View Full Version : Why the Heck do we do this?
Why do we shoot?
Fleetingly thought of Fame (many years ago). Not!
Posterity? Maybe!
Pass on to children? My son will throw my stuff in the trash someday.
I guess I just need to record my vision! No one else needs to care, I just have to take down the things that are important to me.
Because when I paint it looks like crap.
Photography is a creative outlet for me. I don't know exactly why I do it but I am somehow driven to do it. I don' t think I would be as healthy mentally, if I stopped.
Photography is gratifying for me to do. It helps me feel good about myself.
As I look through my pictures, I am very glad I've taken the time to record my life. All of it will likely go to another in my family someday, just as I now keep the pictures from my ancestors-at least, the ones who bothered!
bmattock
11-28-2005, 19:04
Because when I paint it looks like crap.
Photography is a creative outlet for me. I don't know exactly why I do it but I am somehow driven to do it. I don' t think I would be as healthy mentally, if I stopped.
LOL!
I do it for the same reasons - except a bit reversed. I feel that society deserves to be kept from contact with me as much as possible - so I get out into the field and inflict myself on barns, old cars, and flowers.
I don't practice photography so much as hurl myself at it.
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
back alley
11-28-2005, 19:05
for the chicks man!
:)joe
JoeFriday
11-28-2005, 19:13
the green eyed redheads?
back alley
11-28-2005, 19:15
the green eyed redheads?
are there any other kind?
Wayne R. Scott
11-28-2005, 19:23
I do it because it is the closest thing to magic that I have ever done. I still get a thrill out of watching a print come to life in the dark room.
Wayne
cp_ste.croix
11-28-2005, 19:23
I do it for the challenge of creating photos that I like. I'm not very good at that, so I keep striving and getting inspired by others photos which I wished I'd taken.
That and something I think Wallace Stevens said "After one has abandoned belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes it's place as life's redemption" Substitute 'art' for 'poetry' and it's spot on for me.*
no offence meant to any of my religious friends on RFF.
I hear you all.
I love the subtle colors of a watercolor, but I can't paint.
I love a drawing done by a master, I'm not one.
I love the precise details of a silverpoint engraving, but I can't do it.
I love sculpture, but I just beat on rocks.
Years ago, in college, I took a photo course under Jerry Uelsmann. His advise to me: Steve, you are very good technically, "but" you are too rigid, compose your photo, raise the camera back over your head, take the picture, and print it. Works for him, not for me. I shoot what interests me. I like rocks, trees, buildings, or things that look like rocks, trees or buildings. Graphic forms interest me. So sue me.
Because I want to...
I like to tell stories. I like to get creative. I like to play MacGyver when I'm out shooting or working on a camera. I like to travel. I like to feel like I've acomplished something every now and then...like this print I made for my grandmother's Christmas present today...I also like to get paid for the above:D.
I think Frank's comments are my thoughts as well. I am part of a show and was gallery sitting a fewweekends ago. While watching several people look at the show I realized nobody really cares about these images. That prompted me to wonder why I should continue. And immediately I realized I did it because it turns me on, it makes my life better and all that makes me a better person. And like Frank I think I would get unhealthy if I stop.
Bob
I want to share the world and the things in it with others as I see them.
back alley
11-28-2005, 19:53
I do it for the challenge of creating photos that I like. I'm not very good at that, so I keep striving and getting inspired by others photos which I wished I'd taken.
That and something I think Wallace Stevens said "After one has abandoned belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes it's place as life's redemption" Substitute 'art' for 'poetry' and it's spot on for me.*
no offence meant to any of my religious friends on RFF.
i love that quote!
i may have to use it somewhere soon...
so, i jag off with with a one liner and all you guys go serious on me.
i love the combination of magic, art and craft.
i love the machines that do this work, the metal, the glass and the film.
i love when someone looks at one of my shots and goes ah!
i love when a friend introduces me as a really good photographer.
i love that being a photographer forces me to look at the world and see art everywhere.
joe
...i love when a friend introduces me as a really good photographer....
