What is the PRIMARY reason you photograph?

[Rob de Loe]

I like to see what the world looks like when photographed.

Garry Winogrand is smiling.

 

[SrMi]

A more relevant question for this forum would be: why do you photograph with medium format? I assume that image quality would be the main reason.

 

[Rob de Loe]

Mental health…

I can't remember his name anymore, but someone once described going out with his camera for no particular purpose as "shutter therapy".

 

[Rob de Loe]

A more relevant question for this forum would be: why do you photograph with medium format? I assume that image quality would be the main reason.

I won't deny that I enjoy 100 MP files, but that's not even the main reason I use a GFX 100S. Rather, the main reason I started using 33mm x 44mm sensors in the first place is that the field of view when using a 35mm lens on a digital view camera is wider. This mattered to me because that's the shortest focal length I can shift with good results on a digital view camera with any sensor I can afford (which means APS-C, full frame or 33mm x 44mm); there are lots of options with larger sensors, but then there's the "afford" problem.

There's a funny saying I've always enjoyed: "Don't marry for money. Go where the money is and marry for love." One reason I've stayed with medium format is I enjoy the people who hang out in medium format photography forums (this one and over at GetDPI) a lot more than the people who hang out at most other forums. This is important because I don't have good opportunities to hang out with like-minded photographers in person. In online forums for people who use medium format, there's vastly less of the chatter that I find utterly boring and inane.

 

[paulraphael]

It started when I wanted cool pictures of my climbing and mountaineering trips, but that didn't work out. Getting up and down in one piece was enough of a challenge.

It then became part of my urge to make things, especially things that make some sense of the world, or play with the idea of making sense of the world. I'd been a writer before I picked up a camera. I found photography easier. And people liked my pictures more than my writing.

I'm a little uncomfortable with "self expression." That's an idea about art that was invented in the Romantic era, and like other romantic ideas has a hard time dying. I'm interested in looking at the world from a perspective that starts with the personal, but manages some kind of significance or resonance that extends beyond this. My hope is that you don't have to care about my opinions or personality or biography to find something enriching in my work. Even if this is probably why my mom likes it.

 

[Satyaa]

Mental health…

That worked for me sometimes

 

[John Gellings]

Mental health…

That worked for me sometimes

It's true. I mean, I like to make photo books, I have no problem saying I make art, etc. I have aspirations, etc. Art is not a dirty word for me that it seems to be with many here. However, ultimately, I do it because I need to. If I do not go out and photograph, it affects me negatively. Having a huge audience that loves your photography is like winning the lottery. Enjoying the journey of doing photography is rewarding in itself and should be the goal if it isn't your job. Anything else is a bonus.

--
https://www.johngellings.com
Instagram = @johngellings0

 

[John Gellings]

A more relevant question for this forum would be: why do you photograph with medium format? I assume that image quality would be the main reason.

Yes, but that is such a dpreview style question. I find this question a lot better.

 

[yogi4fitness]

A more relevant question for this forum would be: why do you photograph with medium format? I assume that image quality would be the main reason.

+1

Which is why I wonder why these discussions don't happen in the MFT or FF forums. If IQ wasn't important why not express your art and vision with a more capable system with lesser IQ?

 

[DavidMillier]

A more relevant question for this forum would be: why do you photograph with medium format? I assume that image quality would be the main reason.

+1

Which is why I wonder why these discussions don't happen in the MFT or FF forums. If IQ wasn't important why not express your art and vision with a more capable system with lesser IQ?

As far as I can tell from my brief forays into MFT, territory, the main concern is angst about why FF users are so mean about MFT. But for me personally with the photography I shoot, none of these systems carries any technical superiority over any other these days. The results are the same. It really doesn't matter.

 

[Oren Grad]

Mental health…

Aye, scratching an itch.

 

[yogi4fitness]

I find the current result of the poll really interesting. To put it bluntly: The majority make meaningful art

Everyone with a lens attached to a sensor is an artist in their minds. So, the results of such polls are already known (hence meaningless).

- but here in the forum, it's pretty much only technology and pixels that are discussed. And when someone posts (meaningful) pictures here (e.g. Spandau Citadel), they get ZERO replies and sometimes 2 reactions...

Because others don't perceive us as artists. They only consider themselves as artists.

So much for the notorious difference between self-perception and the perception by others.

You nailed it There is a name for this phenomenon but it evades me right now.

