Have you ever taken a photograph so beautiful it made you cry?

Have you ever taken a photo that, after the taking, you look at it and it brings tears to your eyes? Can a photograph have that effect?

If so, please share!

If not, discuss. Do you think photography has the same emotive power as say music? I am sure that all of us have heard music that at some time or other made us more than a little misty-eyed. Does music have a power that will forever elude photography? What about a painting or sculpture? Or a novel? A movie?

I think that photography does have the power to move but it does it in arrears. By the time the photograph brings you to tears, you are already past the moment. Photography brings emotions by bringing back memories, and so in a way, it is always playing catch up.

A follow up question: have you ever taken a photo, that years later, looking at it, it brings you to tears?

Note: this is not a discussion of the merits of a photo artistically, since what brings us to tears is usually not the approval of art critics.

--
https://www.flickr.com/photos/myazphoto/

I cry every time I mess up the focus.

MinAZ said:

Have you ever taken a photo that, after the taking, you look at it and it brings tears to your eyes? Can a photograph have that effect?

If so, please share!

If not, discuss. Do you think photography has the same emotive power as say music? I am sure that all of us have heard music that at some time or other made us more than a little misty-eyed. Does music have a power that will forever elude photography? What about a painting or sculpture? Or a novel? A movie?

Click to expand...

Not quite to that much effect, but "oh, this is damn good" is something I can relate with.

My favourite old example of that is this noctilucent clouds photo taken in 2003 with a Powershot G3 compact:






Noctilucent clouds over Saimaa



By today's standards this is a technically quite limited photo with quite a bit of noise, limited resolution etc, but I was intensely happy with the shot back then, and still love it.

(edit: replaced the first version with one that actually had noise reduction applied)

I have a photo of my best freind that I took several years ago, he passed away a few years ago. It's a canvas print hanging where I see it every day.

If I look at it too long and think of him it brings me to tears.

Is it a beautiful photograph? Nope, was he beautiful? Yup.

Probably not what you were looking for.

tcg550 said:

I have a photo of my best freind that I took several years ago, he passed away a few years ago. It's a canvas print hanging where I see it every day.

If I look at it too long and think of him it brings me to tears.

Is it a beautiful photograph? Nope, was he beautiful? Yup.

Probably not what you were looking for.

Click to expand...

In my case, a best friend of mine passed unexpectedly away about 14 years ago. I did never make new prints of him after that (I have a number of earlier generic 6x4" prints featuring him) , because knew I'd probably cry seeing them. At this point, when I see photos featuring him on the screen while browsing old enough shots, I just feel a little sad, but prints would probably feel a little too real still.

tcg550 said:

I have a photo of my best freind that I took several years ago, he passed away a few years ago. It's a canvas print hanging where I see it every day.

If I look at it too long and think of him it brings me to tears.

Is it a beautiful photograph? Nope, was he beautiful? Yup.

Probably not what you were looking for.

Click to expand...

I have a picture of my brother that I took 2 months before he died. It was a favorite from that trip, now it is the last picture of him that I'll ever have. It is now a large metal print in my living room.

MinAZ said:

Have you ever taken a photo that, after the taking, you look at it and it brings tears to your eyes? Can a photograph have that effect?

If so, please share!

If not, discuss. Do you think photography has the same emotive power as say music? I am sure that all of us have heard music that at some time or other made us more than a little misty-eyed. Does music have a power that will forever elude photography? What about a painting or sculpture? Or a novel? A movie?

I think that photography does have the power to move but it does it in arrears. By the time the photograph brings you to tears, you are already past the moment. Photography brings emotions by bringing back memories, and so in a way, it is always playing catch up.

A follow up question: have you ever taken a photo, that years later, looking at it, it brings you to tears?

Note: this is not a discussion of the merits of a photo artistically, since what brings us to tears is usually not the approval of art critics.

Click to expand...

I've taken a few pics that made me very happy and excited, but not cry.

Is there a difference? And why?

No, but I took a shot of a friend's daughter at a tennis court that made her Mom cry. It was a casual shot that I converted to B&W and printed it for Mom and Dad. It made her look 5 years older than she was when I took the shot. I guess Mom saw her daughter growing up way faster than she liked.

David

In 1966 my girlfriend won a scholarship to juilliard in New York and I went to University. Within 18 months she passed away with a rare blood disease. This was and still is a tearful and devastating memory.









--
Charles Darwin: "ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge."
tony
http://www.tphoto.ca

It's not perfect, but these two are dear to me. My GF and her Godmother walking together in Hong Kong.





