In establishing the medium as a fine art form, photographers have sought to make distinctions between art photography and all other uses of the medium, both amateur and professional. Drawing upon ethnographic research comparing the activities of camera club and fine art photography, the evolution of an elite visual aesthetic is examined. While the photographic industry has worked to convince the public that photography is an easily accessible medium, art photographers' activities, in contrast, are characterized by their exclusivity, linking them with less accessible media such as painting and sculpture. Fine art codes are viewed as symbolic mechanisms of social differentiation.
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