Does photographing a beautiful artwork create beautiful photograph?

I came across a beautiful photograph of a statue named ‘The Veiled Virgin’. I was mesmerized by that photograph. Lost in it. The cloth on the face seemed so real. But, was the photograph beautiful?

The Veiled Virgin was a statue sculpted sometime in the early 1850s by an Italian sculptor Giovanni Strazza. He created a masterpiece. The veil carved in the stone itself feels transparent and outlines the facial features in a flawless manner. Yes, the statue is beautiful. I came across its photograph today and spent a lot of time admiring the ‘statue’. So, does that make the photograph beautiful? The photographer had photographed the statue with a short-tele lens and shared it on social media as his bonafide art work.

The photograph did make me spend a lot of time looking at it but what I was admiring was the statue. Does photographing a beautiful photograph create a beautiful artwork? I don’t know. You have to tell me.

Just a few days ago, I came across a stunning photograph of a painting by a local artist. The artwork, reminiscent of the Impressionist style, depicted the distant Himalayan peaks alongside a village nestled in the valley. I admired the photograph for quite some time, but it made me wonder: was the photograph beautiful in its own right, or was it merely a faithful representation of the original painting? Perhaps I was actually admiring the original artwork rather than the photograph itself.

This brings me to yet another train of thought.

I see wonderful portraits of truly expressive faces. Some happy and some sad. Faces that give an insight to their soul. Faces that have wrinkles, each one of which tells more than the people themselves would. Are those faces beautiful or are the photographs of those faces beautiful?

What about landscapes? Did the nature create those beautiful scenes or were they made beautiful when someone captured a photograph and brought the scene to the attention of the viewers?

(Alpenglow on Himalayan peak)

Yes, we photographers, when we click, we see lots of lines, angles, interplay of light and shade… a complete composition! I can understand catching that fleeting moment when the eyes twinkle or a smile breaks out on a face, catching that perfect moment when the slanting sunlight lights up the beautiful landscape. What I don’t understand is how a photograph of a painting or a statue be considered a beautiful photograph. Maybe truthful but not beautiful per se. But then, if such photographs are not considered beautiful then does that mean the original painting of the statue is not beautiful?

These are just a few thoughts from a restless mind, perhaps stirred by the medications or the lack of sleep. I am in self-quarantine and last night’s thunderstorm kept waking me up repeatedly. I am taking medicines prescribed by half a dozen doctors just in case it turns out to be the notorious flu. To be on the safe side, I am following all their advice and even the tips from social media.

Coming back to the topic, what about bird photographers? Why is it that a technically fine photograph of a colorful barbet or parrot gets more likes than an equally fine photograph of a crow? The subject makes the photograph but when the subject in itself is so beautiful, what are we creating by our cameras? Yes, getting a sharp and well lit photograph of a bird requires a lot of skill and technology. I am not questioning the skills of photographers, any photographers! What makes me wonder is how and when we say when a photograph is beautiful. This is food for thought… maybe, I’ll just lie down, take some rest and listen to the blue-whistling thrush that has been living outside my window for the past couple of years.

(Green-backed tit. Yet another interesting bird that keeps me company when I am in the garden)

This article, originally published on my photography site, is now archived here; while some details may have lost their original context over time, it still offers an intriguing read.
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