This photo is one of the few photos that made me smile without editing:

Clock Tower Elevator, Prague, Czech Republic



Aloha,

Val

tcg550 said:

I have a photo of my best freind that I took several years ago, he passed away a few years ago. It's a canvas print hanging where I see it every day.

If I look at it too long and think of him it brings me to tears.

Is it a beautiful photograph? Nope, was he beautiful? Yup.

Probably not what you were looking for.

Click to expand...

This is exactly my thoughts on the role of photography.

ToxicTabasco said:

MinAZ said:

Have you ever taken a photo that, after the taking, you look at it and it brings tears to your eyes? Can a photograph have that effect?

If so, please share!

If not, discuss. Do you think photography has the same emotive power as say music? I am sure that all of us have heard music that at some time or other made us more than a little misty-eyed. Does music have a power that will forever elude photography? What about a painting or sculpture? Or a novel? A movie?

I think that photography does have the power to move but it does it in arrears. By the time the photograph brings you to tears, you are already past the moment. Photography brings emotions by bringing back memories, and so in a way, it is always playing catch up.

A follow up question: have you ever taken a photo, that years later, looking at it, it brings you to tears?

Note: this is not a discussion of the merits of a photo artistically, since what brings us to tears is usually not the approval of art critics.

Click to expand...

I've taken a few pics that made me very happy and excited, but not cry.

Is there a difference? And why?

Click to expand...

Read through the responses on this thread, and you might understand

I spend so much of my life doing this thing, even sometimes more than I should, and I know there is a final purpose. Maybe to some its a gallery showing, others its the bottom line, and then I think there is the role of different emotions. BTW joy (happy and excited) are also very valid and useful goals for the medium, IMHO.

--
https://www.flickr.com/photos/myazphoto/

MinAZ said:

Have you ever taken a photo that, after the taking, you look at it and it brings tears to your eyes? Can a photograph have that effect?

If so, please share!

If not, discuss. Do you think photography has the same emotive power as say music? I am sure that all of us have heard music that at some time or other made us more than a little misty-eyed. Does music have a power that will forever elude photography? What about a painting or sculpture? Or a novel? A movie?

I think that photography does have the power to move but it does it in arrears. By the time the photograph brings you to tears, you are already past the moment. Photography brings emotions by bringing back memories, and so in a way, it is always playing catch up.

A follow up question: have you ever taken a photo, that years later, looking at it, it brings you to tears?

Note: this is not a discussion of the merits of a photo artistically, since what brings us to tears is usually not the approval of art critics.

Click to expand...

. . .

When my daughters were doing gymnastics, my wife and I volunteered to take pictures for the club.

We would go in and try to get a picture of each athlete for the yearbook.

It was our way to give back. And to honour all the hard work that these athletes put into their sport. And as a keep sake for down the road.

One year. One of the athletes stopped coming to the gym.

She was hospitalized and under going therapy.

When my wife found out about this, she started going through the pictures we had taken and realized that we didn't have a lot of pictures of her. So she started going through the past couple of years of shots to try to find as many pictures as she could of this athlete.

This athlete was able to leave the hospital for a while and managed to make it to the big group shot we took every year. And we took an impromptu group shot of her with her team mates.

My wife worked really hard to get as many pictures of her in the yearbook that we could.

At that year's banquet, the athlete came in her wheel chair.

As the yearbooks were handed out, I noticed that both my wife and I were watching that athlete look through the yearbook.

I am so glad that my wife took the time to try to get lots of pictures in there for her.

That night, I thought I was going to get through the night without tearing up.

But the athlete's mother came to us at one point to thank us for taking the time to make sure that her daughter was in the yearbook. She told us that it made her daughter really happy. And it meant a lot to her.

I have to admit that I had to wipe my eyes that evening. And as I am typing this now, I am tearing up just remember that year, that athlete, that mother.

Pictures can be powerful gifts. Something to hold on to. Something to share. Something to honour.

Take care,

MinAZ said:

Have you ever taken a photo that, after the taking, you look at it and it brings tears to your eyes? Can a photograph have that effect?

If so, please share!

If not, discuss. Do you think photography has the same emotive power as say music? I am sure that all of us have heard music that at some time or other made us more than a little misty-eyed. Does music have a power that will forever elude photography? What about a painting or sculpture? Or a novel? A movie?

I think that photography does have the power to move but it does it in arrears. By the time the photograph brings you to tears, you are already past the moment. Photography brings emotions by bringing back memories, and so in a way, it is always playing catch up.

A follow up question: have you ever taken a photo, that years later, looking at it, it brings you to tears?

