Photography is it Art? The Guardian asks the question...

Richard Learoyd - Man with Octopus Tattoo 11 (2011)

Guardian writer Michael Prodger addresses the thorny question, Is Photography Art, and talks about the National Gallery's first ever first major exhibition of photography, Seduced by Art: Photography Past and Present.

For 180-years, people have been asking the question: is photography art? At an early meeting of the Photographic Society of London, established in 1853, one of the members complained that the new technique was "too literal to compete with works of art" because it was unable to "elevate the imagination". This conception of photography as a mechanical recording medium never fully died away. Even by the 1960s and 70s, art photography – the idea that photographs could capture more than just surface appearances – was, in the words of the photographer Jeff Wall, a "photo ghetto" of niche galleries, aficionados and publications.

The piece is well worth a read, you can go to it HERE