charles schuler
Senior Member
n/t
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Why do you do photography? Philosophical question.
- Thread starter Bill Cameron
- Start date
To create a body of work of informal portraits that family and others will cherish.
To capture those moments in time that will never occur again.
To express myself by capturing that which others may not see.
To share with others those images which I see and record...which will bring their involvement and invoke their emotions of wonderment and oneness with the image.
To photograph...why?...because I simply cannot stop...I have done it for 50 years and every day brings new and fresh opportunities. It is really joy, that can be experienced alone, but is especially sweet when shared.
Finally, I must confess that right now, I'm a little drunk....having just enjoyed a family "happy hour" with some New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and with hamburgers just now going on the grill.
Life is good.
-Don
To capture those moments in time that will never occur again.
To express myself by capturing that which others may not see.
To share with others those images which I see and record...which will bring their involvement and invoke their emotions of wonderment and oneness with the image.
To photograph...why?...because I simply cannot stop...I have done it for 50 years and every day brings new and fresh opportunities. It is really joy, that can be experienced alone, but is especially sweet when shared.
Finally, I must confess that right now, I'm a little drunk....having just enjoyed a family "happy hour" with some New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and with hamburgers just now going on the grill.
Life is good.
-Don
Bob and Localnet, very nice responses.
About the anti-American opinions....perhaps you might try to think of yourselves as members of the world community, not just as Americans...just a thought.
I wish you well.
-Don
chich
Forum Enthusiast
I think every person has a creative side that they need to express. Some paint, some sing, some create huge mathematical equations.
I take photos.
Personally, what motivated me to start taking photos was seeing the works of Larry Burrows, Don McCullin, Robert Capa etc from Vietnam and feeling the intense emotions that they portrayed. My favourite images are those that are able to make you feel something - anger, sadness, amazement… those that draw emotions out of the viewer. To me that is the essence of a photo.
It's also about seeing the world from a different angle, and giving it a little 'twist'. Once you start taking photos, you begin to look at the world differently too - everything around you becomes a play of light, shadows, reflections, angles… I think you really appreciate the world much more once you start taking photos with a passion.
One day I will be able to do the same as these photography greats. One day... But, until then I’ll keep practicing whenever and wherever I can: people, streets, landscapes, macros etc etc - and will enjoy every moment whilst I'm at it!
--
'Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music.'
I take photos.
Personally, what motivated me to start taking photos was seeing the works of Larry Burrows, Don McCullin, Robert Capa etc from Vietnam and feeling the intense emotions that they portrayed. My favourite images are those that are able to make you feel something - anger, sadness, amazement… those that draw emotions out of the viewer. To me that is the essence of a photo.
It's also about seeing the world from a different angle, and giving it a little 'twist'. Once you start taking photos, you begin to look at the world differently too - everything around you becomes a play of light, shadows, reflections, angles… I think you really appreciate the world much more once you start taking photos with a passion.
One day I will be able to do the same as these photography greats. One day... But, until then I’ll keep practicing whenever and wherever I can: people, streets, landscapes, macros etc etc - and will enjoy every moment whilst I'm at it!
--
'Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music.'
- Kristian Wilson, Nintendo Inc, 1989
chich
Forum Enthusiast
Obviously you've not tried playing with Photoshop, have you! 
--
'Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music.'
--
'Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music.'
- Kristian Wilson, Nintendo Inc, 1989
sean000
Veteran Member
heh - I know what you mean. Since I live in an apartment I've reached a point where I can't really buy another bike, or more cycling gear, for lack of space. So I had to find another hobby to sink my money into. At least photography takes up less space... maybe. I guess photography might take up almost as much room as a couple of bicycles and a lot of gear. There's the computer, printer, paper, lenses, tripod, accessories, several camera bags, photo albums, frames, etc.
Really though, I guess I've been into both hobbies since I was young. They compliment each other rather well actually. I've gotten so I like to carry a point and shoot digital with me on many rides, since I often see things on a ride that make me wish I had a camera. I also carry my DSLR, a few lenses, and a tripod with me on a few "photo safari" rides. These rides are more about taking pictures than pedaling though. The good thing about a bicycle is that it lets you take a camera places that would be too far on foot and too difficult (if you could reach them at all) by car.
