Response to Tina Modetti "On Photography"

Throughout the semester I have continuously come back to the article that we read at the beginning of the semester by Tina Modetti simply titled “On Photography”. I found it very interesting how she tries to distinguish between what it means to be an artist versus a photographer. She considers herself a photographer, NOT an artist and actually seems to talk down about photographers that try to be artists. She seems to think that to be a photographer one should try to embrace the quality of “truth” that a photograph hold. At least this is how I interpret her way she says she produces “honest” photographs. When trying to make a photograph art she believes that the photographer rarely succeeds because they are simply mimicking other types of art but at a lesser state. Modetti seems to think that the photograph tells the truth. I personally do not believe this because the photograph is always in some way being altered by the photographer. Whether it is altered in the darkroom, or today in the digital world in photoshop. I believe that the “truth” is being altered from the second the photographer took the photograph because of what they chose to keep in the frame and what they chose to exclude.

Modetti seems to not care if photography is considered an art or not, just as long as she can continue making photographs and be able to critique others to say if they are good or bad. She seems to ask why should it matter that much if it is art or not, since that seems to be the argument with many. It is just interesting to think about.