What Motivates You?

Todd.Hanz · 09-25-2004

RML · 09-25-2004

Many things, impressions, photos, sounds, etc influence me, but what motivates me... I haven't got a clue. I'm just always on the lookout for that what makes a place or a scene tick. I can't explain it properly (damn masculine brain!) but I know it when I see it. I could call it "the beauty" but that doesn't always cover it.

peter_n · 09-25-2004

I don't think I'm "motivated". My hobby was dormant for ten years until about a year ago when I got my first rangefinder. Maybe because my only camera was a Nikon F3hp+MD4...

I just "see" pictures and sometimes I have my camera with me and I snap it, sometimes I don't. Like Remy, I find it difficult to articulate. What is really annoying is I see a scene that's really good and I don't have my camera - aaaaargh!!

Pherdinand · 09-25-2004

That time, those 2-3 days, when I'm waiting for the lab to give me my neg back with proofs, that's very exciting. That is what (partly) motivates me; i know when i press the shutter that there was a potential in the scene that I tried to fix on a tiny piece of film, but i don't know yet how succesfully...
It's always a sweet waiting time. (Maybe that's why the digital's "instant feedback" is not for me.)

GeneW · 09-25-2004

Most of my photography is done when I go out for walks. I walk primarily around a Lake Ontario harbour and I never know what I'm going to see on any given day. Every day is different. I think it's the anticipation of 'finding' images that motivates me.

Gene

Mike Richards · 09-25-2004

Go to Spain and visit the Altamira caves sometime. Then ponder why a caveman some 10,000 years ago recorded images on the cave wall. There's something very primitive, yet profound and human, involved with the urge to capture and record images. Why did he do it? There's at least part of your answer.
http://www.veu.unican.es/arte/Ingles.../b/Default.htm

back alley · 09-25-2004

What motivates you to go shoot?

find that answer, win the prize!
i have no solid idea.

i see what i believe to be an interesting bit of space/life/activity/etc and i like the concept of keeping it in more than my memory.
the need for different lenses is to help capture that mental image accurately, different films to record it as i see things.

i'm as motivated by the process of shooting as i am by the viewing of the photo and subsequent sharing of the image.

blah blah blah...

joe

GeneW · 09-25-2004

Quote:

Originally posted by backalley photo
blah blah blah...

Crikey, Joe, I didn't know you were into Zen ...

Gene

back alley · 09-25-2004

being philosophical can be so tiring.

oooooommm.

jr

hey gene, did you read my almost 'foreward' to the book?
whadya think?

joe

GeneW · 09-25-2004

I haven't caught up to it yet, Joe. I was doing some server building and got sidetracked into techie stuff.

Gene

back alley · 09-25-2004

Rich Silfver · 09-25-2004

I read it Joe and I like the 'spirit' it was written in - highlighting that we're attracted to both the camera(s) and the image(s).

Btw - did you see the 60 second-quick-ass-put-together 'teaser' of what the back may end up looking like at: http://www.pbase.com/rsilfverberg/samples__back_cover

Todd's design decision in the end - I was just curious to see how they would 'look together'

back alley · 09-25-2004

just took a look, very cool - i like it!

RML · 09-25-2004

Looks good!

If the leather for the M2 arrives soon I could be begging you to let me enter another photo for the back cover.

What would our audience think of a pink leather Leica M2...?

GeneW · 09-25-2004

Quote:

Originally posted by Rich Silfver
I read it Joe and I like the 'spirit' it was written in - highlighting that we're attracted to both the camera(s) and the image(s).

Btw - did you see the 60 second-quick-ass-put-together 'teaser' of what the back may end up looking like at: http://www.pbase.com/rsilfverberg/samples__back_cover

Todd's design decision in the end - I was just curious to see how they would 'look together'

Joe, I just read your words and, like Rich, very much like the 'spirit' of it.

Rich, love the teaser. It's getting exciting to see this coming together.

Gene

back alley · 09-25-2004

so you guys like the 'spirit' of it.
any comments on the actual words?

i'm not fishing for compliments just comments.
if you prefer privacy a p.m. is more than fine.

gene, especially coming from an experienced and published writer, a little feedback could be good for me.

i promise not to send my uncle giudo after anyone

joe

Peter · 09-25-2004

There are transcient images around us that will be lost in time if it is not recorded. It is my duty as a photographer to record it.

Rich Silfver · 09-25-2004

Let's not hijack Todd's thread here about motivation

You can all use the email distribution list (just look up one of the status emails I've sent out), a new thread here at RFF - or use the pbase comments section.

taffer · 09-26-2004

Back to the original thread then !

I don't know what motivates me, but one thing I like for sure is that when I'm shooting I'm sort of... out of everything.

As if I could be out of the world for a while, and that's refreshing, then if luck blesses me and end with pictures I like, even better!

vladhed · 09-26-2004

As sappy as this sounds, our motivation is the desire to capture moments of beauty, so that we may experience and share those moments of beauty at some future point in time, at will.

Each of us has his or her own idea of what constitutes beauty, something we develop over the years from our own personal experiences; places we visit, strangers we meet, playing with our children/pets, coffee we drink (well, in this forum anyway

).

We are also influenced by looking at others' work - both other amateurs and famous professionals (the sharing part). This gives us clues about how to capture these moments of beauty we experience into photographs. This is where technique comes in.

This is a secondary motiviation; the desire to hone our technical abilities, master our equipment and process, so that we can capture more moments and get as close as we can at faithfully reproducing these moments. (There's a bit of Plato in there somewhere).

How's that for an engineer, eh?

Todd.Hanz · 09-26-2004

Well put vladhed!

Todd

vladhed · 09-27-2004

Yeah, guess so. I seem to have put an end to that discussion!

nwcanonman · 09-27-2004

Being an artist before becoming a photog, I'm still drawn to createing that image forming in my brain and hoping that it translates into a visible 2 dimensional capture of my muse's vision.
Damn, did I say that?

charlesfoto · 09-28-2004

I've always loved the tremendous 'high' I get when I know that I've just captured a keeper! The motivation to go out, as often as possible, to walk the city streets, looking for my next 'high', has made me realize that I am addicted to the power, emotion, and impact an image can have on me and others. Now, if my achy legs and knees would only give me a break, I'd be out even more!

nwcanonman · 10-14-2004

Just seeing the gorgeous fall-filtered light at dusk, like last night, it's so magic that you hate for it to "disappear" without capturing it on film.