As to why I take pictures? I've been wondering about that lately. I like looking at pictures. They make me meditate for a moment on the subject, or marvel at the composition or scene. But I also enjoy taking photos as much as looking at them. It's fun to capture a moment that was too quick for the eye to catch, or too rare for it to be shared through any means other than photography. That said there are many photos I would put in an album that I would not put on my wall. Not because they are bad photos... just that they aren't the kind of art that I like to hang on my wall. I do like hanging some types of photos on my wall, but they are usually the abstracts and "art" type shots. I also like having portraits on the wall. With landscapes it varies. If it's interesting enough, sure.
I think a lot about the value of photographs as well. Some belong in an album to record a place or a person/subject. There is historical and sentimental value. And there is art. Okay that's getting too deep for early in the morning. Time for coffee.
PalmTrees
Well-known member
My artistic side needs an outlet. It's more a personal thing to me than one I do for other people from the artistic perspective. However, I'm the "photo-nut" of the family when it comes to taking candid family photos. If I'm there, it is all but expected that I'm going to be the one taking the pictures.
I got into it in Highschool mainly because there was something about it that attracted me to it. I love all things mechanical and now electronic and there's something about a camera that intrigues me.
Photography gives me an artistic outlet and is something I may never be good at so I always have goals. What keeps me going is having those goals plus I just love (since the age of digital) being the first one to view the pictures out of the camera. My first camera was a full-manual Pentax and later one I went with Minolta "program-type" cameras. From there I moved on to 1, 2, 3, 5 and now 8 MP cameras. Getting back into SLR photography has actually renewed some of those feelings I had about the art of photography from when I was a kid. Now that I'm relearning SLR techniques, I'm excited again and plan on setting even higher goals in photography.
Pretty similar to my experiences although I'll add this; I have alwasy been fascinated by family photographs taken many, many years ago. My Grandmother is 103 now and I've been working on a picture in PS of her taken when she was in her 20's on lake Michigan. I like to think I'm contributing to futre generations of my family so one day one of them will be fascinated by the pictures I'm taking now. Kind of a personal legacy to a certain degree.
For me too! That's one of the reasons my learning of photography slowed during the (middle) years and why I embraced digital so quickly. I'm a technology guy starting way back with the first PC's so I took to it like a fish takes to water. I read and watched the results of the first consumer digital cameras and wasn't too impressed by their "web" quality. I thought I was dreaming when they first came out with a 1 MP digital!
I don't shoot enough due to work and family obligations - something I'm always dealing with. I missed so many beautiful shots of the springtime blooms here in NJ simply because I didn't take the time to pull over and take the shot. I always have my 20D with me and mentally compose shots all the time. I've got to get better at getting those compositions out of my head and actually into the camera! This one thing along slows my learning curve down tremendously.
I couldn't agree with you more!
--I wish you well on your recovery so you can get back out there and snap the shutter!
DavidMaven
Senior Member
I can't paint, draw, sculpt, compose music, write creatively, etc. I have no other creative talent, so I photograph.
Got started becuase my dad was an amatuer shutterbug and I worshiped the ground he walked on. So I wanted to do everything he did.
Eventually we built a darkroom in the house and he taught me to process film and print.
--
[email protected]
Got started becuase my dad was an amatuer shutterbug and I worshiped the ground he walked on. So I wanted to do everything he did.
Eventually we built a darkroom in the house and he taught me to process film and print.
--
[email protected]
fabianNY
New member
I shoot because I am an intellectual pessimist and an action optimist.
If you shoot then you are implying that the world is worth being reproduce. That is so good or interesting that it is worth re-interpret it, or we have so much hope that we can shoot those things that are wrong in the strange belief that by sharing it we can make them better.
I shoot because the zen like state of minf I achieve when looking for light and framing, is a sort of yoga or the mind.
There is also and exhibitiobits element to it "look, ma, how beautiful picture I took"
If you shoot then you are implying that the world is worth being reproduce. That is so good or interesting that it is worth re-interpret it, or we have so much hope that we can shoot those things that are wrong in the strange belief that by sharing it we can make them better.
I shoot because the zen like state of minf I achieve when looking for light and framing, is a sort of yoga or the mind.
