Photography should be let go from its association with art. Not because art cannot encompass photography, but because it is hard to separate the complex web which “art” references. If we no longer worried about measuring up or impressing anyone with our photos, if they were no longer required to reference any artistic conventions, then they could exist as purely documentary.
The documentary is not inherently less creative, though it may not have the same trappings as the artistic. Anyone with the heart of a photographer will photograph with his or her heart, and the results will speak for themselves. Because we don’t document the same things as other people. Our hearts lean toward light, to the substance of things more than the things themselves.
Document with heart. Make no excuses for what you point the camera at. Vision will manifest itself in the faithful recording of the same things that inclined your heart toward photography in the first place.
The Sprocket Docket 