The Vernacular as Art. . . scan or photograph those passport, work, class or record shots you feel have some artist merit. . . not necessarily taken by yourself, but they must not have been published anywhere else and must be owned, privately by you.
(or you have permission to use them)
I will attempt to explain – Vernacular photography is photography that has a specific purpose e.g. as a record of something, be it of a sports team, a crime scene, for identification (passport), to provide instruction (a manual) . . . the list is endless. In fact it is all photography other than for its own sake.
Now if a vernacular photo contains an element that, quite unintentionally, is pleasing to the eye or provokes an emotion, it could be said that this is ‘The vernacular as art’.
It does not matter who took a vernacular photo as their intention was not artistic, it is the image itself that matters in this regard.
In this contest I was attempting to introduce other elements from Photography, other than the usual portrait, landscapes and still-life, in an attempt to understand what makes a photo pleasing to my eye and therefore improve my own humble efforts at taking pictures.
Examples here:
http://www.squareamerica.com/gallery.htm
CLOSING 4TH MARCH 07:26 GMT