Research paper for my art majors orientation class last semester

Photography as a Flexible Career

9/25/14

Art Orientation

I see photography as a potential link through my many art interests, including land art, painting, and textile art. Photography is definitely an asset in recording and sharing a variety of artworks with other people.

To gain more insight on the field I chose to research, I interviewed Larry O. Campbell, a retiree nature photographer. Photography isn’t a professional career for him, he came upon it after twenty years in the air force, and ten years raising cattle and operating a resort. After he retired, he picked up a camera to document a cross-country trip, and in his own words “…The rest, as you say, is history.”

Larry enjoys photography because it gets him out of doors, something that has kept him in great shape, and keeps him connected to the natural world’s cycles and seasons. He has also connected his photography with his writing, publishing books full of his work along with the work of his friends and colleagues.

I like how photography so easily interfaces with natural world. I enjoy working outside and incorporating nature into my art. As an artistic genre, land art is very connected to the outdoors, even when confined to gallery spaces. Photography is important in the land art process, both in its documentation, and its availability to other people.

The only thing Larry says he doesn’t like about being a photographer is the art’s “Restrictive nature; not being able to get out when I want to sometimes.” Nature and wildlife photography, and by extension, land art and its documentation, are often dependent on fair weather. Many artists in the areas persist right through miserable and harsh conditions, sometimes even embracing them for their unique beauty.

I’m not really interested in photography as a solo or specific career, but I feel it is suitable for me because of its flexibility in subject matter, and its application to many different interests and forms in art. Many artists come upon their chosen styles in a progression or a roundabout exploration of many different fields of art. Brian Usher, for example started as a ceramic artist before discovering glass sculpture. This is why I think the skill of photography would be particularly suitable; an artist trained in photography can more effectively compose images of their work for documentation or distribution purposes. In addition, photography is an elegant and communicative field of art intrinsically.