Art from an uneducated man’s prospective

For years I’ve made the joke that I can’t use a brush worth a damn, but I’ll paint you a masterpiece in prose. I’ve always said it tongue in cheek, because I’ve never really considered what I do art. In fact, if you had asked if I was even an art lover I’d probably have laughed.

I mean, I’m a working class guy. My family isn’t rich. I scraped by in high school, dropped out of community college, worked construction, washed dishes and enlisted in the Army.

In my worldview, blue-collar guys like me don’t “appreciate art.”

That’s ridiculous of course. Everybody “appreciates art.”

Ok, so the Smithsonian art museum in D.C. didn’t turn me on, (I  have no idea if this painter was brilliant or lazy) but I love music, and I love the written word, obviously both of these are art forms, though I never really thought of them as such.

I didn’t realize how much I truly loved art until I helped teach a basic photography class a few weeks ago.

 As a journalist I was responsible for taking all of the photos included in my news stories. At best, I’d consider myself a competent news photographer. I do not have the raw talent needed to become a truly great photographer, but after thousands of hours of practice and with a few disastrous shoots along the way, I can say with confidence that I will always get the shots I need. I worked my ass of to become as good as I am, and on occasion I’ll take a photo that I can be truly proud of.

It was in the midst of explaining this to a group of aspiring photographers that I realized what I do with a camera is art. 

My photos will probably never hang on the wall of a museum and I doubt anything I shoot will ever make me rich, but I know my pictures have made a lot of soldiers (and their mothers) happy. (By the by if anybody from papers in the Colorado springs area read this and need a writer or photographer, drop me a line. Experience in writing, photography and getting shot at.)

Isn’t the basic point of art to share beauty with the rest of the world? To express your feelings about everything that is going on in the world around us, maybe even ask a question.

That’s exactly what I try to do with my writing, its what I strive to do with my photos.

Maybe this revelation shouldn’t come as a surprise for me. On many occasions my editors or colleagues have rolled their eyes and called me an “artist” with air quotes due to my inability to stay emotionally detached from my work. 

After working as a writer for almost exactly 5 years now, with hundred of articles under my belt, I still get pissed every time an editor cuts into one of my stories, redirecting the narrative from what I feel it should be.

The way I see it, if I stop caring I’ll probably start writing crap. Maybe I should have listened to the haters, it seems I’ve been an artist all along.