Painting from life vs. photo references

  As an artist, you may question what is better: Painting from life or using photo references?  Artists have been grappling with this question since the earliest days of photography (C. 1838-40).  And I think it's a good topic to investigate and write about here.
  The first thing to consider is your motivation?  Why are you painting this painting?  It may have a simple answer: "Because I like this subject matter, color, composition" or you may be more interested in telling a visual story (the narrative).  Your motivation may reflect in your artistic process.
  For myself, I enjoy painting to experience a specific moment and to record that moment with paint.  I prefer a sense of overall mood and atmosphere as opposed to specific realism or "photographic" details.  We could go down another rabbit hole to discuss the merits of impressionism Vs. realism Vs. photorealism, but perhaps another time..
  For over 150 years now, we have been visually influenced by photographs.  And many would agree that photographs represent reality.  But that's not quite true.  The way a monocular camera sees is very different from our own binocular vision.  Take the three main principles of art and you'll see that a camera distorts each of them: Color, Value and even Shape.  I always feel that the flatness and stillness of a photograph is a poor representation of reality.
  The other aspect of photography which artists should consider is detail.  The camera is purely objective; the camera does not select nor choose what it represents.  But artists have the wonderful opportunity to choose and edit our view.  As an experiment, focus on a particularly object in your field of vision.  You can see that object in high resolution, but everything around it becomes less focused.  As artists, we can use these levels of focus to our advantage to lead a viewer's eye around a scene.
  On Eric En Plein Air, I work from life to capture scenes on canvas.  It's a race against time as the sun and elements are always shifting.  But I personally love this challenge because it creates an urgency in my work.  In terms of timing, you can also return to a location during similar conditions to further develop a painting.  This was a strategy that Claude Monet took advantage of for his larger pieces.
  It's great to explore different methods and ways of working.  Art is an individual pursuit and you can incorporate various methods.  For my students, I always encourage them to embrace the challenge and to work from life as much as possible.  It's a great way to explore and experience the world while creating painted memories!

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