Throughout art history, paintings and drawings were the main art form used to depict human nature, beauty, etc. After the invention of the camera, people were skeptical and didn’t understand how a “mindless mechanical machine” could produce significant art for people to enjoy. Many artists even thought of photography as art’s mortal enemy. This left the photographer with lots of explaining to do in order to save the new art. “The invention of photography provided a radically new picture-making process—a process based not on synthesis but on selection,” said author John Szarkowski.
Overtime, people began to take notice to how the camera actually could reproduce memorable photographs and capture meaningful life moments at a faster rate than paintings. “Painting was difficult, expensive, and precious, and it recorded what was known to be important. Photography was easy, cheap and ubiquitous, and it recorded anything,” says Szarkowski.
I can definitely understand why many people in the beginning did not think so highly of the camera; it was the start to change and was foreign machinery. However, as a current photographer, I am so glad it became accepted and understood. It made way for new, efficient art and has greatly impacted the world.
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