by Editor Miro Susta 
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 14th of July 2023

Creative photography is a technique that reflects the artistic vision of the photographer.

'Red' by Axel Brand

Photography has taken many years to earn its place in the art world, along with painting, architecture, poetry, music, theatre and sculpture.

When the first photographs emerged, they were not taken very seriously; due to technical limitations, photography could not claim satisfactory quality or artistic value, even though the first generation of photographers had already tried to enliven the composition of their images with interesting techniques and approaches.

'HotNews' by Marcel Egger

Several periods can be distinguished in the history of photographing. Even at the beginning of the development of photographic technique, it did not differ significantly from painting, i.e., photographers tried to transfer the techniques of painting they were familiar with to the photographic form.

'Liberté ď Expression' by Christophe Kiciak

The exact date cannot evidently be given, but historians of photographic art note a significant event that took place in 1856. At that time, the Swede Oscar Gustav Reilander (1813-1875), Victorian art photographer and expert in photomontage, made a unique combination print from thirty different retouched negatives. His photograph entitled “Two Ways of Life,” seemed to describe an ancient saga of two young people's entry into life. One of the main characters in the photograph turns to the various values of virtue, charity, religion and crafts, while the other, on the other hand, is carried away by such sinful pleasures of life as gambling, wine and immorality.

Two Ways of Life by Oscar Gustav Reilander

This allegoric photograph by Reilander immediately became widely known. And after an exhibition in Manchester, Queen Victoria herself acquired a photograph of Reylander for Prince Albert's collection.

*** by Constantin Shestopalov

The Reylander cause continued with talented English artist and photographer Henry Peach Robinson (1830-1901), who became famous for his composite photograph "Fading Away" made from five negatives. This art photograph shows a girl dying in a chair, her mother and sister standing sadly over her, and her father looking out of an open window.

Fading Away by Henry Peach Robinson

This image was criticized for distorting the truth, but nevertheless became widely known. It was immediately acquired by the English royal court, and the crown prince even gave Robinson a permanent warrant of payment for every print of any such photo. Robinson himself became a leading proponent of so-called figurative photography in England and Europe.

'Black Widow' by Martina Nemcekova EP

'Zig the Zag' by Howard Ashton-Jones

This movement was dominant in the photography until the first decade of the 20th century. Figurative photography employed a variety of pictorial effects and techniques.

'Tanya' by Zachar Rise

A special chapter in art photography is occupied by the nude, the artistically captured nudity that has accompanied our history for over 30,000 years, since the depiction of a small statue of Venus, the fertility Goddess, took a prominent place.

'Venus' by Ruth Franke

'Shape' by Daniel Springgay

The erotic art enjoyed its greatest prosperity in ancient Greece, where artists depicted the perfect body as an ideal of beauty.

'Sasha' by Zachar Rise

With the advent of Christianity, her artistic depiction was limited to representations of Adam and Eve.

'Eve' by Christophe Kiciak

Since the Renaissance, however, acts in art have become popular again, thanks, among other things, to several allegorical-mythological conceptions.

'Meeting the Goddess Medusa' by Ineke Mighorst

At the same time, the interest in the anatomy of masters such as Leonardo and Michelangelo contributed to the creation of magnificent works.

'Firenze' by Manuel Gayoso

In the Renaissance, the male model tended to be predominant, but with the advent of the Baroque, there was a renewed interest in depicting the female body.

'Jovan 18' by Anders Kustås

'falling veil' by Rafael L. Bardají

Nudity was a reference to divine origins and captured the contemporary aesthetic ideal of physical beauty as well as other human values. In contemporary art, depictions of nudity increasingly deliberately blur the thin line between art and pornography.

'The touch' by Franky De Meyer

For some photographers, the search for an aesthetic, photogenic pose prevails; for others, the intention is exactly the opposite, ignoring any idealization of the woman, revealing her vulnerability.

n/t by David Dubnitskiy

It is also important to state that photography could not leave the footprints of painting for a long time. However, the development of photography as an art form in the last century was largely due to regular exhibitions, at which, alongside simple, beautiful images, viewers could see interesting photographs that deserved the appellation 'works of art'.

'Gertrude’s Critique' by Tom Gore

One of the first such international exhibitions was the modestly titled 291 Gallery of Photography, opened by an American photographer and promoter of art photography Alfred Stieglitz in New York in 1905. It was a true exhibition of contemporary art, with the names of famous artists on a par with photographers.

***** by Zurab Getsatdze

In the 1920s and 1930s, a new era also began, with the style of photography changing in favour of documentation and reporting.

A new generation of photographers emerged who made their daily imprint in the history of their country and the world through reportorial and documentary photography.

'historical apocalypse' by Dmitry Laudin

Photography became a carrier of a certain historical truth, a reflection of real events, and in these years communities and associations of photographers began to emerge, seeking to turn photography into a self-sustainable art form.

'Agra sunset' by Lou Urlings

In the 1960s and 1970s, photography again became considered as an independent work of art. This is the era of photorealism and daring experiments with different photographic technologies and different artistic techniques.

'Serenissima' by Michel Romaggi

From this period onwards, all directions of the photography that had been on the fringes of public attention were finally given the right to be presented as an independent value in art.

'Grand Mosque' by Hanaa Turkistani

There appeared new photographic genres in which the author's intention and the photographer's creative vision became the key moment. Well-known photographers of the time began to touch upon such iconic social issues as social inequality, poverty, child labour abuse and many others in their work.

'The Excavation' by Ali Khataw

Another new revolution in the photographic industry is the transition from analogue (film) to digital technology. The digital imaging format allowed photographers to move away from a simple mirror image of the reality around them.

'Fairy tale' by Miro Susta

With the advent of digital cameras, computers and graphic editors, the photographer was able to reshape his images so that the viewer had the opportunity to become familiar with the creative vision of the image maker and immerse themselves in his surreal world.

'Light in the dark' by Inge Schuster

Although photography has become a mass phenomenon nowadays, selectivity and a specific personal "vision" are still important for the art of photography, allowing a photographer to use photographic means to create a true work of art.

But in the heart of the photography art there is still a photographer who can put a part of his inner world into the image, so that the photograph "grows" with new emotions and reveals the talent of the photographer himself.

'Click' by Roxana Labagnara

Photography today is more than just a way to capture an important moment in life. Thanks to a huge amount of high-tech equipment and a special program, everyone has been given the opportunity to make shooting their hobby.

'Cold winter afternoon in the city' by Yvette Depaepe

Art photography as an artistic form is quite versatile. Even a beginner will be able to show imagination at will. Moreover, everyone will find their favourite genre.

'Dawn at White Pocket' by Wanghan Li

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude and praise to all the 1x photographers who have made their beautiful photographs available for this article.

www.mrsphoto.net
[email protected]