Baudelaire's Perspective on Photography: Artistic Expression and Reality

Extract

[...] Under what conditions can a photographer also be an artist? You will justify your answer by specifying the meaning that should then be given to the word 'artist'. An artist has the sense of beauty and provokes through his works a aesthetic pleasure, a desire to imagine, to dream. Through his works of art, the artist must reach our sensitivity, appeal to us. A photographer can also be an artist based on his approaches. A photographer is an artist if he uses reality to describe his feelings, emotions, his vision of the real world. [...]

[...] To what use, according to Baudelaire, should photography be reserved? Photography has its true duty to serve the sciences and the arts. 2. Explain the last sentence of the text by highlighting the danger denounced by the author. Photography would represent a danger for human beings if it were to touch the imagination, dreams. Dreaming allows human beings to breathe mentally. The imagination, dreams are important for our psychological balance. They allow our unconscious to express itself. By focusing on the exact representation of reality, photography distances human beings, artists from the representation of dreams, of the unreal, of their unconscious. [...]

[...] Through a mirror, photography reflects a spectacle, emotions, feelings. We ask ourselves not only about what is visible but also about what is invisible. In the case of realistic photography, reality will be represented with absolute accuracy since the goal is not to dream but to transmit a real fact with the greatest possible accuracy. (e.g. journalism) 6. What should be the technical skills of a good photographer? Beyond mastering his equipment, a good photographer must show curiosity, passion, patience, and creativity. [...]

[...] It corresponds to what Baudelaire expected from photography but not to what he denounced, that is to say « . to extend into the realm of the intangible and the imaginary . The daguerreotype agrees with what Baudelaire accepted: « What would enrich the traveler's album quickly and restore to his eyes the precision that would be lacking in his memory car il a été pris par un voyageur français en Chine en 1847. Il a plus l'utilité d'un souvenir de voyage et non l'objectif de faire rêver. [...]