My love of art is what eventually lead me to becoming a photographer. A biography about Michelangelo that I read when I was 14 made me want to become a painter. I took oil painting lessons and what I produced was so bad that even my parents wouldn't display them in our house. Many artists have had to deal with rejection and I guess that builds character. . . Frankly, at that stage in my life, I didn't know that being good at anything required good coaches/mentors, great patience and thousands of hours of practice.
Later, I picked up a camera and decided that maybe photography was an art I could manage - it demanded a different set of motor skills than a paint brush did. And I continue to practice hard to get better.
So, is the photo in today's post art? You'll have to answer that question. I will say that I still love art and when I have the chance to go to one of the world's best museums - the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC - I snap it up.
As a candid photographer, I love art museums because watching people interact with art offers many good photo opportunities. I have found that people are so engaged in the art they are looking at that they are oblivious to me and my camera.
In this scene I was actually staging my wife to be in the background but then the man you see walked into the shot. I quietly signaled my wife to step back and captured this statue appearing to be studying the man, who is lost in a work of art.
Canon 5DIII 1/50s f/2.8 ISO800 35mm