Friday, August 14, 2009

Praise, of Sorts


A neighbor asked us to water her gardens while she’s away this week, and it was there that I stumbled upon the photograph you see here. Shooting a sunflower with my snapshot camera pointed toward the bright sun, the image I made is kind of washed-out and pastel... and I like it that way.

Leah looked at the photograph and said: “It looks like a painting.”

Don’t get me wrong...when it comes to the pictures I’ve done, I appreciate any complement. But Leah’s words got me to wondering: If a painter -- one of those beret-wearing, fragile-of-ego types -- had put brush to canvas and produced a piece of art that caused a viewer to say: “Looks like a photograph,” would the painter maybe get his artistic undies in a bunch?

Just wondering...