Me too, Joe, me too :D
SolaresLarrave
11-28-2005, 20:13
I'm not good at this, so I like the challenge of getting moderately better at it.
And of course, over years of crappy shots, I have accumulated an impressive record of different moments of our lives in this house. I have photos of my wife reading a certain book that bring back memories of what we were immersed in back then... and it's nice to see how things change, yet they remain the same.
So, in other words, I like to document my life. Hence the camera never leaves my shoulder.
Honu-Hugger
11-28-2005, 20:59
My pictures reveal something about myself I don't yet understand. I take a lot of pictures and very few of them are good, but every now and then one strikes a chord with me and I wonder why? It's never the one that I thought might be good -- it's almost always a surprise. Sometimes it's a quick shot that I took without thinking; I've tried to "not think" in the hope of getting more keepers but the double-negative doesn't work (thinking about not thinking eliminates any advantage). It's a hopeless pursuit of something, but fun all the same... :)
There are several reasons.
- It'd be very nice to stop that hurry. If I feel that catched an important moment, it helps.
- So good to try to do something not to earn, but for just.
- The simplest photography is creative too. Good to feel myself creative sometime.
- Ofcourse it's great to handle theese small wonders. (Ok sometimes not so small.)
- Let's be honest. I'm to take similars to Moholy-Nagy and the others...
nemjo
Because I can record images from my life such as the attached (hope this works!):
wlewisiii
11-28-2005, 21:35
It's hard to say this without sounding smartassed inherently, but I really am of the opinion of "why not?" Film is cheap, developer is cheaper and fixer is cheapest of all. My shots are the closest thing to creating art that will ever exist in my life (I will _not_ touch whether or not it _is_ art. We will _not_ play that inherently hatefull game on this web site.)
Beyond that, Honu has some good things to say. Anyone reading this entry would do themselves better by going up an meditating on that, instead.
William
brightsky
11-28-2005, 21:37
For me, photography is relaxing. It forces me to really look at my surroundings. It is done purely for enjoyment. It is also a challenge, technically and creatively.
As others have stated, it is documentary. I love looking through old albums of photos taken 30-40 years ago and am so thankful I was able to record those moments. In many cases, those are the only pictures my family has of particular events or people.
Seeing the end result is still magic.
Oddly enough, on the same day I read this thread, I received an email from a young lady to whom I recently gave a few prints of some shots I had taken of her in a dance performance. She said, in part:
The photos mean a lot to me. I only have
a very few videos of me dancing and the're pretty much of when I was young
and not so good. So I cherish any pictures for my kids to have when I'm dead
and gone. I don't mean to sound morbid, but it's true.
That was reason enough for me...
wlewisiii
11-28-2005, 21:59
Amen, sir.
William
(just over the board minimum there...)
Pure, selfish, hedonistic pleasure. I could kid myself and perhaps try to kid others that it is an altruistic pursuit for the benefit of my family and my friends, who doubtless derive some pleasure from my images, but in essence it me fulfilling my own need to do something different for me.
doug clow
11-28-2005, 22:58
when i was a kid i would see a photo and it seemed almost magical. that is even more so now when im in the dark room. i also feel the need to create and contribute (to what im not sure) and i pretty much suck at everything else.
st3ph3nm
11-28-2005, 23:14
Because when I paint it looks like crap.
Photography is a creative outlet for me. I don't know exactly why I do it but I am somehow driven to do it. I don' t think I would be as healthy mentally, if I stopped.
Photography is gratifying for me to do. It helps me feel good about myself.
Yep.
Word for word.
Cheers,
Steve
(and I'll prove it, soon as I get all these rolls scanned)
I shoot because I am a creative person. I'm happy to get paid for being creative(I'm a chef) but the majority of my working time I literally take orders from everbody else. So the photography is a way for me to be creative sheerly for myself. I am happy to have these two outlets as(like some others have said)I'm no good at other forms of expression.
