An "alone" craft; how do you?

[mike goldberg]

Hi all; occasionally, I post stuff here just to gab... or to draw attention to myself 🙄 Aside from GAS, consider the photographic process:

Contemplate, pre-visualize, compose, expose, bracket... move on, do it again, and again. Then, there's develop, scan and the whole interface thing with the computer. And, there's a fair amount of running around, getting supplies, getting there... be it in the frozen North or oppressive heat of the Middle East.

Truly, I'm grateful for a good partner, with her very different interests. While reading a book or the newspaper, she listens to my chatter about R/F focusing, ISO, or whatever. Periodically, I get together with my RFF buddy Ruben across town. And, there have been several recent posts about our wonderful virtual community.

Yet, I am wondering, how others handle the aloneness of their photography?
Tho' I write well, I'm not so great at small talk, and I AM sometimes lonely.
So let's hear 😉
Thanks, Mike

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

I prefer to do my photography alone.

Somebody else, anybody else, with me always says 'Why not photograph that pretty garden?' when I am setting up a photo of a rusty trash bin. Or 'Why do you want photos in the cemetery / in a supermarket / of a blank wall?'

But later, when the photos are edited, printed, and displayed I like to see and hear people's reactions.

 

[Doug]

Hey there, Mike... How to deal with aloneness? Hmm. Go to Classifieds or eBay, buy gear, wait for gear, try out gear, repeat. GAS solution. 🙂

We're fortunate to have RFF for chat and show, and local friends to share with also.

 

[Keith]

For various reasons I got used to being on my own a lot as a child and a lot of the activities I engaged in were consequently just me ... alone! I grew up reasonably sane with a few glitches along the way but still am very much a solo act. It has made me independant to the point of irritating others at times as I am very reluctant to accept help from anyone at all ... and I have discovered that some people take offence at my preference to doing things on my own. When I was young I left my home country and moved to Australia to start my own life and my contact with my family over the last thirty five years or so has been minimal.

I go through periods of attempting to be a more sociable person but it never lasts and eventually friends will give up and leave me to my own devices until I emerge once more to seek their company!

Photography is an ideal hobby for loners and this forum fills gaps in lives that perhaps it shouldn't at times but that's the way it is and I have to ask myself occasionally if it really matters that I can't see these people ... does it make them any less important as friends? The bottom line and an important fact, is loneliness and being alone are two very different things!

 

[RML]

I share it with my daughter, sometimes. And I share the results with my partner, sometimes. 🙂

 

[Pherdinand]

i have the same issue sometimes.
People ask me"OK but you have no OTHER hobby, really?"
because being a photography addict looks cool but they can't do anything with it. It is not a social activity unless all your friends are photographers.
ANd even then. I do have a good friend who's a photo freak but we can't really shoot together. I only like it doing it alone.

 

[markinlondon]

I had long years of practise as the only child of two only children. No cousins to visit at weekends, so I've always been used to doing things on my own. Now, I'm quite happy locked in the darkroom or at the computer scanning. While I do that, Sylvia's working away at her various craft project. It's the same if we go somewhere together, we'll split up to do what interests us and meet later. We eat together though 🙂

 

[madsolitaire]

Perhaps we could also ask ourselves - what draws us (and continues to draw us) to photography?

 

[mike goldberg]

I for one, can't do photo shoots with other photographers. And, I spent a lot of time alone as a kid. Later on, it was a natural choice for me to study social work. Now, in retirement, I volunteer a bit, and the thrust of my activity is in photography... mostly alone.

It's all OK. And Doug, some new/old gear IS in the mail 😀 Finally, I'm really glad to have you guys to rap with.
Ciao, Mike

 

[alexz]

My photography addiction begun after my demobilizaiton from IDF and several yeasr I was on my own, though being ehavily involved in virtual activities on several major photo forums on inet. I used to that, though sometimes felt the lack of personal communication in regard of my hobby. Then I met two local guys, both are photo freaks just like me, and with one of them a real friendship has imerged- all that based on our mutual photo bugs. That was a kind of pressure relief allowing an open-minded photo-related communication, on efw occasions we managed to get together for a shootout, but inspite of that, I revealed I tend to prefer shooting alone, with my passion, without being dependent on someone else in surroundings.
Unfortunately, just like (I suspect) with most of other fellow photogs, the better half doesn't share the affiction, to say at least, who she appreciate the results when she likes them (not happening too often - we have somewhat different tastes).
Well, 2 years back the friend of mine left the country to Canada, since then our life routine spinned off leaving very little time for us to communicate. Since then, both of my friends (SLR diehards) both gradually converted to digital, while I went to just opposite direction...

