The Amsterdam photo fair UNSEEN is rapidly approaching 18-21 september 2014. This fair draws a large international crowd and is packed with events for anyone interested in photography. Many people go to this fair with high expectations of seeing some amazing high quality photographs, by undiscovered photography talent and unseen work by established photographers.
But some get disappointed … Why?
Photography is an art form. There are many kinds of photography. Many of the photographs displayed at this photo fair fall under the catagory ‘Fine Art Photography’. A photography art form that can be difficult to grasp. To understand a photograph in this category, you will need to first understand the vision of the photographer. Without understanding the vision, a fine art photograph will for many people be compared to a general commercial photograph and deliver little to the viewer’s experience. Even experienced photographers can some times scratch their head thinking why the photo is sold at an high price, when the photo itself doesn’t follow any of the fundamental rules of photography.
UNSEEN is an initiative by FOAM (Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam). They hold courses for those wanting to understand how to analyse and collect photography. Leading up to this photo fair, they organise a one evening intensive course on Tuesday, 2 September 2014. If you are interested in learning more about fine art photography, we highly recommend this course:
http://www.foam.org/foam-editions/collecting-photography
And we highly recommend one book that is considered one of the cornerstones of art photography:
http://www.bol.com/nl/p/the-art-of-photography/1001004010381862/
