I recently launched a new blog to provide a place to discuss photo impressionism. The Photo Impressionism Project expands the discussion beyond my own portfolio to other voices.
My first post reviews a recent exhibition which raises some interesting themes; Re-examining the Link Between the Rise of Photography and Impressionism . I had always assumed that Pictorialists, the first Photo Impressionists were influenced by the impressionist painters of their day. This collection asks if those painters were influenced by photography.
From my experience, I believe there is a strong connection between the tools available and the artists direction. The rise of digital photography provided an easy way to experiment with style and subject. Was Eastman’s Kodak just as liberating for photographers in the 1880’s? Was photography itself a comparable change for painters of the day?