Photographic image and its contextualization as art

Throughout its history, the photographic image has mostly been accepted as worthy of art status when seen within the parameters that apply to the traditional images, for example, paintings. The main theme of this study is to lay out the intrinsic characteristics of photography and to find the that ways that photographs are contextualized as art, outside and independent of these parameters. To achieve this, a considerable part of this research is devoted to the issues of representation that relate both traditional art media and the technical images like photography to production of artworks. These include pictorial techniques like perspective and abstraction as well as other modes of representation made possible by photographic technology. Following this, the argument focuses on artistic practices that contextualize photographs and utilize their advantages, like montage and conceptual art; and further, the similarities of the photographic image and common objects used in art context are analyzed. The study concludes with a discussion on the status of the artwork in our times, as the photographic image is increasingly intertwined with digital technology, scrutinizing the all important parameters of representation and art.