Note: this is not a discussion of the merits of a photo artistically, since what brings us to tears is usually not the approval of art critics.

Click to expand...

Never a photograph but one painting did, and only one ever.

The day I was there, the museum was relatively empty and I was able to sit there uninterrupted for about 20 minutes as I felt a connection to the artist. It was like he was communicating with me through the 133 years that separated us, communicating the beauty he was seeing. I haven't seen any other of Albert Bierstadt's works; but this one was a very moving, emotional experience that brought tears to my eyes as I said within myself over and over to Albert Bierstadt, "Thank you".

If you have a chance to see it, do so on the least busy day at the museum so you can absorb the beauty without distractions.

Seeing a print of it is like viewing a very bad counterfeit.

I was allowed to bring in a 6 x 7 camera, the largest format I had at the time, and tripod to make the best photo of it I could; but, the photo was so disappointing, even when printed by a pro-printing lab, I don't even know where the negative is now. I don't know if anyone would ever be able to capture half the beauty in a photograph.

I can only imagine what that painting would look like in real life. Even at that tiny resolution, there is an immense spiritual quality about it.

Alex Ethridge said:

MinAZ said:

Have you ever taken a photo that, after the taking, you look at it and it brings tears to your eyes? Can a photograph have that effect?

If so, please share!

If not, discuss. Do you think photography has the same emotive power as say music? I am sure that all of us have heard music that at some time or other made us more than a little misty-eyed. Does music have a power that will forever elude photography? What about a painting or sculpture? Or a novel? A movie?

I think that photography does have the power to move but it does it in arrears. By the time the photograph brings you to tears, you are already past the moment. Photography brings emotions by bringing back memories, and so in a way, it is always playing catch up.

A follow up question: have you ever taken a photo, that years later, looking at it, it brings you to tears?

Note: this is not a discussion of the merits of a photo artistically, since what brings us to tears is usually not the approval of art critics.

Click to expand...

Never a photograph but one painting did, and only one ever.

The day I was there, the museum was relatively empty and I was able to sit there uninterrupted for about 20 minutes as I felt a connection to the artist. It was like he was communicating with me through the 133 years that separated us, communicating the beauty he was seeing. I haven't seen any other of Albert Bierstadt's works; but this one was a very moving, emotional experience that brought tears to my eyes as I said within myself over and over to Albert Bierstadt, "Thank you".

If you have a chance to see it, do so on the least busy day at the museum so you can absorb the beauty without distractions.

Seeing a print of it is like viewing a very bad counterfeit.

I was allowed to bring in a 6 x 7 camera, the largest format I had at the time, and tripod to make the best photo of it I could; but, the photo was so disappointing, even when printed by a pro-printing lab, I don't even know where the negative is now. I don't know if anyone would ever be able to capture half the beauty in a photograph.

https://artsbma.org/january-2014-looking-down-yosemite-valley-california/

Click to expand...

Onion, perhaps. Well, visiting a concentration camp can have an effect on the person....without using the camera.

tony field said:

In 1966 my girlfriend won a scholarship to juilliard in New York and I went to University. Within 18 months she passed away with a rare blood disease. This was and still is a tearful and devastating memory.



--
Charles Darwin: "ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge."
tony
http://www.tphoto.ca

Click to expand...

Wow Tony. I'm sorry to hear about that. She was a beautiful girl too

--
Photos are my paintings. The camera is my brush.
Website
www.LightInEveryCorner.com
DPreview gallery; http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/5075216809
No time or attention given for negativity or trolls.

When we had all accepted that my mother was going to lose her battle with a rare and determined tumour, she wanted to renew her vows. I have some deeply saddening photos of her and my father at that ceremony. She was so beautiful....

Woodland confusion (please view 'original size').



Peter Del

--
Gallery: http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/8804053911

Fishchris wrote: [QUOTE="Chris Wolfgram said:

tony field, post: 62412038, member: 1594180"]
In 1966 my girlfriend won a scholarship to juilliard in New York and I went to University. Within 18 months she passed away with a rare blood disease. This was and still is a tearful and devastating memory.

Click to expand...

Wow Tony. I'm sorry to hear about that. She was a beautiful girl too
[/QUOTE]
My first photo of her.....







She was quite magical: honour student, opera singer (for which she received her scholarship), superb dancer (in those days you could go dining and dancing with fine food, a big band, and large dance floor...we even won a few impromptu dance competitions that resulted in a free dinner and wine), and a passible classical/jazz pianist.

--
Charles Darwin: "ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge."
tony
http://www.tphoto.ca