A few years ago I did a interview for The Candid Frame and the interviewer Ibarionex Perello had made a statement that I found very interesting, and at the same time it was a compliment about my macro work that I was honored by.

Ibarionex Perello said,

“When ever I have viewed macro photography, it always looks like the photographer is just documenting their subjects, and when I view your work, it has an artistic look rather than a documented look”

I have always felt this same feeling when viewing photographer’s work, but never could put in words what I was seeing, until Ibarionex made it clear.

Most macro photographers are documenting subjects.

Documenting subjects is what you see in text books when learning about a subjects, whether it was flowers, plant life, birds, critters, etc. Text book images are not to be artistic, but just to let the viewer know what the subject looks like along with the environment it lives in.

I think most macro photographers are trying to create artistic images when they shoot their subjects, and they may not have thought of the fact that they may be documenting rather than create art.