tyson crosbie photography

I keep posting to flickr the wrong day of “dog a day”, for instance today I first entered day 8. I am uncertain if this means subconsciously I feel like the series is going too quickly and I want more time to work out some of the details of these ideas or if I am just tired.

Recently I had the opportunity to meet a world class photographer that had a strong and very different opinion on the value of photography. One conversation topic in particular we discussed the difference between being successful in the art world vs the commercial world. His argument was that in order to be successful artistically you needed to work successfully as a commercial artist. (This is also the premise to “On being a commercial photographer”- Bill Jay) It seemed his argument was firmly resting on the idea that without the experience of working with numbers and business that ultimately any artist would fail to become successful and with what he knew about business he could easily produce a successful body of fine art work. It was also stated that education had no bearing on an artists ability to become a working artist because “Let’s face it, if [a professor] could be making money as a commercial artist they wouldn’t be teaching.”

Being the first in my family to earn a degree, I value my education generally and as a Fine Artist I also believe my understanding of the history and the context of photography within the world is an advantage in the commercial market. I disagreed with the argument that only commercial photographers can be successful in the art world. Though it was true for much of the history of photography, things have certainly changed. As we discussed it I challenged him to name current commercial photographers that were also successfully collected fine artists. No one came to mind that was still alive.

Who would you name? Leave a comment below.

From what I see historically photography was as affected by specialization as much as the rest of the world in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Meaning that there became two distinct paths in photography one led to the art world and the other to commercial endeavors. It is sad and common for these two groups to disparage each other working to differentiate themselves as having more value. Rarely, if ever, do the highest levels of either branch meet anymore. Before specialization it was common to hang commercial work in galleries as fine art because these photographers considered themselves artists, and the work of Avedon, Steichen, and Penn are in many collections to this day.

Unfortunately most modern successful commercial photographers prefer to measure success only in business terms and even avoid the word artist which in the business world is often equated with laziness or starving. Personally I see value in business and markets and I also measure my own success by business standards, however it concerns me that the artistry and uniqueness of imagery is being lost to homogenized stock photography. It is important to realize that the day the world decides that there is only one way to photograph a tennis shoe, no one will ever hire a photographer to do it again. It is concerning to me that there is less and less dialog between the art and commerce branches of photography because I am stuck in the middle.

I think social media may have a part to play in a resurgence of commercial artists, mainly in part because it values uniqueness more than the previous model.

If you are a photographer and you worry about the falling value of your work this post is for your consideration.