I have never taken photos to please other photographers. Family, friends, the random subjects I find and photograph in my wanderings, yes. With my fellow lens people I'm happy to talk shop, admire their camera, look at their work. But show them my work - almost never.
Also I resist posting images online. I had a low-key, private (password protected) web site until 2016 to show my architectural images to clients. Only this year did I finally change my thinking and posted a few images on RFF. That experience was pleasant, but I've yet to put more images online. For me there isn't any thrill in it. That's just me.
I don't have an ego that makes me want to fish for positive affirmation, or what my partner calls "small pats on the head".
The reasons why I photograph the subjects that interest me are manyfold.
I'm old now, but I like to travel. On the road my greatest pleasure is walking in out-of-the-way areas with a camera, looking for the small places, events and subjects that catch my interest. Otherwise, I photograph old buildings, and like so many others too many pretty landscapes. So I have 100,000+ images on hard disks, most I won't ever look at again. Posting these to the rest of the world is low on my list of priorities. Enjoying what is left of my life and the small pleasures of my days - traveling, good local food, wine, time at home with my partner and our cats - are my more important priorities.
I got into photography in the early '60s, and I learned my basics from 'US Camera' magazine, the Kodak 'How To Make Good Pictures' guides and other books by notable TLR photographers of that era.
My way of looking at the world is entirely my own. I personally dislike the terms "style" and "technique" which I see as artificial imposts to promote what I consider a craft to a fine art. Most of us take photos for entirely personal reasons, not to produce 'art'. Respectfully, I have no problem with any who do not share my views. I accept that my ideas as well as my photos are mostly documentary and often seen as old-fashioned. Some who consider photography as "art" may dislike my work. Their criticisms can be valid, but like my own comments, in the summing up they are only opinions.
As a (retired) architect, I visualize in grids. Most of my photos are structured as squares in a 6x6 or 24x36 frame. This can be limiting as often I obsess over keeping my verticals vertical, about ideal foregrounds, and on the fine points of lighting for what (mostly building(s) I'm irecording in pixels.
This often annoys me. Occasionally I sell stock images to book publishers, and those buyers have no problems with my concerns.
Possibly as a compensation for all this mental angst, I often visit the RFF gallery to see visual work by photographers here. I did follow Flickr for some years, but I now find that site too bloated with uninteresting snaps. Here at RFF I look for positive points in the many photos I enjoy seeing, and in my comments I try to compliment the photographers for their work and the effort they make to post it. As for my criticisms, I reckon many of my 'minus points' would be petty and as such, unimportant.
To sum all this up, it pleases me that many here generously share their images with us. But it seems I'm really not one of those.
For all that RFF has been a great and wonderful inspiration to my photography, and I am truly grateful to all those who have helped me in expanding my visual knowledge.