There is also and exhibitiobits element to it "look, ma, how beautiful picture I took"
xLnT
Well-known member
My biggest fundamental passion of photography which started my consistent hoppy of taking pictures digitally (which is the only way i've been taking pitcures -- i am 23 years old) is the way view pictures in the computer. The way the colors appears on the screen and the way you can get intimate with the face of a person and also things, such as flowers or whatever apperars on the motives. It is fascinating to be able to zoom, in and out from scale 1:1 to 1:100000. This is the fundamental driving force.
But since the start, I've come to have another big value (more obvious): the artistic possibility for you to create what your friends and family (and maybe others) appreciate the most -- pitctures illustrating them selves and their precious.
FK
But since the start, I've come to have another big value (more obvious): the artistic possibility for you to create what your friends and family (and maybe others) appreciate the most -- pitctures illustrating them selves and their precious.
FK
Wild-Mike
Veteran Member
AND I have a "lot of fight in me".
Regards,
Mike
--
New Gallery (in development stage) http://wnyphoto.com
Photography is just one of my hobbies
Regards,
Mike
--
New Gallery (in development stage) http://wnyphoto.com
Photography is just one of my hobbies
Wild-Mike
Veteran Member
Several reasons for me, but from the artistic aspect, it is easier than when I used oil painting as a medium.
Owned my first camera as an eight year old and my first SLR in 1970. I have always found enjoyment in photography and it is also very affective in documenting family, etc.
Regards,
Mike
--
New Gallery (in development stage) http://wnyphoto.com
Photography is just one of my hobbies
Owned my first camera as an eight year old and my first SLR in 1970. I have always found enjoyment in photography and it is also very affective in documenting family, etc.
Regards,
Mike
--
New Gallery (in development stage) http://wnyphoto.com
Photography is just one of my hobbies
Sheldon Bowles
Senior Member
Bill I think this is an excellent question. I first read this post earlier today and since then I've been out taking pictures of a Loon on her nest thinking about this, as I also did during the two hour car ride home from the cottage this evening.
I don't have any answers yet, but I have been wondering what will happen to all of the photos I've taken and, does it matter? Do I care? And if they're all going out in the dust heap why bother to save and file them?
Cheers, Sheldon
I don't have any answers yet, but I have been wondering what will happen to all of the photos I've taken and, does it matter? Do I care? And if they're all going out in the dust heap why bother to save and file them?
Cheers, Sheldon
BobHaverford
Forum Enthusiast
None of this bleeding we are the world nonsense. I consider myself an American first, second, third. The world community as embodied in the UN is corrupt, venal, and beyond repair. The USA is the ONLY hope for all mankind.
Wm. Bates
Senior Member
...I feel compelled to capture a time and a part of my world that is being rapidly, lost, destroyed and locked up. I also love wildlife photography because I love the hunt/chase and I can do this year round. Plus, like the fly fishing I love, I it is catch and release.
I have grown up in a rapidly changing West. As a kid and young adult you never saw a no trespassing sign. People knew to close, gates respect peoples property and fences. You never saw a sign saying "stay on the road" or "this area closed to travel". Now you see them everywhere and you can't blame the stewards of the land. You now have people that will take their ATV and four wheel drives anywhere in any weather (sometimes they seem to like it muddy) and rip up the land causing all sorts of problems. So, places are being closed and locked up at a rapid pace. Places I enjoyed as a youngster my grandkids will only get to enjoy in photos.
As a kid you always asked before going on someones property to hunt. It was just common courtesy. They didn't need to have a no trespassing sign. Now they do which is just sad.
I'm not an environmentalist but I believe we need to take care of our environment. I'm a conservationist and feel as proper stewards we need to use wisely what we have and somethings we just plain need to save for future generations.
So, I take pictures of somethings so others can see a piece my world they may never get to visit. I take photos of somethings because someday they may not even exist. Maybe someone will realize what they lost and think about saving something else.
I take photos because it gets me outside in nature.
