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Conceptual photography is a type of
photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
that illustrates an idea. There have been illustrative photographs made since the medium's invention, for example in the earliest staged photographs, such as
Hippolyte Bayard's ''Self Portrait as a Drowned Man'' (1840). However, the term Conceptual Photography derives from
Conceptual Art
Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...
a movement of the late 1960s. Today the term is used to describe either a methodology or a genre.
Conceptual photography as a methodology
As a methodology conceptual photography is a type of photography that is staged to represent an idea. The 'concept' is both preconceived and, if successful, understandable in the completed image. It is most often seen in
advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
and
illustration
An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...
where the picture may reiterate a headline or catchphrase that accompanies it. Photographic advertising and illustration commonly derive from
Stock photography
Stock photography is the supply of photographs which are often licensed for specific uses. The stock photo industry, which began to gain hold in the 1920s, has established models including traditional macrostock photography, midstock photography, ...
, which is often produced in response to current trends in image usage as determined by the research of picture agencies like
Getty Images
Getty Images Holdings, Inc. is an American visual media company and is a supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three markets— creative ...
or
Corbis. These photographs are therefore produced to visualize a predetermined concept. The advent of picture editing software like
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Microsoft Windows, Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas Knoll, Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the indu ...
has allowed the greater manipulation of images to seamlessly combine elements that previously it would only have been possible to combine in graphic illustration.
Conceptual photography as a genre
The term 'conceptual photography' used to describe a genre may refer to the use of photography in
Conceptual Art
Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...
or in contemporary art photography. In either case, the term is not widely used or consistently applied.
Conceptual photography and conceptual art
Conceptual art of the late 1960s and early 1970s often involved photography to document performances, ephemeral sculpture or actions. The artists did not describe themselves as photographers, for example
Edward Ruscha
Edward Joseph Ruscha IV (, ''roo-SHAY''; born December 16, 1937) is an American artist associated with the pop art movement. He has worked in the media of painting, printmaking, drawing, photography and film. He is also noted for creating severa ...
said "Photography's just a playground for me. I'm not a photographer at all." These artists are sometimes referred to as conceptual photographers but those who used photography extensively such as
John Hilliard and
John Baldessari
John Anthony Baldessari (June 17, 1931 – January 2, 2020) was an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lived and worked in Santa Monica and Venice, California.
Initially a painter, ...
and
Pedram Mousavi are more often described as photoconceptualists or "artists using photography".
Conceptual photography and fine-art photography
Since the 1970s artists using photography like
Cindy Sherman
Cynthia Morris Sherman (born January 19, 1954) is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters.
Her breakthrough work is often co ...
and latterly
Thomas Ruff
Thomas Ruff (born 10 February 1958) is a German photographer who lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany. He has been described as "a master of edited and reimagined images".
Ruff shares a studio on Düsseldorf's Hansaallee, with fellow German ...
and
Thomas Demand
Thomas Cyrill Demand (born 1964) is a German sculptor and photographer. He currently lives and works in Berlin and Los Angeles, and teaches at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg.
Demand had his first solo exhibition at Tanit Galerie in Munich ...
have been described as conceptual. Although their work does not generally resemble the lo-fi aesthetic of 1960s conceptual art they may use certain methods in common such as documenting performance (Sherman), typological or serial imagery (Ruff) or the restaging of events (Demand). In fact the indebtedness to these and other approaches from Conceptual Art is so widespread in contemporary
Fine-art photography
Fine-art photography is photography created in line with the vision of the photographer as artist, using photography as a medium for creative expression. The goal of fine-art photography is to express an idea, a message, or an emotion. This stand ...
that almost any work might be described as conceptual. The term has perhaps been used most specifically in a negative sense to distinguish some contemporary art photography from
documentary photography
Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life. It is typically undertaken as professional pho ...
or
Photojournalism
Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...
. This distinction has been made in the coverage of the
Deutsche Börse Photography Prize
Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to:
*''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places
*''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym
*Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic ve ...
. Conceptual photography is often used interchangeably with Fine-Art Photography, and there has been some dispute about whether there is a difference between the two. However, the central school of thought is that conceptual photography is a type of fine-art photography.
Fine art Photography is inclusive of conceptual photography. While all conceptual photography is fine art, not all fine art is conceptual.
See also
*
Pellier Noir
References
{{Reflist
External links
What is Conceptual Photography? – themed films at Source Magazine
*
ttp://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-conceptual-photography.htm What is Conceptual Photography? – Article at Wisegeek
Photography by genre
Conceptual art