Flaming Sky by David Page $115 on Zatista.com

The Internet has changed the meaning of many things: television, shopping, media, communication, and now photography. Every individual who uses social media has taken, edited and uploaded a picture. Selfies are an acceptable form of photography, and if a phone comes without a camera, it’s not a phone. We’ve seen journalism take hits on its credibility and quality with so many people writing blogs and becoming ‘writers’ (ahem!). With the onset of Instagram, will we see photography as an artform take a hit as well?

Today, I was virtually flipping through articles to get some inspiration, and I came across “The Line Between Art and Photography,” by Huffington Post’s, Ming Thein. He discusses the hoops photography has to jump thought to be considered art. It starts at a loss by some art critics dismissing it as an art form entirely, and then the new wave of social media photographers drag it down further. Does that mean that photography is easy, beginners art? Should it be considered art at all?

Colosimo’s Barber Shop, Pittsburgh, PA by Joel Degrand on Zatista.com

The debate on whether photography is art has more support for than against.  Jonathan Jones, a writer for the Guardian, wrote passionately against photography in galleries saying it looks better on a computer screen than in print. “It just looks stupid when a photograph is framed or backlit and displayed vertically in an exhibition, in the way paintings have traditionally been shown. A photograph in a gallery is a flat, soulless, superficial substitute for painting.”

However, another Guardian writer, Sean O’Hagan, was appalled at his assessment and defended photography. “Why damn photography because of the excesses of the auction houses and mega-rich collectors? Do we measure the health of contemporary art by the price paid for Hirst’s vulgar diamond skull? Or a Jack Vettriano? I have seen some idiotic installation pieces over the years, but that doesn’t mean that all artists who make installations are idiots and their work dull and stupid.” He said that the debate is old; Warhol’s Polaroids and Ruscha’s deadpan photography books quashed the argument long ago.

“Mexican Market” Art Photograph Jalisco Mexico by Michael Verlangieri on Zatista.com

Now to complicate the matter, amatuer photographers, and social media obsessors have locked on to Instagram. Now, not only have we lowered the bar of photography, but have depleted its originality. Zan McQuade of The Daily Dot said, “It is because of these filters that 20 different photographs taken by 20 different people of 20 different subjects can still somehow have the same red tint, the same contrast to the edges. Cameras on phones get better every day, more complex and more sensitive – but we’re all essentially taking pictures of the same things, in the same colors, whether we intend to or not.”

In a generous take on how Instagram is affecting the art world, Huffington Post writer, Diana Murphy said the gap between DSLR quality photos and iPhone photos is shrinking. “The point I am trying to make is that professional photography should not be lost, but instead approached with a new, enhanced level of respect and admiration – despite how accessible, common and fun Instagram now makes the taking and sharing of photos.”

Study in Yellow by Frank DeSantis on Zatista.com

In his take on photography as art in a digital age, Ming Thein discusses the line where photography becomes art. He talks about the now diluted pot of so many photos and photographers swimming together and losing value. But he stops and asks what art is. It is a lens for which an artist chooses to show something. “The interpretations present us with such a unique – unprecedented – result, that we are forced to stop, look, and think. The value here is in the uniqueness of the interpretation; what the artists see is so far beyond the normal realm of comprehension for most that it becomes akin to visual magic. It’s also worth remembering that seeing is but half of the puzzle; execution is just as important.”

Circles & Swirls by Daniel Ashe on Zatista.com

So, the two questions up for debate are: is photography art? And if so, is Instagram killing it? Though photography has an uphill battle with the Internet, the Internet will cultivate the most interesting and unprecedented art to date. With so many hands on cameras, originality will be much harder to achieve therefore far more innovative and revealing. Photography is art if it is approached that way. By no means is a photograph of my mother and me scrunching together in front of my iPhone ‘art’, but seeing a moment and actively trying to capture it —  that is art. Whether you think Instagram is hurting or helping, true artists and art will rise to the surface and rightfully secure photography’s place in the art world.