James Solomon, Brian Harry agree — Photography is art

WHEN photographer and mentor James Solomon first started working with Brian Harry in January 2024, neither imagined their conversations about composition, contrast and creativity would lead to a full-blown exhibition.

But as their dialogue deepened over months of image critiques and artistic exploration, so too did their bond x– and their desire to push the boundaries of what local audiences consider “art.”

That vision has now materialised in the form of 20/20 Vision: Clearly Photography is Art, a photography exhibition that will open on May 5 at Horizons Art Gallery and runs until May 12. Featuring the works of both men, the show invites viewers to see beyond the lens – to engage with photography not as documentation, but as deliberate, expressive, interpretive art.

Solomon’s idea for the exhibition was seeded in 2018 when he was a board member of the Art Society and was working with the TT Photographic Society. At the time, he had been mandated to elevate photography’s standing in the local art scene, where many still regarded it as a tool for advertising or recording events rather than a legitimate artform.

“With the leaps and bounds of technology and the digital media platform we have been able to push boundaries of photography into fine art. It has always been my vision to push and promote photography as an artform.”

He managed to organise a month-long exhibition featuring 30 photographers, scheduled for May 2020 – but the pandemic hit, and the show never happened.

Since then, Solomon has kept pressing forward. In 2023, he staged his first solo exhibition, 3 of 30 – My Evolving Journey, at NALIS in Port of Spain, which chronicled his artistic growth from film to digital. His latest collaboration with Harry represents a new chapter in that evolution.

“Today I am able to move from the facsimile of a scene to a totally different vision for the scene that I photograph using almost the same techniques on the digital platform that artists would use.

“You see garbage in the water. You can remove it. Before, you couldn’t. You were stuck with it in the photograph. Now we could clone, we could change colours, we could saturate, we could take away and, in some instances, with the new technology of AI, you can add things to the scene. And so we get to play and that is the key in terms of the creative process.”

This playful approach is not about deception, but imagination. And for Solomon, it’s what makes photography a creative act on par with any other artistic expression.

“Now, we always get a facetious comment about, did you use Photoshop? Would you ask an artist if they use a brush or if they use paints or a sponge? You wouldn’t ask an artist that.

“But the answer is yes. This is why it’s art! We, James Solomon, Brian Harry, have stepped in to make adjustments to our images so that we can have a final product that, first of all, we love and that we hope would appeal to the wider community. This is exactly what an artist does with a blank canvas, paints, a brush, a palette, their fingers – whatever tool they use to create their vision for a scene, we do the same.”

Harry shares that view, though his approach is often more structured.

Harry said, “James and I have two very different styles. James is creative, far more than I am, so I tend to do a lot of work around abstracts and realism. I construct the photograph in my head before I put the lens on it, so there’s a little story that’s playing in my mind.

“James has the ability to do that but he’s gone to the point where he could also create that story with his technique.”

Harry came to photography as a youth, first picking up a camera at Queen’s Royal College at age 11. He dabbled over the years, but it was the covid19 pandemic that reignited his passion.

While on lockdown at his home in Texas, where he works as a consultant in the energy sector, he would venture into the woods with his camera. The resulting images became a heartfelt gift project: a 2021 calendar with stories paired to each photo. It was so well received by friends that the production grew from 40 to 100 calendars. He now hopes to have the 2026 version in stores in both TT and the US.

Still, Harry was initially shy about showcasing his work, even though he believed his artistic expression counted more than any critic’s opinion.

“That exhibition last year helped a lot with my confidence. Realisation is important, because prior to that, I had taken some good images that I liked, and I thought, ‘Wow, this is good,’ so I would send them around to only a close circle of private friends.

“And then I exhibited here and I was able to compare my work to other people’s work. And I started thinking, ‘Well hell, my image is as good as that one. And that became an eyeopener.”

For Harry, photography’s power lies not in post-processing, but in perspective. He prefers to use cropping to transform an image, sometimes creating something entirely new from a single frame.

“The lens doesn’t lie. When cropping, it is still real. It is still a piece of that photograph you just took.”

He is especially drawn to capturing industrial history—a nod to his own professional background. As a former CEO of TIDCO, Harry has deep roots in the oil and gas sector and feels compelled to document the remnants of that era.

“To me, capturing some of the wrecks of old rigs had value to the history of the country.

Both men reject the notion that photography is somehow “lesser” than other visual arts.

“Photography is a genre of art so it was silly to make a distinction between the two. A paint brush is no more powerful than a camera. I used light and my lens to capture a scene. There are photographs that sell for millions of dollars in the international art markets,” said Harry.

He referenced iconic American landscape photographer Ansel Adams as an example of lasting photographic artistry.

“In the dark room there were techniques you use with lights and lamps and sponges and the chemicals and so on to clean up photographs. So the digital techniques and technology is really a replication of the dark room.”

Solomon agreed. He also enjoys black and white photography, a nostalgic throwback to his darkroom days.

“Like black and white because it lets the viewer’s mind fill in the blanks and conjure the details – the viewers get to play too.”

Ultimately, both artists want to challenge how people view photography.

Solomon said, “Art is all around us every day. It is just for us to open our eyes, see it, isolate it, have a vision for it. That’s one of the things that I enjoy doing, and I have grown a lot in that sense over the years.”

Harry added, “The viewer was the interpreter of the image, the same as all art. Just like a photograph, a painting is a snapshot of a moment in time. The same artist will never be able to capture the same scene in the same way because they will not see it in the same way. They might have a different emotive response.

“That was why there were originals and prints, and that was why people should stop making the distinction between photography and art.”

Solomon pointed out that even choices in printing and display affect the way the art is received.

“Choice of paper, techniques applied to the images, how the artist chose to display it – all take the image from a snapshot to a piece of art. Now artists had the ability to print the photographs on canvas and people wondered if it was a painting or a photograph.”

He added, “It’s an act of bravery to take your work as photographers, especially in this country, and put it on the wall for it to be critiqued.”

20/20 Vision is an act of courage and clarity, an invitation to see the world through two distinct lenses and realise that the art is not just in the taking of the photo, but in the thought, intention and transformation behind it.