The Way Nature Intended
Why I Won't Alter My Images Using Graphic Art
The image above was taken in Denali National Park, Alaska using slide film. It, and every single Dennis Glennon original photographic image on my website, is a real photograph, and not enhanced graphically in any way.
If you read my webpage "Dogs In Natural Light", you will know that I am opposed to altering my own photographic images through computer graphic manipulation.
I believe nature, which of course includes animals, should be photographed and shown in their true beauty, as one would see these subjects naturally. Of course,
there are unlimited artistic uses for graphic art using photographs, and I appreciate
the many ways artists express themselves through this medium. I do not, however, appreciate anyone calling a work of graphic art a "photograph".
Graphic art and photography are two very different visual forms.
Graphic art can be created with or without photographic images,
but true photographic images cannot be created using graphic art.
I enjoy using a digital camera. People who know my work and photographic philosophy questioned when I stopped using film. They worried that I would no longer produce the beautiful, natural photographic work I have become known for. I may have stopped using film (to save on its cost and development) but I have not stopped taking natural images.
By 'natural images' I do not mean that I am a nature photographer, though, by profession, that's exactly what I am. To take natural images means to set one's camera manually, just as you would set a traditional film camera. Setting the shutter speed and aperture takes more time, as does waiting for the right moment and the right light, but in the end, I know I have produced a real photograph, not some piece of graphic art generated on a computer.
When I do get an image I am not happy with, I refuse to use it. Some people suggest I "just PhotoShop it" as if this is the solution to an inferior photograph. It is not. The solution to an inferior photograph is to learn how to take superior ones. That comes with time, patience, learning the art of photography, and mastering your camera while developing your own style. Photography is a talent. Graphic art is a talent.
Each is a separate talent. Let me make that distinction clear.
Graphic art can be created with or without photographic images, but
true photographic images cannot be created using graphic art!
I am a photographer, not a graphic artist. Unlike those who correct the imperfections
of their photographs on a computer, I have earned, and I maintain, the right to call myself a photographer in the truest sense of the word.
You can enjoy my photographic prints knowing that the images you see are how you would see those subjects if you had been there with me when I photographed them.