A bit poor, I think. (Of course, this also says something about the usefulness of such polls.)

To create more responses and occupy more digital bits in forums. There is an inherent satisfaction in getting a large response to one's threads. You bet these artsy philosophical discussions will keep happening on a gear forum every few months for this very reason.

--
Johannes

 

[paulraphael]

I find the current result of the poll really interesting. To put it bluntly: The majority make meaningful art

Everyone with a lens attached to a sensor is an artist in their minds. So, the results of such polls are already known (hence meaningless).

It's interesting to me that it's only 50ish percent. In my offline world close to 100% of the people I know (who care about photography enough to talk about it) practice as artists. I have just two friends who come from a commercial photo background and have stayed there.

- but here in the forum, it's pretty much only technology and pixels that are discussed. And when someone posts (meaningful) pictures here (e.g. Spandau Citadel), they get ZERO replies and sometimes 2 reactions...

Because others don't perceive us as artists. They only consider themselves as artists.

Maybe. I see a bias toward easy imagery when it comes what gets discussed as art in most camera forums. Images that are obviously pretty or dramatic or that wear their point of view on their shirt sleeves.

This has less to do with the kinds of work that people do than with the kinds they've paid attention to over the years.

 

[John Gellings]

A more relevant question for this forum would be: why do you photograph with medium format? I assume that image quality would be the main reason.

+1

Which is why I wonder why these discussions don't happen in the MFT or FF forums.

Sometimes they do...

If IQ wasn't important why not express your art and vision with a more capable system with lesser IQ?

Different tools for different types of photography, like it always has been. It is pretty simple. I mean, it isn't like IQ isn't good in M43 and in FF, etc. Maybe you cannot print as big, but IQ isn't a problem with modern digital.

 

[JimKasson]

I find the current result of the poll really interesting. To put it bluntly: The majority make meaningful art - but here in the forum, it's pretty much only technology and pixels that are discussed. And when someone posts (meaningful) pictures here (e.g. Spandau Citadel), they get ZERO replies and sometimes 2 reactions...

That is not my experience with my postings.

So much for the notorious difference between self-perception and the perception by others. A bit poor, I think. (Of course, this also says something about the usefulness of such polls.)

 

[JimKasson]

I like to see what the world looks like when photographed.

Garry Winogrand is smiling.

There were, what, 25,000 rolls that Garry never got to see.

 

[Oren Grad]

I like to see what the world looks like when photographed.

Garry Winogrand is smiling.

There were, what, 25,000 rolls that Garry never got to see.

There's compulsion and there's... compulsion.

For those who haven't seen it, here's the famous Barbaralee Diamonstein interview from 1981 - lots of good stuff in it:

https://americansuburbx.com/2008/10/theory-interview-with-garry-winogrand.html

 

[Doppler9000]

A more relevant question for this forum would be: why do you photograph with medium format? I assume that image quality would be the main reason.

+1

Which is why I wonder why these discussions don't happen in the MFT or FF forums. If IQ wasn't important why not express your art and vision with a more capable system with lesser IQ?

If MFT has good enough IQ for someone’s usage, they can save a lot of weight and money.

 

[yogi4fitness]

I find the current result of the poll really interesting. To put it bluntly: The majority make meaningful art - but here in the forum, it's pretty much only technology and pixels that are discussed. And when someone posts (meaningful) pictures here (e.g. Spandau Citadel), they get ZERO replies and sometimes 2 reactions...

That is not my experience with my postings.

Jim, thats because you are our hero and universally regarded for your knowledge and photography.

So much for the notorious difference between self-perception and the perception by others. A bit poor, I think. (Of course, this also says something about the usefulness of such polls.)

 

[yogi4fitness]

A more relevant question for this forum would be: why do you photograph with medium format? I assume that image quality would be the main reason.

+1

Which is why I wonder why these discussions don't happen in the MFT or FF forums. If IQ wasn't important why not express your art and vision with a more capable system with lesser IQ?

If MFT has good enough IQ for someone’s usage, they can save a lot of weight and money.

+1

And yet we see these romanticized artsy threads in MF gear forum. Oh the irony!

Can someone tell me what art needs a MF system that cant be created with a MFT or FF system? If its only about capturing light and artistic expression why does anyone need a 10K+ high resolving MF system? I am sure simply being able to print big is not part of that art (for most).