Why the Heck do we do this?

stevew · 11-28-2005

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.

FrankS · 11-28-2005

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.

aad · 11-28-2005

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrankS

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

for the chicks man!

joe

JoeFriday · 11-28-2005

the green eyed redheads?

back alley · 11-28-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeFriday

the green eyed redheads?

are there any other kind?

Wayne R. Scott · 11-28-2005

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

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.

stevew · 11-28-2005

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.

Bobbo · 11-28-2005

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

.

rpsawin · 11-28-2005

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

DougK · 11-28-2005

I want to share the world and the things in it with others as I see them.

back alley · 11-28-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by cp_ste-croix

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

DougK · 11-28-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by back alley

...i love when a friend introduces me as a really good photographer....

Me too, Joe, me too

SolaresLarrave · 11-28-2005

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

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...

nemjo · 11-28-2005

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

11-28-2005

Because I can record images from my life such as the attached (hope this works!):

wlewisiii · 11-28-2005

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

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.

jlw · 11-28-2005

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:

Quote:

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

Amen, sir.

William
(just over the board minimum there...)

hugivza · 11-28-2005

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

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.