Do your photographs ever reflect your mood?

[Keith]

Well do they ... ask yourself seriously!

When you're 'up' do they reflect that feeling of lightness and clarity and when you're not so 'up' do you perceive a difference in the way you see and photograph the things around you ... a little darker maybe with more tendency to explore the shadows?

Complicated question I know ... but I'm curious as to who may bare their souls here!

 

[bmasonoh]

Interesting idea. For me it works the other way around though. The act of photographing tends to improve my mood. When I'm out shooting is when I'm happiest. When I'm home thinking about shooting is when I'm most 'down'.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Very interesting, Keith...

I thought of it and I guess for some years I tried to use scenes to express my mood, yes, believing in creation... But some time ago I wander with no mood, and try to keep scenes' mood because that makes me happy now. My mood doesn't influence my shooting: in fact that's one of the biggest pleasures to me, not trying anymore to make an image look in a way I could have believed appropriate before... I just feel especially happy with how some images find their own tale when I print them...

Cheers,

Juan

 

[denmark.yuzon]

Interesting idea. For me it works the other way around though. The act of photographing tends to improve my mood. When I'm out shooting is when I'm happiest. When I'm home thinking about shooting is when I'm most 'down'.

Exactly.

I seem to forget my problems when I'm out shooting...

 

[back alley]

Do your photographs ever reflect your mood?

i don't think so.

 

[ferider]

For me, of course they do. Otherwise, what would be the point ?

 

[oftheherd]

In general, I don't think my mood affects my photographs, rather my photographing affects my mood. Usually it's an improvement. Only if I don't feel I am capable of getting the photo or print I want, might my mood deteriorate some.

Since you asked, how about you Keith?

 

[back alley]

of course, the question pre-supposes that one has a variety of moods.

my mood is mostly on the dark side, i shoot when i feel like it, rarely force myself to shoot if i don't feel like it.

 

[finguanzo]

If Im not in a good mood, I tend to not see anything to photograph, even though I feel like shooting..

 

[Sparrow]

Not really while I’m taking them, and probably not when they’re “new” but as with all art looking at both my own stuff and other peoples finished work there is an emotional reaction to some images, a strong reaction in some cases

 

[gavinlg]

I try to aim towards a certain look or feel in my photographs, so I'd say they're not highly influenced by my mood. Sometimes during real down periods I'll get really good ideas for personal work though, and I've contemplated traveling overseas alone to fulfill some darker personal work whilst being alone/alienated in another culture for a while... I think that would really bring out some interesting collectives of pictures from me. Most of my best creative work comes from down periods actually.

 

[Jamie123]

Well do they ... ask yourself seriously!

When you're 'up' do they reflect that feeling of lightness and clarity and when you're not so 'up' do you perceive a difference in the way you see and photograph the things around you ... a little darker maybe with more tendency to explore the shadows?

Complicated question I know ... but I'm curious as to who may bare their souls here!

To me the question is not so much complicated as it is ambiguous. There are a number of ways in which my mood obviously has an influence on my photographs. One is that sometimes I have set up a date for a photoshoot (not just serious photoshoots but also informal portrait sessions with friends) and when the day comes I'm just not in the best picturetaking mood. In times like these the quality of the pictures can suffer a little as I have to force myself to be creative rather than just being inspired by the moment.

The second way in which my mood influences my photographs is that in a portrait session it obviously has an impact on the general 'vibe' between me and the person I'm photographing.

The third way in which it influences my photographs is that ideas for photo projects often will come out of a certain mood I'm in at the time. It doesn't mean, however, that I'm going to be in this mood when I actually take the pictures later on.

 

[barnwulf]

If I am not in such a great mood I agree with finguanzo, I find it harder to find something to photograph. It’s harder to be open visually to new things. I often resort to going and shooting a few new variations with subjects or situations that I have photographed before. I don't know if they are any better or worse than photos that I shot during a more up mood. Thinking about it now, maybe that’s exactly the time when I should go and walk around some place new. I’ll give that a try next time.

 

[Chris101]

Yes. Yes they do. When I was a painter it was perhaps more apparent because of the immediacy - you put the paint on the canvas, and you are done. With a photo, you shoot in one mood, make development decisions in another, then print in a third state of mind. Then if you add color by toning, it takes on a whole new realm of emotion.

So I can identify a mixture of four "moods" that go into a final print. And if it becomes a series, the moods mix and interfere, ultimately becoming a personality. When that personality is consistent, I think they call that a 'photographic voice'.

 

[SimonSawSunlight]

yes, my street (and also general) photography gets worse with real bad (as in angry, not sad/melancholic) mood, I believe.

 

[ferider]

Yes. Yes they do. When I was a painter it was perhaps more apparent because of the immediacy - you put the paint on the canvas, and you are done. With a photo, you shoot in one mood, make development decisions in another, then print in a third state of mind. Then if you add color by toning, it takes on a whole new realm of emotion.

Ahh, but that's part of the fun, at least for me. Trying to remember my mood and what I wanted to do a few days before I do the editing ....

Cheers,

Roland.

 

[Disaster_Area]

I don't know whether my mood affects the photos I take, but it definitely affects whether I take photos or not. This Sunday for instance I was walking around downtown and within the span of 10 minutes I had two people confront me as to why I was taking pictures. For context I hadn't taken a picture in over a half hour at this point and my hands were in my pockets at the time of both confrontations. The first woman started by asking if I took her pictures (I hadn't) and went on to say that I should know better and some people might have their feelings hurt by having their picture taken.

The second instance was a man who got very threatening and kept asking if I had taken pictures of his kids (who were nowhere to be seen) and threatened to call the cops. I said go ahead... and pointed to a cop a block away, offering to call them over. I actually felt a bit threatened at this point.

Needless to say my mood was ruined for street photography... and was wondering if I had the word "pedophile" written on my forehead that day, because I rarely ever get any flack for just carrying a camera around my neck. So I went home and wrote a blog post about it:

J B Hildebrand Photography: Photography is not a Crime

But my mood for walking and shooting was completely ruined... so yeah, my mood affects my photography.

 

[elmer3.5]

The other way round!

The other way round!

Deep question!

I was thinking about it, i must conclude i experience the other way round, if i´m in a particular mood and have the chance/time to shoot, then my photogs aim takes control and try to get the best out of it.

Since i return to photgraphy i´m in such good mood!

Lucky we are!

Thanks Keith to help me realize this!

Cheers!

 

[Michael Markey]

Disaster Area...I`m not bloody surprised that your day was ruined.
That`s bad. Lets hope that you `ve had your quota of idiots for this year.

 

[Disaster_Area]

Disaster Area...I`m not bloody surprised that your day was ruined.
That`s bad. Lets hope that you `ve had your quota of idiots for this year.

Thanks 🙂

It was particularly disturbing because here in Ottawa I hardly ever have problems like this. It's a tourist city so most people are used to having people with cameras everywhere. I hear about this kind of abuse of photographers in other countries, but I've never encountered it here... so it was a bit depressing.