I take pictures because I'm getting soft in my old age and I don't need to kill something to reaffirm my manhood or reconfirm my primal nature; but, I still love being outdoors and wild places. ( Heck taking wildlife photos is way more difficult than hunting with a gun or bow. Get me within 300 yards with my .30-06 and the animal was dead. Didn't have to worry about light, uncluttered backgrounds and being really close) I'm not anti hunting. Most of the wildlife is there because of the hunting sportsman and the money they spend. I still buy a hunting and fishing license each year. I still fish. I still hunt grouse with the dog. It has been a few years since I killed and elk or a deer.
I just feel compelled to share my world and hope people can get a little enjoyment from my photos and maybe think about the world around them.
that was my ramble for the day.
Now a photo I didn't take, it was taken by my wife Wanda this weekend while we were in Yellowstone. She was using the 10D and the 70-200f/2.8L IS with a 2xII extender. I did do a bit of the post processing.
We had so much fun watching the springtime babies I'm headed back next week.
--
Bill
Taking It One Day At a Time
http://www.pbase.com/slowpokebill
'The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.' Unknown
'Every man dies; but, not every man lives' Braveheart
'Sometime the magic works. Sometimes it doesn't' Little Big Man
I have grown up in a rapidly changing West. As a kid and young adult you never saw a no trespassing sign. People knew to close, gates respect peoples property and fences. You never saw a sign saying "stay on the road" or "this area closed to travel". Now you see them everywhere and you can't blame the stewards of the land. You now have people that will take their ATV and four wheel drives anywhere in any weather (sometimes they seem to like it muddy) and rip up the land causing all sorts of problems. So, places are being closed and locked up at a rapid pace. Places I enjoyed as a youngster my grandkids will only get to enjoy in photos.
As a kid you always asked before going on someones property to hunt. It was just common courtesy. They didn't need to have a no trespassing sign. Now they do which is just sad.
I'm not an environmentalist but I believe we need to take care of our environment. I'm a conservationist and feel as proper stewards we need to use wisely what we have and somethings we just plain need to save for future generations.
So, I take pictures of somethings so others can see a piece my world they may never get to visit. I take photos of somethings because someday they may not even exist. Maybe someone will realize what they lost and think about saving something else.
I take photos because it gets me outside in nature.
I take pictures because I'm getting soft in my old age and I don't need to kill something to reaffirm my manhood or reconfirm my primal nature; but, I still love being outdoors and wild places. ( Heck taking wildlife photos is way more difficult than hunting with a gun or bow. Get me within 300 yards with my .30-06 and the animal was dead. Didn't have to worry about light, uncluttered backgrounds and being really close) I'm not anti hunting. Most of the wildlife is there because of the hunting sportsman and the money they spend. I still buy a hunting and fishing license each year. I still fish. I still hunt grouse with the dog. It has been a few years since I killed and elk or a deer.
I just feel compelled to share my world and hope people can get a little enjoyment from my photos and maybe think about the world around them.
that was my ramble for the day.
Now a photo I didn't take, it was taken by my wife Wanda this weekend while we were in Yellowstone. She was using the 10D and the 70-200f/2.8L IS with a 2xII extender. I did do a bit of the post processing.
We had so much fun watching the springtime babies I'm headed back next week.
--
Bill
Taking It One Day At a Time
http://www.pbase.com/slowpokebill
'The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.' Unknown
'Every man dies; but, not every man lives' Braveheart
'Sometime the magic works. Sometimes it doesn't' Little Big Man
draydur
Senior Member
LOL ..
what I mean is when I look at the file as it comes from the camera I am presented with the truth about my technique, framing, timing, etc. It facinates me how these little slices of time can be so perfect at times and such a disaster at others. The process of seeing and capturing an image and succeding in getting what was in mind is addictive. My keeper rate is going up but...
Thank God for photoshop ...LOL
--
Draydur
(Mike Lowery) - SF bay area, CA, USA
http://www.pbase.com/draydur
--All things considered, the final image is all that matters.
what I mean is when I look at the file as it comes from the camera I am presented with the truth about my technique, framing, timing, etc. It facinates me how these little slices of time can be so perfect at times and such a disaster at others. The process of seeing and capturing an image and succeding in getting what was in mind is addictive. My keeper rate is going up but...
Thank God for photoshop ...LOL
--
Draydur
(Mike Lowery) - SF bay area, CA, USA
http://www.pbase.com/draydur
--All things considered, the final image is all that matters.
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