[otw_shortcode_dropcap label=”E” size=”large” border=”border” border_color_class=”otw-silver-border”][/otw_shortcode_dropcap]An Englishman in New York is both a film starring John Hurt as the famous writer Quentin Crisp and of course the classic song by talented performer Sting. This Oscar Wilde styled character is the basis of the shoot concept created by a leading London Interior Designer with the photography and lighting by me and to be set in City Centre Manchester.
I was chosen for this project because of my slightly avant-garde style of shooting on occasion. Its is fair to say that I tend to prefer the slightly more adventurous style of photography even though not much of this shows up in my work. I was slightly surprised by their production idea but engaged with he challenge.
I think the words Fine Art Photography can be misleading, what is it and how does it sit with todays abundance of immediate photo content splurged all over social media?. Is there a place for such a type of work and does it stand it’s ground? What makes a picture stand out as a one of piece that people will collect?
Once, a few years previous I had the chance to ask a leading collector of art and photography this question “what makes you choose to single out a photograph and either display as fine art or indeed deem it a fine art piece?” I also asked why do landscape images rarely not feature as fine art but a picture of a concrete flyover catch his eye? Yes his answer in a way surprised me and confirmed the fact that in the eye of a successful gallery owner and purveyor of fine art views had slanted over a period of time.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”#be6464″ class=”” size=””]” James, if you see a landscape of Glencoe shot beautifully and carefully graded then framed and presented to me. It does nothing to confirm or convey to me it’s originality. I could quite easily as could many others find this location, or any other and set up my camera and indeed take the same shot. Its always there and obvious, however if you pass by a tall grand concrete fly-over which we all see everyday, then capture this and present this back to me. I will always see this more as art than the other and the reason for this is because you are capturing something which cannot be captured by everyone. You have found an aspect which no other has seen, manmade and hidden from the world and your unique eye has worked out how and why. This to me is art”[/perfectpullquote]