There’s no Art without…

The necessary preconditions for the creation of Art

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By David Ward | July 30, 2015

David Ward

T-shirt winning landscape photographer, one time carpenter, full-time workshop leader and occasional author who does all his own decorating.

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You might imagine that editorial meetings at On Landscape take place in the underground bunker at Parkin HQ; a room fringed with massive computer screens, suffused with the quiet hum of giant servers, stuffed with exotic camera equipment and decorated in the concrete, glass and stainless steel style so beloved of Bond villains. Surely no more fitting environment could be imagined for the deep philosophical and technical discussions that precede every issue? But in reality we have cosy chats over a glass of wine in Tim’s front room or (if the budget allows this month) we might splash out on a pint in some convivial hostelry. It was on just such an occasion, last summer, that Messrs Parkin, Cornish and I were chewing the cud about the necessary preconditions for the creation of Art.

Whoa! The mention of Art will mean that some of you are thinking, “This article is not for me.” Many photographers fail to consider their work might be Art – although some might be happy to think of their images as (lower case) art. Capitalised Art seems too grand a description.

The mention of Art will mean that some of you are thinking, “This article is not for me.” Many photographers fail to consider their work might be Art

Yet I’m sure that most of OL’s readership aspire to making creative images. Art and creativity are intrinsically linked but we often baulk at the notion of thinking of our photographs as Art, let alone calling them that. For reasons I’ll come to in a moment, I don’t really think there’s a difference between Art and art.

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