Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1903 (Heft 3))

ESTHETIC ACTIVITY IN PHOTOGRAPHY.

In view of the demonstrated scope of the camera as an aid to expression,
it is marvelous that the esthetic activity of photographers is so limited.
In passing upon photography's claims to be classed with the arts, it is unfair
to set its artistic successes against those of other media in order to call atten-
tion to the limited extent of the former. The multitude, as a result of the
preliminary obstacles overcome by the lens, pursues photography with a
vacancy of purpose that precludes any view of it other than that held in
childhood of the decalcomania — a means of transferring mechanical impres-
sions to something else. Yet these, often reach a stage, of more or less
presentable results, while in other media it is only the student of rare attain-
ments who masters the principles thereof and reaches the point of securing
public attention. Hence, as the result of the undue prominence thus given
other media for purposes of comparison, injustice is invariably done photog-
raphy. In view of the extreme rarity of estheticism, it is unreasonable to
expect the acceptance of the precepts of art by photographers as a whole,
or even by a majority of them, or to look for more than an occasional
embracing of the opportunities offered. The necessities of artistic expres-
sion demand the concordant habitation of estheticism, an inclination to delve
into the possibilities of the camera as a means of expression and the oppor-
tunity to gratify the demands of both. The esthete is born. The instincts
may be latent and, in most media, require much cultivation to develop; but
given a camera, the instincts will arouse themselves and grow strong with
much exercise, even though unconsciously. It is in the soul that art lies
dormant, and, when the incense of esthetic impressions is wafted softly to it,
art awakens and creeps forth to seek the runways of its fellows. The paths
down which its ancestral kinsmen went hand in hand with the masters unfold
their radiant vistas, and the soul is led joyously along the journeys of esthetic
comprehension and interpretation. The true soul wends along the road
valiantly, nor stops, nor falters at obstacles. Each succeeding experience
but adds to the science of interpretation, until efforts are crowned with that
success which satisfies not this seeker but rather spurs him to other and
loftier purposes.
But, mark you, art sometimes finds itself housed in a soul that is
controlled by a narrow mind—a stunted vision! Then the broad pathways
of art are passed by for the narrow ones of self-interest. It is many such
unfortunately domiciled souls that chance upon the camera as the interpreter
of their esthetic intentions. The search for means of interpreting exalting
inspirations becomes a search for notoriety. Art’s messages miscarry and
the subtle meanings dwarfed by the narrow mind become coarse vacancies.
Motive and feeling become but a fanfare of uniform detail. The subtleties
of tone become either raw and ragged contrasts without meaning, or seek
imagined eccentricity in muddy and ineffective obscurity. Soon, then, the
soul is hushed in discouragement and the narrow mind flounders along
under the impetus of its own querulous doubtings of true interpretations.

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