The Portland Metro Photographic News

Editor's Notes: PMPN's discussion of "When Is A Photograph Fine Art?" continues with the thoughts of the owner of an on-line photography gallery, Andrew Coppin.  His Gallery represents the work of many categories of photographers, including Fine Art.  Andrew's thoughts regarding photography provide insights into the commercial and aesthetic considerations that a gallery uses to ultimately designate an image as fine art.

About Andrew Coppin:  Andrew is the founding Director of Ph.Art Gallery and is involved at all levels of its day-to-day operation and development. He has an array of experience in the financial markets, management and business development. Whilst establishing and running numerous successful small business operations in the past, he spent over 15 years working as a financial Adviser and in Executive Management teams in some of Australia's leading financial services firms (Merrill Lynch, Bell Potter, Patersons). His management experience in small and large enterprises in the Maritime, Hospitality, Finance and Technology sectors covers areas as diverse as start-up, business strategy and development, marketing, analysis and operations.

Following his passion for Photography led Andrew to the formation of the Gallery concept over 5 years ago, and its ultimate commercial launch in 2008. Andrew is a keen Amateur Photographer and a member of the AIPP (Australian Institute of Professional Photography).

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As founder and owner of the online gallery www.photoartgallery.com, I have the privilege to wake every morning knowing that a plethora of new images awaits our gallery from some 7,000 photographers around the world. The quality of the images generated by the skilful eyes of our many members never ceases to amaze me, our daily dose of insights and enlightenment from across the globe.

Our gallery curation team of professional and semi-professional photographers uses our on-line rating and curation systems to assess every image that is requested for submission into either our Public Gallery, or the more exclusive Collectors Gallery housing our limited edition (1/20) images, which we ultimately market, manage and sell for our members.

Photography forums are constantly abuzz with reports of new sales, the latest equipment or discussions on some technical specification.  But when someone posts the question: "So what is Fine Art?", it is met with a deafening silence until, like a tumbleweed, it gathers responses and provokes days of forum entries that roar out across the network!

So when does a Photograph become Fine Art?   I believe the answer to this question depends entirely upon your perspective and the position from which you assess it, and I further believe that few of the arguments put forward are wrong.  Photographer, viewer, collector or critic...everyone may answer the question from a different perspective and, individually or collectively, they could all be right. Herein lie the contention and conjecture of this subject, one which has been debated over the centuries and concerns more than just the medium of Photography

And so....to address the issue from a Gallery Owner's perspective is probably the best I can offer you, as, at the end of the day, we would argue that "Fine Art" most likely needs to have a marketable value to parties other than the artist.  Challenged with the task of marketing and promoting emerging Photographic Artists whilst never dismissing the artistic, emotive and more technical aspects of the work, we also need to be mindful of images that could interest a wider audience, and the potential of financial value to both the artist and prospective buyers.

Using a well-documented Curation process which all members of our team are compelled to learn, study and be assessed on, the team begin their days initially assessing the many images from a quality, resolution and composition perspective. Sifting through hundreds of images a day and sorting these images on criteria of over 15 points of merit is a considerable and sometimes arduous task...and yet still one that doesn't necessarily define the work as Fine Art.

For us, Fine Art remains in the eye of the beholder, in the engagement of the viewing audience and in the reference of any work against its peers.

• Can it "hang" in our Gallery?
• Could it take pride of place in a physical Gallery amongst peers and be respected for its integrity and emotive response?
• Does the image have merit at an emotional and engaging level beyond the eye of the photographer?

In assessing photographic imagery as Fine Art, these are the sort of questions we find ourselves asking, well after the technical merit, resolution and finish of the image are clarified.  From my perspective, these are the considerations that we need to take into account.

We take great pleasure promoting great imagery in conjunction with our members, and presenting it to its best advantage with magnificent finishes, stocks and frames. The satisfaction of generating that next sale, of seeing a member's artwork hanging in its pride of place, is more than enough to compensate for that next big decision for our next work of Art, knowing that even then, we may not always get it "right".

- Andrew Coppin