Wells 11-17

Today photography is considered an art form. But photography has not always been an art form. In the 1800s and 1900s critics did not believe it took any artistic skill. “But in its early years photography was celebrated for its putative ability to produce accurate images of what was in front of its lens; images which were seen as being mechanically produced and thus free of the selective discriminations of the human eye and hand (Wells 13). It uses to be thought of as a form of technology. Photographs were not put in art shows. Photographers had to change the minds of people. They had to show they could put their own creative spin on the art. Photographers did this in a very different ways. For instance, they used different apertures or exposure times. Doing these allowed photographers to control how their photos came out. In addition, some photographers made pictures darker, while some made artwork lighter. It is not surprising that photography took a while to count as an art form. People often do not like change. This is nothing new. People might have feared that counting photography as a art form would open the door to different art forms. Before counting as an art form people only thought sculpture, painting, and drawing were the common art forms. Adding photography as an art form would change the foundation of art. Photographers worked hard and proved that photography should be included.