Rob
ClaremontPhoto
11-28-2005, 23:20
I like to see things, details, and photograph them to remember the moment.
I cannot sing, write, dance, paint, sculpture... so there is nothing left for me than taking pictures ;)
Cheers
Thomas-Michael
Pherdinand
11-29-2005, 03:25
i shoot because i enjoy it.
When other people enjoy the results, that's just an extra.
I am selfish enough to do it only for myself.
bluedust
11-29-2005, 04:00
I shoot because I enjoy it; the feeling I get when I am behind the camera is relaxing and when I produce something decent I am even more satisfied.
What I love about my RF is that it goes everywhere with me and I can really escape from my day to day routine when ever I want. In fact I might just do that now.
Because when I paint it looks like crap.
Photography is a creative outlet for me. I don't know exactly why I do it but I am somehow driven to do it. I don' t think I would be as healthy mentally, if I stopped.
Same here, i'm a terrible painter :D And i've always thought i can make that up with photography, i can't draw picture but i can see things, and get them rpinted on paper, i can create a photo! I thought i can write sometimes, but not always, sometimes i'm playing guitar but i'm not very entuthiastic about it...
There's also an immesne feeling of joy when clicking the cshutter and then winding the film...
Michael I.
11-29-2005, 06:08
First of all,for me,to go walking alone with a camera is a meditaion.I see the camera as a buffer between me and others and I am a self centered mysanthrope
Doing photography gets me into that Zen state where I am completely engrossed in the moment and I lose myself for a while.
This helps explain my attraction to manual focus, manual exposure, mechanical cameras that let me do everything myself.
Big part of my life is dealing with practical things, my work as a computer scientist, running the household, fixing things ...
Photography lets me explore the other part of me, the one that wants to show things that only I see around me. It lets me explore that which is deep inside me, hidden most of the time in my practicality dominated daily routine.
It also lets me explore myself; to push myself to see the world around me differently, to look for beauty in ordinary.
Hope this is not too mushy ;)
Not too mushy. I agree. Photography helps me see beauty in the ordinary.
A fascination with the process is the best I can come up with.
You would think after 30 years I would have thought this out more, but that's it.
I continually look at good work, seek out more, etc. and am inspired to try to make my own.
I am not good at it, but what is the point of doing something you are good at?
I guess through the process, you learn something about your subject, the the medium, yourself.
Gary
anselwannab
11-29-2005, 07:28
I think the biggest thing for me is that it makes me focus on the things around me. Most people go thru their day not noticing the little and big things around them. Photography gives me the license to point out those things. A dandelion growing thru the crack in the sidewalk, an interesting juxtapositioning, or shadows cast in odd ways.
I notice things all the time that other people enjoy also when you point them out. People are so focued, they don't see the things around them. A photographic eye is like looking at the world thru a childs eyes. Everything is interesting and there is always something to be discovered.
In the early 70's when I was in college, my friend, who was the school newspaper photographer, showed me a book "The Family of Man" from a traveling exhibit of the same name.
The photography was amazing to me. Then I went to the darkroom with my friend, and watched a print come up in the developer, amazing. I bought a Yashicamat and began shooting for the school paper too. I still see amazing things everyday, some I capture, some I store in my mind. They may not interest anyone else, but they are my little slices of life.
scotty smith
11-29-2005, 09:44
Photography is one of the few socially acceptable exercises in slowing down, looking closely, and seeing things for what they really are. Nobody gives us a second glance when we are wandering around with a camera or tripod in a beautiful park, for example, but if we were to slowly stare at various objects with a similar intensity of concentration sans photo equipment, we would arouse all sorts of suspicions......
cp_ste.croix
11-29-2005, 09:46
Photography is one of the few socially acceptable exercises in slowing down, looking closely, and seeing things for what they really are. Nobody gives us a second glance when we are wandering around with a camera or tripod in a beautiful park, for example, but if we were to slowly stare at various objects with a similar intensity of concentration sans photo equipment, we would arouse all sorts of suspicions......
good point, and I find having a frame focuses my ability to see.
