When making photographs, as opposed to taking pictures, as a photographer I’m dealing with a perception of the reality that exists before me. I’ll use a recent still-life piece that I’ve done.
What you see is how I imagined the final image. Now my final image is not a true photograph anymore. I’ve added various embellishments to render it more “Art” like.
The final photograph can stand on its own, but does it accurately reflect reality? {photo} It seems to reflect a nice neat orderly place.
Here is a shot of the tabletop that I’m working on. Does it reflect reality”? Well, the tabletop is a tab bit cluttered with other items that I’ve played with in creating this particular set, some tools, and other bits.
And to further confuse the issue, here is a shot of the portion of my garage that I use for doing my still-life work. Even more reality. Well, as you can see, it is complete and utter chaos.
All of these images are perceptions of reality. Each has its own degree of reality. I feel that all photography is creating a perception of some reality. This is not to say that it isn’t real. It is just how the photographer saw it and chose to present it.