Changing Place: The Re-branding of Photography as Contemporary Art blogs by Mischovi explores how Photography has landed itself the title of a contemporary art form. The essay starts by explaining that early on, photography wasn’t considered art, but more of something that ran in company of actual ‘art forms’ for example sculptures and paintings.
The main argument was that a photograph could be copied and the work could be shown in multiple museums at once, therefore making it more accessible and less ‘distinctive’. People would travel many miles to see a painting in person because it is one of a kind therefore creating a ‘value’, whereas people may be disinterested in a mere copy of a photograph.
It wasn’t until the 1980’s when people started seeing Photography’s potential, for example its use in fashion photography and documentary work. The sudden change in society and up rise of technology played a big role in photography being considered an art form and eventually resulting in photography having a place in museums.