It is what it is.

Windshield Teddy

Is photography art? Sure, sometimes. Does it matter what we call our part of it? Probably not.

The first part is easy: Photography can be art. I liked what Michael Prodger had to say in his Guardian article last year, "Photography: is it art?"

"What some pioneering photographers recognised straight away was that photographs, like paintings, are artificially constructed portrayals: they too had to be carefully composed, lit and produced."

This is the recognition that photography can go beyond the documentary to be a creative endeavour. (It also makes me more comfortable about manipulating images – just a tiny bit, of course – in Lightroom, Photoshop or Silver Efex Pro.)

Am I just a hobbyist with pretensions?

Is it a waste of time? Am I misunderstood? Both?

What's more important, I think, is that we treat our efforts (and the efforts of others) with respect. In regard to our work then, it may a truism, but — It is what it is.

I will not grow old gracefully.

I will fight against becoming invisible by refusing to fade away.

And if that means I have to grow old disgracefully, well so be it.

— Sarah Macdonald