What is art? Paintings Vs Photographs

Art comes in many ways, shapes, and forms. Some things may or may not be considered art in one's eyes as it may be in an other's. Everyone has a certain level of intelligence and a certain level of ignorance. A regular working class person could see a photo and just say it's a photo and not art, and a person that is slightly knowledgeable about art and photography will know that it is art and appreciate maybe how far they had to travel, how long they had to wait for the right lighting, adjusting the settings on the camera, sneaking around if it's a wild life shot, getting a good composition, etc. The more time, effort, and feeling that goes into a piece of art receives more attention from audiences; paintings are the easiest for people to call art because they know someone physically painted it and it could've took days, weeks, or even months to complete, what they don't know is that the same amount of work could have been put into the photograph right next to it.

Paintings are the most obvious form of art as well as the more favorable form that receives appreciation. We all know that the artist has to start from scratch, mix the colors, clean their brushes constantly, and so on. There are so many different styles and strokes the painter can use and put feeling in to it. So much at times that a person could stand in front of it for an hour appreciating, analyzing, and finding a connection or relationship with it. Though, without even realizing it, almost everybody actually does have the same appreciation for photographs. When we find one that we can enjoy, feel inspired, or stimulated by in some sort of way, we set it as our wallpaper on our phones, computers, or tablets because we do have that same level of appreciation. Whether it is just a family photo that took some effort to get just right, it tells a story, or identifies with us somehow we want to hold onto it within the background of our devices until either we get bored of it or something else comes along. Everybody may enjoy the great landscapes, animals, and abstract wallpapers that come along with our computer systems but a lot of people never even stop to think how much time or effort that was taken to create these great works of art.

So as you see art does have many forms, is and always will be a part of our life, and will have equal appreciation. It is just a matter of who is viewing it and if they like it or not. Paintings may receive a more direct appreciation but photographs do receive just as much transparently whether the viewer knows it or not.