Another great line: having a frame focusses my ability to see.
cp_ste.croix
11-29-2005, 10:23
Thanks Frank!
Gabriel M.A.
11-29-2005, 13:09
In the early 70's when I was in college, my friend, who was the school newspaper photographer, showed me a book "The Family of Man" from a traveling exhibit of the same name.
I didn't know there's a book. I should look for it. Interestingly enough, my entry into Rangefinders was a bit of a chicken-and-the-egg story (ok, easy to spot the first egg):
I had come across a photograph which grabbed my attention for its remarkable look. It had that je-ne-sais-quoi that just not only stood on its own compositional merits, but technically it had something I had not really quite appreciated before; unfortunately I don't remember the title or whose picture it was, but I remember that in the technical info it said "Leica".
As I researched "Leica", I came across this site (of course, before all the wealth of information in the photo gallery was zapped away) and compared photos taken with certain lenses. I also came across the Family of Man 2 site ( http://www.familyofman2.com/ ).
So I went on to purchase the cheapest Leica I could afford: an R4 and a 50mm Summicron-R. Ever since, of course, my wallet has also not been the same.
Gabriel M.A.
11-29-2005, 13:12
Snow! It's minus 2 stops right?
LOL -- no, it's plus two stops. It depends on your point of view. Is that clear now? :angel:
It depends if you have an incident point of view or a reflected point of view.
Not sure this directly answers the original question posed, but one reaction I have to the various responses given is that photography helps me find the beauty all around me. Slowing down and really noticing the world around me is part of it. Framing a shot to reveal the interesting portions of a larger, seemingly mundane scene is part of it. The surprise when a random shot turns out to be one of those, "yeah, that's what I'm striving to achieve!" kinds of images. Even nice when someone else appreciates the shot, but that's less important to me right now. All told, I guess it's the pure selfish self-reflective and self-satisfying pleasure of capturing a small bit of beauty from all the random, chaotic life going on around me. Which also relates back to the comments of others about not being able to adequately produce art in other forms (painting, sculpture, music, etc.). Just my $.02 worth... :)
cp_ste.croix
11-29-2005, 13:52
LOL -- no, it's plus two stops. It depends on your point of view. Is that clear now? :angel:
i should change my sig to 'open two stops'...it's what i meant :)
Because nothing beats the feeling of achievement when that photograph comes out of the fixer... and it's just right.
bmattock
11-29-2005, 14:40
Because nothing else makes the angry clowns in my head stop hitting me with a fluffernutter while shouting "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" over and over and over...
I think we are all creative, and some of us create using photography. Others use writing, painting, cooking, etc. We all need to find something that allows us to speak to others in a nonverbal way (at least those of us that are not that verbal and more visual oriented).
Earliest man painted on caves to record his existence; we use photography for the same reasons.
And besides, cameras a really nice mechanical objects to fondle.
anselwannab
11-29-2005, 18:45
Dan Rather, haven't thought about him in a while. Did they catch the guy who beat him? Why didn't Dan just make up a frequency?
Courage.
Why? To be creative. We were all made to create. Our lives grow dim when we don't create. When we're finished creating, we're finished.
I create pictures with words... in sermons, in songs, in poems. I also like to tell stories with photographs. Attached are two family photos. The first is the only picture I have of my father with his father. The second is the one picture I have of my father with his grandfather. I look at these two and get a glimpse, a small glimpse of the story of their lives... in their faces, their hands, their clothes and surroundings. So my favorite subject to shoot is anyone in my family... so my granddaughters and their daughters and get a glimpse too.
I like to catch a shot of an old barn or building here or there, or some stranger passing by on the street, or some rusty old something out in the weeds. But all that is just practice for me and maybe a little glimpse of the one behind the camera. The keepers though, and the "why?" are capturing the moments that make up my family's story.
Maybe just because it's FUN?
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