Turning the 'Map' of Genres into Photography.

I've started to love photography.

But at the same time, I found myself lost as to where that 'love' should be directed.

Photography culture is currently drifting quietly.

With the spread of smartphones and social media, photography has become more accessible than ever before.
Everyone captures their daily life, and countless photos flow through timelines.

However, on the other hand, I feel that the act of 'viewing' photography has somehow faded.
We just receive, scroll through, and hit 'like'.
There are far too few places or words to deeply appreciate photography as an expression.

Past photography culture had ideologies, movements, and lineages.
I feel that these have now been dismantled, and we have lost the language to connect them.
Such a quiet sense of crisis is the starting point of this project.

I wanted a map to expand my 'love'.

At one point, I became strongly attracted to photographic expression.
However, I couldn't quite put into words what I was attracted to.
Even when looking at photos on social media, I was just being swept away by algorithms,
and I didn't even know where the expressions I truly loved were.

That's when I suddenly thought:

Music has a way of being enjoyed through genres.

Rock, jazz, electro, shoegaze...
Music has words for listeners to find, expand, and deepen their 'own preferences'.
It is not just a classification, but a map of sensibility.

On the other hand, what about photography?
'I kind of like this photo'—
Even if you feel that way, there are no words to express it.
The culture of 'enjoying through genres' has not taken root in photography.
That is why I thought that love cannot expand.

I created genres with ChatGPT.

To systematize photography from the perspective of genres, I borrowed the power of ChatGPT.
Through repeated dialogues from every angle—photography history, art history, music culture, and social media sensibility—
I created seven genre systems based on the expressiveness of photography.

In this note, I will carefully introduce each of these genres one by one.

If there are genres, photography becomes even more fun.

By having genres,

• your own style becomes visible

• it becomes easier to find your favorite photographers and works

• Increasing the 'perspectives' from which to view photography

• And, deepening the act of appreciation itself

Appreciation cultivates culture and creates stars

What I am truly aiming for is a future where active appreciation of photography becomes the norm.

Photography as an expression is also nurtured by viewing it.
And, as the volume of appreciation increases, an aesthetic eye is cultivated, and star photographers and star creators are born.
I want to create such a healthy cultural cycle through this genre system.

What is PhotoGenreLab

This project is an attempt to give photographic expression a 'map' called genre.
Genres are not for exclusion, but words to deepen enjoyment and understanding.
As a 'map' to cultivate sensibility, it is meant to enrich your photographic experience.

7 Genres (Overview)

Neo-Form
A minimal and intellectual photographic expression that pursues geometric composition and structural beauty.

Gritography
Photography that visualizes the impulses and rawness of the city through grain, blur, and noise.

Luminism
Photography that captures soft and serene moments, themed around the poetry of light and memory.

Chromavision
Photography that constructs pop and powerful visuals through vivid colors and staging.

Synthesia
Photography that fuses with new technologies such as AI, CG, and 3D to create futuristic visual worlds.

Mythography
Photography that depicts worlds like 'still films' through narrative, symbolism, and staging.

Distortivism
Photography that elevates visual distortions such as glitches, noise, and destruction into an aesthetic.

Reading guide for 'thinking' about photography genres

What are photography genres?
Why are we trying to introduce genres to photography now?

Here, we introduce articles that focus on the background, philosophy, and cultural significance of genre construction.
The order of reading is up to you. Please dive in from the theme that interests you.

Starting from the discomfort with photography culture

• Why is photography not talked about as much as music?
  For some reason, photography is harder to talk about compared to music. The origin of the genre concept that started from that sense of discomfort.

Re-capturing the concept of genre

• What is genre? — Between classification and narrative —
  “Genre” is not merely a classification term, but a cultural apparatus that encompasses narratives and interpretations.

• How was genre born? — Learning from music, Western art, and manga: the structure of cultural growth —
  What is the process of “genre becoming established” that we can learn from other genres?

The necessity of reconstructing genres in photography

• The current state of photographic genres — Organizing existing classifications —
  Organizing the limitations of subject-based classification and the necessity of genre as an expressive style.

• Reconstructing photographic genres — An attempt to draw a “map” of sensibility —
  The ideological background of reconstructing from the perspective of “genre as a map”.

Responding to criticality, interpretation, and arbitrariness

• Who does genre belong to?
  Who holds the right to interpret genre? — A perspective that wavers between the creator, the audience, and society.

• Is the “roughness” of genre violence or tolerance?
  The violence of the act of drawing boundaries, and the possibilities hidden within it.

• Why are there “7 genres” in EPT?
  Examining the risks of arbitrariness and the cultural significance of “drawing frames” nonetheless.

• Should genre be discussed through “context” or “appearance”?
  How to read expression — The intersection of the “context school” and the “visual school”.

Photographic genre is a “map” for seeing,
and also an “apparatus” for thinking.
As a foundation for reading, questioning, and discussing expression — please enjoy these perspectives as well.

Finally

“It might be interesting that photography has genres.”
If you think that, it is already the sprout of culture.

Through the “map” of genre, toward a world where you can enjoy photography more freely and deeply.
And, hoping for the further development of photographic culture as new stars shine from there.

I have published 'Theory of Photographic Genre'

I have published a book, 'Theory of Photographic Genre,' which systematically summarizes the concept of “genre” written about in this article.

Just as music and film have “genres,” let photography have them too.
Like rock and jazz — let genres drive photographic culture.
With that thought in mind, I have drawn a new “map” of photography centered on seven expressive styles.

I have organized the ideology, lineage, and representative artists for each genre, presenting perspectives to enjoy photography more deeply.
The content further develops the ideas in this article, so please take a look if you are interested.

📗 'Theory of Photographic Genres' →

Podcast 'Photo Thinking by Notebook LM' now streaming

Using Google's AI note tool 'Notebook LM' to read note articles and reconstruct them as AI-narrated dialogues.
It is an audio program designed to take a step beyond 'taking and viewing photos' to 'thinking' about them.

◯Spotify

◯Apple Podcast

GPTs 'PhotoGenre Analyzer / Curator' to help you find your favorite photographers

You love taking photos. But when you try to start appreciating photography, you don't know who to look at first.
To solve this 'hesitation beyond liking,' I created two GPTs.
They guide you on 'who to look at next' based on your own photos or your favorite artists.

↓Introduced in this article

[GPTs①] PhotoGenre Analyzer

When you upload a photo, it deciphers what forms (composition, light, distance, tone, density, medium, etc.) your photo is composed of and what influences from photographic history or photographers it has received. Based on the analysis results, it shows its position on the photographic genre (EPT) and recommends related photographers and photo books.

[GPTs②] PhotoGenre Curator

When you enter the name of a favorite photographer or photo book, it organizes their artistic style and lineage, clarifying their position in photographic history/photographic genre (EPT). It extracts common factors from your input preferences and recommends new artists or photo books you might get hooked on by specific name.

※Supplementary notes and requests

The genre system presented in this project is not intended to limit or fix photographic expression.
This is merely a proposal for 'how to expand what you like' born from my own experience, and
I hope it will be a 'map' to deepen your sensibilities rather than fitting expression into a moldthat I think of it as.

The word 'genre' may sometimes cause misunderstandings, but
through this note,the emergence of discussions on diverse genre perspectivesis also one of my wishes.

The construction of the genre system involved a process of multifaceted examination through continuous dialogue with ChatGPT, including photographic history, art history, and cultural theory.
I also introduce the background and logic behind it.