What Is a Beautiful Photo?

Aesthetics and beauty in artistic photography have long been a subject of debate among art lovers and critics alike.

The fundamental question is: does an art photo have to be beautiful?

How to define a beautiful photograph. These questions raise complex considerations about the nature of artistic photography, aesthetic standards and the diversity of perspectives.

In this article, I'll share with you some ideas on this subject, which can sometimes be a hot topic in the photographic community.

This great crested grebe photographed in the morning mist in La Dombes is a good photo by my standards.

First Point of View: Beauty Is a Characteristic of a Photo

To begin with, you can consider that beauty must be a characteristic of a photo. In other words, a photo must be beautiful.

Many photographers believe that visually appealing photos captivate the viewer and often elicit positive reactions.

If you think of wildlife or landscape photography, you'd be forgiven for thinking that picturesque landscapes have guided the quest for beauty.

But don't forget that this conception of beauty is often defined by changing cultural norms, raising the question of subjectivity.

Second Point of View: Questioning the Notion of Beauty

Secondly, you can question this notion of beauty! You may consider it preconceived.

Modern and post-modern photography explores the idea that beauty can be found in the ordinary, even the bizarre.

Abstract photographs, experimental compositions and unconventional subjects seek to expand the boundaries of traditional aesthetics. These pictures may sometimes shock or confuse. But they invariably provoke profound reflections on the nature of perception and reality.

Artistic expression, through photography, can be a powerful means of communicating ideas, emotions and social messages.

In this context, beauty can be subordinated to other priorities.

A photo can be considered artistic if it succeeds in provoking an emotional reaction, stimulating reflection or challenging established norms.

Beauty thus becomes relative, dependent on the artist's contact and intention.

A notable example is documentary photography. In this field, beauty can be found in the raw, unadorned truth.

From photojournalists capturing moments of everyday life to documentary photographers exposing difficult social realities, these pictures can be powerful even if they don't meet traditional criteria of beauty.

Emotional and narrative beauty then take center stage, transcending aesthetic conventions.

Beauty and Art

In this article, I've chosen two points of view on the beauty of an artistic photo.

I wanted to get straight to the heart of the matter, to try and capture your attention. I haven't gone into detail about the two concepts of beauty and art.

In the next two parts, I'll share with you some elements to help you create your own judgment on the matter.

An Approach to Beauty

Beauty is a complex and personal notion. It is often subjective. It varies according to cultural and individual perspectives. Some see it in aesthetic harmony. Others see it in inner qualities.

By definition:

Beauty is the quality of someone or something that is beautiful, conforming to an aesthetic ideal.

Beauty is defined as the characteristic of a thing which, through a sensory (perception) or intellectual experience, produces a sensation of pleasure or a feeling of satisfaction.

Beauty comes, for example, from manifestations such as form, visual appearance, movement and sound.

The distinction between what is beautiful and what is not varies from one era to another and from one individual to another. Many of the world's cultures don't have a word that corresponds exactly to beauty in our language.

Beauty and goodness are subjective and relative concepts.

Although beauty is a concept that varies greatly from culture to culture, there are certain things that are immutable. They can be applied to all forms of beauty.

• Surrounding ourselves with beautiful things gives us an inner peace that keeps us in balance.
  
  The things we find beautiful help us to think, reflect and seek solutions to our problems. They are the catalyst for what drives us forward in our daily lives.
• Beauty makes us better. When we contemplate beautiful things, we feel like sharing them, telling others about them, exchanging ideas, helping others. We feel an inner energy that makes us different people who want to give love.
  
  Beauty helps us to do good around us. There is an intimate link between beauty and goodness.
  
  History has shown that some people with bad intentions have been able to create beautiful works. Take the example of the musician Wagner, who wrote symphonies recognized by some as beautiful. Yet he was racist and intolerant.
  
  Let's take another example.  In my late teens, I read a book by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, "Journey to the End of the Night", in a matter of days. Even today, when I think back on the writing, I tell myself that everything was perfect. However, a few years later, when I discovered the real nature of the writer and his positions during the Second World War, I found his work not worth reading. I even took out and threw away the few books I'd kept by Céline.
  
  I know that artists are just human beings like everyone else. They're also imperfect. But there are limits that must not be exceeded.
  
  

  We adore perfection only because we cannot possess it. We would reject it if we did. To be perfect is to be inhuman because the human is imperfect.
  
  Fernando Pessoa.

• Things are beautiful as long as they don't threaten us.
  Take elephants, for example. Personally, I find them beautiful. I like to observe them and photograph them. But African farmers don't find them beautiful because they're a danger to them. In fact, when elephants destroy crops or villages, they have a hostile attitude that makes them ugly in the eyes of the farmers.
  
  In your case, imagine everything you find ugly and think of the people who find these things beautiful, and you'll understand my point of view better.
  
  Everything that threatens us is ugly. As long as something doesn't threaten us, it can be beautiful.
  
  Natural phenomena like tornadoes, hurricanes and volcanoes are beautiful as long as they don't threaten us. There is a close relationship between ugliness and evil, just as there is between beauty and goodness.
• Beauty allows us to give meaning to our lives.
  
  I truly believe that the search for and experience of beauty leads us to believe that the world has a purpose.
  
  Beauty allows us to believe that everything on earth plays a role and occupies a place of its own. For us, the search for beauty is an unceasing quest for the meaning of life.
  
  This is indeed what I feel when I photograph a blue hour at dawn, a dry antlered deer during the bellow, the song of a bluebird during springtime. These things show us that the world is special.
  
  Beauty is a subtle confirmation that life has meaning. We don't know what that meaning really is, but that's why we're touched by beauty.
• Beauty is linked to truth.
  
  The reproduction of a work of art cannot itself be considered a work of art. What is true is authentic. What is false is deceptive.
  
  When an artist creates a work of art, for example, a photographer creating a fine art photograph, the essential element is his or her intention. These are the reasons that drive him or her to create the photo.
• Beauty is the expression of the divine.
  
  For me, the divine is like a transcendent force that enables me to move forward in my life with each passing day. It gives meaning to my life. Don't see anything religious in my case. It's just moral guidance.
  
  Beauty allows us to understand that we are one with the universe. It's as if we're part of something great and unique.
  
  Through beauty, we encounter the divine in the universe, and through art we express the divine spark within us.

In the following paragraph, I'm going to share with you a few ideas about art.

But before I do, I'd just like to recap the few ideas I've just developed.

• Beauty allows us to feel inner peace.
• beauty is linked to goodness. It makes us better.
• A thing is beautiful as long as it doesn't threaten us.
• Beauty is linked to truth.
• beauty gives us the energy to move forward every day.

An Approach to Photographic Art