replace the vibrancy of color and the idealized world they created through their brush strokes in the age of romanticism. As a younger generation of artists came to challenge the academic system of art, they also embraced the camera as a means to express their feelings. These new “realists,” as they were called, rebelled against the ideals set for in the romantic art of the mid 19th century. Led by Gustav Courbet, this new movement tried to show the grittiness of life. They painted people and situations, not in the way they wished they were, but in the way they actually existed. The camera was the perfect tool for them, for it removed any possibility for the artist to embellish the true nature of their subject. New advancements in technology allowed for shorter exposure times and incredible crisp sharp images. Soon the artists themselves realized they could never reproduce an image the way the camera could. The art community began to branch out into less representational art movements like impressionism. This diversion from the real once again relegated photography to a documentary or scientific role.

Art however, always challenges itself. With a cultural back lash against WWI the Dadaists once again took to the camera to challenge the preconceived notion that photography was not an art form. In fact many of these photographers found that creating art in a photograph was in many ways more difficult than creating art on a black canvas. On the canvas, the artist is limited only by his imagination, each brush stroke builds the painters vision, with no attachment or loyalty to anything other than the painter’s mind. Where as the photographer must still express his vision the way a painter does, but must find that vision represented in existing reality. Great photography is far more than a technically proficient image, It is the visual expression of the photographer’s voice. It is a found moment that expresses the emotions and meanings that the photographer wishes to convey.

Here at Vista Gallery, we are pleased to represent some of the finest Lake Tahoe Photographers in the area. You can find their landscape portfolios below: