{"id":867,"date":"2016-04-05T11:57:35","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T15:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jrileystewart.com\/blog\/?p=867"},"modified":"2020-10-02T10:06:41","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T14:06:41","slug":"whats-in-a-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-name\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s in a Name?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Heavy<\/a>
“Bridge to NoWhere” –Heavy morning fog on the Potomac River adds mystery to this otherwise peaceful water scene.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I want to share something that you may take for granted, or perhaps never even thought about, and that is “..where do art titles come from?”<\/p>\n

As art lovers, we’re accustomed to seeing titles on artworks. Titles are a convenient way to refer to a particular painting or photograph. So instead of saying “that photograph by Gurski of the Rhine River that someone bought for $4,200,000” we simply know it as “Rhine II.”<\/p>\n

Photography lends itself very well to titling of images using nominal or geographic descriptors. That’s the tradition of photography.\u00a0Whether it’s Weston’s “Pepper” series or any number of Ansel Adams’ titles (“Half Dome,” “Snake River”), or even\u00a0Gurski’s “Rhine II.” \u00a0The title of the image often reveals the name of the\u00a0subject itself, no question about it, just call it what it is.<\/p>\n

I find such\u00a0an objective approach to titling photographs a bit lacking. When I stand before a scene in the field,\u00a0\u00a0I try to think\u00a0about the concept I want to communicate, the story the scene is telling me. It is this story that I want the title to describe and not so much the physical entity in the picture. The title I give to a finished photograph often reflects the story that struck me at the time of capture. In fact,\u00a0I often write the “working title”\u00a0on the field log I keep for every picture I take.<\/p>\n

For me, it’s important to title\u00a0my photographs this way. It helps me recall how I felt when I discovered the scene, and it helps me know how I want to interpret the picture\u00a0to extend and clarify that feeling.<\/p>\n

“Bridge to NoWhere” is a good example. \u00a0This historic bridge over the Potomac River completely disappeared into the heavy fog on this particular morning. The far end of\u00a0the\u00a0bridge\u00a0and the far river bank had\u00a0completely lost all identity, at least in this story. In reality, I\u00a0knew where the bridge went, but a title such as “Point of Rocks Bridge over the Potomac River” wouldn’t have communicated the mysterious nature of events that I saw when under the darkcloth.<\/p>\n

Every artist has their own way of titling their artworks, and none of them are wrong. I have to admit, though, that when I see a piece of art titled “Untitled,” …well, I just\u00a0don’t\u00a0get that. Regardless, whatever the artist has named a particular scene,\u00a0don’t let it keep you from dreaming up your own story. It’s your fantasy, so write it however\u00a0you want!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I want to share something that you may take for granted, or perhaps never even thought about, and that is “..where do art titles come from?” As art lovers, we’re accustomed to seeing titles on artworks. Titles are a convenient way to refer to a particular painting or photograph. So instead of saying “that photograph … Continue reading What’s in a Name?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[167,170,113,32,7,315],"class_list":["post-867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-perspectives","tag-art-appreciation","tag-art-photography","tag-artistic-expression","tag-artistic-photography","tag-fine-art-photography","tag-titles-for-artwork"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat's in a Name? - Thoughts on the Craft of Fine Art Photography<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-name\/\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/whats-in-a-name\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/whats-in-a-name\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"J. Riley Stewart\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5f59f4619037d246c9d09c230482f24e\"},\"headline\":\"What’s in a Name?\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-05T15:57:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-02T14:06:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/whats-in-a-name\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":461,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/whats-in-a-name\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/04\\\/Bridge-to-Nowhere-1024x805.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"art appreciation\",\"art photography\",\"artistic expression\",\"artistic photography\",\"fine art photography by J Riley Stewart\",\"naming and titling artworks\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Personal perspectives\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/whats-in-a-name\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/whats-in-a-name\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/whats-in-a-name\\\/\",\"name\":\"What's in a Name? - Thoughts on the Craft of Fine Art Photography\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/whats-in-a-name\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/whats-in-a-name\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/04\\\/Bridge-to-Nowhere-1024x805.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-05T15:57:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-02T14:06:41+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/whats-in-a-name\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/whats-in-a-name\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/whats-in-a-name\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/04\\\/Bridge-to-Nowhere-1024x805.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/04\\\/Bridge-to-Nowhere-1024x805.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/whats-in-a-name\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What’s in a Name?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Thoughts on the Craft of Fine Art Photography\",\"description\":\"Developed over 45 years of making photographic images\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"J RILEY STEWART PHOTOGRAPHY\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/cropped-Screen-Shot-2016-08-20-at-6.43.16-AM-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/cropped-Screen-Shot-2016-08-20-at-6.43.16-AM-1.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"J RILEY STEWART PHOTOGRAPHY\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/jrileystewart\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5f59f4619037d246c9d09c230482f24e\",\"name\":\"J. Riley Stewart\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e39ea837c87978363ee2aedb802d76e2219612dfa1a78e271f5d6ed399b79390?s=96&d=blank&r=x\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e39ea837c87978363ee2aedb802d76e2219612dfa1a78e271f5d6ed399b79390?s=96&d=blank&r=x\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e39ea837c87978363ee2aedb802d76e2219612dfa1a78e271f5d6ed399b79390?s=96&d=blank&r=x\",\"caption\":\"J. Riley Stewart\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jrileystewart.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/jrileys1\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What's in a Name? - Thoughts on the Craft of Fine Art Photography","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-name\/","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-name\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-name\/"},"author":{"name":"J. Riley Stewart","@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5f59f4619037d246c9d09c230482f24e"},"headline":"What’s in a Name?","datePublished":"2016-04-05T15:57:35+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-02T14:06:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-name\/"},"wordCount":461,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-name\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jrileystewart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Bridge-to-Nowhere-1024x805.jpg","keywords":["art appreciation","art photography","artistic expression","artistic photography","fine art photography by J Riley Stewart","naming and titling artworks"],"articleSection":["Personal perspectives"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-name\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-name\/","url":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-name\/","name":"What's in a Name? - Thoughts on the Craft of Fine Art Photography","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-name\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-name\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jrileystewart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Bridge-to-Nowhere-1024x805.jpg","datePublished":"2016-04-05T15:57:35+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-02T14:06:41+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-name\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-name\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-name\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jrileystewart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Bridge-to-Nowhere-1024x805.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jrileystewart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Bridge-to-Nowhere-1024x805.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-name\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What’s in a Name?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/","name":"Thoughts on the Craft of Fine Art Photography","description":"Developed over 45 years of making photographic images","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"J RILEY STEWART PHOTOGRAPHY","url":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/cropped-Screen-Shot-2016-08-20-at-6.43.16-AM-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/cropped-Screen-Shot-2016-08-20-at-6.43.16-AM-1.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"J RILEY STEWART PHOTOGRAPHY"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jrileystewart\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5f59f4619037d246c9d09c230482f24e","name":"J. Riley Stewart","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e39ea837c87978363ee2aedb802d76e2219612dfa1a78e271f5d6ed399b79390?s=96&d=blank&r=x","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e39ea837c87978363ee2aedb802d76e2219612dfa1a78e271f5d6ed399b79390?s=96&d=blank&r=x","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e39ea837c87978363ee2aedb802d76e2219612dfa1a78e271f5d6ed399b79390?s=96&d=blank&r=x","caption":"J. Riley Stewart"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/author\/jrileys1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jrileystewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}