Is It Art?

I have this ongoing debate with some friends about whether or not my photographs are art. I don't consider it art and I don't consider myself artistic. What I do is all luck. It's totally fun. It's extremely relaxing. I have definitely learned certain ways to point the camera, how to try to get a certain angle. But it's the luck of timing and the odds 0f numbers.

I'm never sure what I'll find when I upload my images. Years and years ago I watched a special on TV about the making of the swimsuit issue for Sports Illustrated. The one thing that stayed in my mind the most was the number of images the photographers took. Thousands and thousands of shots in pursuit of that one perfect image.

I tried to do that with film, but it was very expensive. Digital images though--I can shoot hundreds and hundreds--no problem!! So, it's all about the odds, right? If I shoot 900 images, I'm bound to get at least one that I like. And it's usually one that I had no idea that I had...an angle, a building, a section of freeway that I don't even remember shooting.

But whether or not you consider it art, whether or not I think I'm artistic, in the end it doesn't matter. It's the process that matters the most to me. It's seeing things in a different way when I'm driving or taking BART or a cab or walking. It's actually SEEING what I'm passing and how the most ordinary objects can be so fascinating.