Ruben Buhagiar - Chronicles from the World of Mood
‘‘ It’s the mind behind the tool
that creates art, not the tool. ‘‘
Life is Beautiful
A simple phrase. Now sit back and think about it. Life is Beautiful. What do
you feel when you read and contemplate over this phrase. A romantic dinner?
Listening to bird sounds by the riverside? Serenity? A quiet drive down your
favourite lane with a gentle breeze caressing your face and listening to
your favourite melody churning out of your on-board hi-fi?
A positive atmosphere.
Or a storm, tending to uproot everything around it. You are awestruck by its
power; intrigued by its devastation. Intimidated even, but you know that it
causes a reaction in you, wishing to re-establish order. As harsh as this
environment is, this intrigue is what you’d want to depict.
A negative atmosphere, but one which maybe still provokes a positive
reaction in you.
You feel urged to communicate this to others. Photography is but one type of
communication, but it is a non-verbal communication medium. At its best, a
photograph conveys a thought from one person, the photographer, to another,
the viewer. In this aspect, photography is very similar to other art forms
such as painting. Its power, however, is in that it can convey an atmosphere
by demonstrating things we might have actually easily overlooked. Beyond
that, there is an inherent realism to a photograph which bestows a
pertinence to this art form that makes it stand apart from all other forms
of art today. This is what draws people to photography, or snap shooting.
Welcome to the World of Mood, an insight into the inner thoughts of the
people who project it, the true photographers.
What makes photography an art?
I will start with this statement: ‘Even the most technically perfect print
is meaningless without emotion’.
One should make a clear distinction between photography as a science and
photography as an art. Photography is a tool (and a great tool at that) for
recording a scene perfectly. If you are going to take a picture of your
desk, then the camera can record the X, Y and Z axes perfectly (obviously if
well set up to do so… the angle, the perspective, distortion control).
Assuming all the visual parameters are correct, this can be a perfect image
of the desk, and in most instances the lighting must be as uniform as
possible for recording purposes – pretty much like the pictures you get in
product catalogues.
But is it an inspiring photo? Does it instill an emotion in you, the viewer,
whether good or bad? I do not think so.
But then these images are not meant to create emotion. They are just
records, reproductions. They do their job perfectly. But we are interested
in the art form. In timelessness.
So what makes a photograph a piece of art? It is the 4th dimension, the
timed light, the atmosphere, the mood, the emotion…call it what you want.
Obviously, it helps to know the way to correctly record the X, Y and Z axes,
but like any good wine, it is the 4th dimension which leaves the lasting
impression on the viewer, long after the latter has ceased to see the image
in question.
And the 4th dimension is personal to the photographer. To achieve it, the
photographer must relate himself to the scene he is photographing. He must
tell a story. Simply by following the rules. Are there any really? From
where did these originate really? Most rules are myths anyway, or items for
helping others create arguments when the argument should be: ‘Does this
image work for you?' Rules may help you create a technically perfect image
but if there is nothing you want to say, then that is, unfortunately just a
snap shot.
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