True art conforms to the artist not any ad hoc art rules, no matter how well or
long codified. Photography is an inner vision made concrete both in the
viewfinder and through the real world. There is no ruler large enough to
measure reality, nor rule good enough to be applicable to all (composition) in
photography. Photography is organic. Photography is multidimensional, not just
two dimensional. What works works, and what doesn't... doesn't - regardless of
rules. Where does your heart and your aesthetic sense tell you to put
something? Well, put it there. Rules (especially in an art medium, like
photography, but in art in general too) are crutches and prisons. Every
photograph is a unique case and a new experience that must be met fully w/ your
heart and mind and aesthetic sensibility. Conformity to formulas, to someone
elses's rules is a death sentence for your individuality. The world is full of
trite, pretty pictures. Relying too much on the rule of thirds, Golden Mean or
any other rule or guideline is a recipe for garbage. Why repeat other's garbage
and mindsets? If you are going to make beautiful stinking crap, at least let it
be your own beautiful stinking crap and not a mindless imitation of an
imitation (which all these rules foster). Clonetography, Technography,
Zoneography, its all the same - you are just imitating someone else's crap
(consciously or unconsciously). Why live someone else's life/mindset/do someone
else's photograph? There are enough clones in the world. Be yourself. The
questions you must ask yourself is not what rule(s) must I follow, but why
follow at all and where does my life and mind begin and other's end? Take
responsibility for your own work. Good or bad. Accept failures and move past
them. See what works and what doesn't work in each individual
photograph/situation. Be conscious of your choices. Choose to make your own
choices, not someone elses (ie. codified so-called "rules"). Be free. Don't be
a slave to anybody's art rules, not even your own. There are no rules in art,
only choices/decisions. Don't be scared of freedom. Embrace it. Don't be afraid
to feel and express those thoughts and feelings through your unique
composition/photo schema. Cause if it comes out crap, at least you'll be knee
deep in your own photo fecal matter instead of someone else's. If you want to
grow, you can't be afraid of the manure. Rules are for fools. Only a fool
doesn't want to be free. Rule from your head and your heart and tell anybody
who tries to "rule" you w/ their art rules to shove it where the sun don't
shine - they'll probably find a better photograph up their butts than they will
by following any formulaic rules. Formulaic rules are recipes for disaster.
Save the mind control for George Orwell. This is art. Art lives. Rules are the
death of art - they are the oppositte of fun, love and self-expression.
Allowing yourself to be ruled by "rule snobs" (whether in for the judge in your
own your head or for the judge(s) in a photo club) robs you of the joy of
discovery/insight and self-expression. And if you are not making photos for
yourself, just who are you making them for?, pleasing some fossilized photo/art
judges? They have their rewards/prizes and you know by now where they can stuff
it. A good photograph is a good photograph whether it conforms to any rule or
not. "The value of the work is the value of the work" (quote of myself ;-)). If
someone doesn't like your work because it doesn't please them or their
(art/photography/whatever) group's codified idiocy, well, let them eat
Kodachrome™. There's more to photography/art than fullfilling any rules just as
there's more to life than mere bread and water. Rules have been formed and
confirmed/fossilized my multiple people over time... which only goes to show
that there's always stupidity in numbers - even if its only "paint by
numbers"... or... photograph by the rule of thirds.

This post is...

© 2003 Lewis Lang

All Rights (and manure) Reserved

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