It is questionable whether it is legitimate for a photographer to take someone else's art and present it as their own work. I confess to being very uncertain what the answer is, or even if there is one. It is true that the photographer chooses the subject, the viewpoint, the lighting and the process to use, just as when photographing a landscape, portrait, architecture or indeed any other subject. The photographer is not required to have "designed" the landscape, so what is the difficulty with a piece of art? It is the case that, when working on a landscape, the photographer's choices do affect the mood and feeling of the picture. Similarly, in a portrait, the lighting, costume, pose and relationship with the sitter all have a bearing on the resulting image. But when shooting say a church interior or building, it is often desirable to produce an accurate and faithful record of the subject. Natural history subjects, flora and fauna also require a true representation of the plant or creature, its environment and behaviour. Is it sufficient for the photographer to be in the right place at the right time with the appropriate equipment and technique to do a decent job? Is that "Art"? And how does this square with Marcel Duchamp's assertion, that simply by selecting an object - even one as mundane as a bottle rack, bicycle wheel or porcelain urinal - the artist's choice elevates that object to the status of "Fine Art"?
There is a further difficulty with these pictures, in that the objects have already been deemed to be "Art", worthy to be included in this prestigious exhibition. Does the photographer's choice add further to the artistic merit of the sculptures, or does it reduce them to mere two dimensional facsimiles of the original?
My choice to use infra red certainly gives a different perspective on the sculptures. The setting and weather - a beautiful sunny day - were outside of my control, but had they been different I may well have chosen a different technique, or perhaps not made the pictures at all. I do not present these images as "my art". They are pleasing memories of a lovely afternoon enjoying the creations of the artists. And that is sufficient for me.