So just like life circle, I found myself once again alone with my affiction (now RF/Leica-tied), thanks to God there are at elast some wonderful virtual communities such as RFF, APUG and few others that are an air-way to the accumulated stem...the place to feel free to rant discussing the things that are close to our hearts...
I'm particularily glad to be on RFF where there are good chances to meet local RFF fellows and probably open up in personal communication...

 

[Ara Ghajanian]

Sometimes it is good to go out shooting with another photographer. I may not get all those award winning photos, but the comraderie and discussions are worth it for me. I have a few friends I do this with and it's always a good time.

 

[oftheherd]

I grew up as a loner. My wife isn't at all interested in participating in my photography, other than if the results are pleasing to her. But she has no tie to wait fo me when I see something interesting.

My oldest daughter still likes it sometimes, and likes to sometimes go out with me on photograpic forays. That can be fun sometimes. Normally I find photography to be a loner thing, but do enjoy sharing with others when that is possible. It has to be with someone who understands the process and doesn't insist that is has tobe their way or the highway.

 

[Bike Tourist]

I've seldom produced anything I considered worthwhile while photographing with a group. My other major interest is cycling. I don't even like to go out and hammer with a group anymore, prefering instead to ride solo at my own pace.

Of course, after the image is made it's nice to have someone around to look at it!

 

[FrankS]

This thread is very similar to the "Do photographers have greater loner tendencies?" So how do we deal with the solitary nature of photography? Most of us prefer it that way. Of course RFF fills a social need.

I was thinking the other day that photography is a lot like motorcycle riding. It is best done alone. I tried group riding and was very disappointed/frustrated by the experience. I couldn't go as fast as I wanted, I couldn't stop when I wanted, and I couldn't spontaneously alter the route when I saw an interesting road to explore, all because of being in the group. Riding alone is much more fun.

When I go photographing, I go into a "zone" that is not conducive to socializing and being considerate of others. I am alone, and I am in the moment. A group of others interferes with that.

 

[mike goldberg]

Hi Frank and all...
I like Frank's use of the words, entering a zone. Another element is a sense of joy, that I don't feel when doing digital. So, I don't want security personnel, social constraints or even other photographers "trespassing" in that zone or space.
Mike

 

[Finder]

If you want to be with people, drinking and eating is a much better pastime.

When you need your own space, photography is great.

 

[kbg32]

Aloneness is an inherent part of the creative process, of doing one's work. Finding people to share and discuss the fruit's of that labor is sometimes difficult. Even in a big city where I live, I find it diffcult to find people for some kind of dialogue. That's one reason I'm here at RFF and other sites as well, such as Pbase, Flickr, etc..

 

[Ducky]

Who needs a shrink? I could save $100 an hour just reading posts on RFF. And, yes, I am a loner. I can be alone in a crowd if I choose to be.

 

[chris000]

I'm not sure that I see the point in analysing it. I like people and being with people but photography I do alone because a non photographer tagging along with me would soon get very bored - waiting for the light, wandering around looking for the best angle, etc. As others have pointed out, even being with other photographers doesn't really work - everyone wants to do things slightly differently.

Photography is by its nature a solitary pastime, and a solitary experience. The aim is to share the results of the creative process, not the process itself.

 

[RML]

I'm not more or less of a loner than you guys and gals but I find that photography isn't everyone's cuppa tea. And if they do photography, it's mostly snapshots with digital P&Ss or snapshots with dSLRs. Once you start to have a real conversation about technique, composition, pros and cons of digital/ film/ SLR/ RF/ zooms/ primes/ etc, the baloney of good-picture-must-have-been-a-good-camera, styles, artists, and more of such topics, people really find out they know jack sh*t about photography and really have no meaning on those topics. In short, end of conversation. A bit of a thread killer. 🙂