Do you only photograph what is challenging?

jsrockit

jsrockit

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Do you only photograph what is challenging? This could be that you had to work hard to get to the subject even before photographing, or the decisive moment was hard to nail, or the composition has so many elements that it is complex, etc.

The reason I ask the question is because I've heard more than a few photographers / people (many who don't have a lot of experience in photography and some that do) view a photo of a still life or similar non-action photo and say "I could have done that!"

Why does it matter if you could have done it?

Why does that deminish the photos value?

Just curious what others think... :)
 
Mark Kac said:
There are two kinds of geniuses: the 'ordinary' and the 'magicians'. An ordinary genius is a fellow whom you and I would be just as good as, if we were only many times better. There is no mystery as to how his mind works. Once we understand what they've done, we feel certain that we, too, could have done it. It is different with the magicians. Even after we understand what they have done it is completely dark. Richard Feynman is a magician of the highest calibre.
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10 characters:
This message is too awesome, please water it down a bit with a few more characters.
 
for me, the hard part is recognizing what will make a good image.
some shots are difficult to make and others are stupid easy...i try not to compare my stuff to others or me to anyone else.
 
back alley said:
some shots are difficult to make and others are stupid easy...
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Right, and I'm a big fan of making both if you can. Without making easy images, you won't know how to make the difficult ones.

I find that people limit themselves subject wise before they are ready based on preconceived notions of what is worthy to photograph. I say photograph anything... you don't have to end up using it later if you don't choose to. However, you might actually get a suprise.
 
I guess my point is that sometimes photos appear to be easy to make, but are not easy to make.
 
The challenge for me (maybe for everyone) is to move fast enough to capture a great image before it vanishes. I hope I can improve on that with time.

For that reason I am less impressed with posed shots. Excepting of course fashion photography, which is a whole other realm.

Randy
 
zauhar said:
The challenge for me (maybe for everyone) is to move fast enough to capture a great image before it vanishes. I hope I can improve on that with time.

For that reason I am less impressed with posed shots. Excepting of course fashion photography, which is a whole other realm.

Randy
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But does that mean that you are more impressed by a photographer's technique than by the photographer's actual image?

I remember at my BFA thesis show in college there was a huge self-portrait painting done by one of the students amongst all different types of media / student artists. To us involved in the group show, it was the worst work in the show. However, to my Dad, it was the best because he equated work / time / effort spent as the value of the piece instead of the actual content.
 
I shoot whatever I feel like, most often it's not at all challenging, anyone could have done it, and many people have. For me, the photos I like the most, do tend to have had a lot of work gone into them, whether it's hiking to some Arctic landscape, or waiting in the desert for the light to be just right. Of course, sometimes you'll get content which you can just point a camera at, push the button and get a good picture. For me though, I do value the work that goes into something, not just photos, but engineering, architecture, etc.

Art of course is an opinion, and some person's load of rubbish is another person's masterpiece. At least with technique, effort, endurance, and will power, there is an undeniable quality which is not a matter of opinion. I think that appeals to many people, it certainly does do me.
 
I only photograph things that interest me. I don't care if it is challenging or not. No one cares about how hard you worked to get the image. The quality of the photo is all that anyone cares about.
 
+1 what Chris said.

Just getting out of bed in the morning is a challenge. From there on, it's a piece of cake no matter what. Reality is not as scary or challenging as imagined pending doom in the middle of the night.;)
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
I only photograph things that interest me. I don't care if it is challenging or not. No one cares about how hard you worked to get the image. The quality of the photo is all that anyone cares about.
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Well, except, at times, other photographers it seems. :) I agree though.
 
jsrockit said:
Well, except, at times, other photographers it seems. :) I agree though.
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Yeah, well, that is their problem IMO. I only do what interests me. Sometimes it is difficult and sometimes it is less difficult. Sometimes it is downright easy.

Some of my most cherished images are of my grandchildren and were not difficult at all. Why should I care what other photographers like or if they thought it was challenging?:angel:

In my case, photographs are either for personal use (for myself and my wife), or for clients. If someone likes them fine. If not, fine, too.
 
Taking photographs sounds all technical to me. I want to be a picture maker and have what I do appreciated as such. Pictures are in the eye of the beholder to be captured one way or another. The camera is a only a tool to do that. What is important to me is the end result, not the how involved.

jesse
 
To me, seeing in general is a challenge in photography.

What is simple to one person, might not even register as a possibility to someone else. It is always easy to say you could have did something after someone else did it. However, can you actually do it or is it just seemingly easy.
 
jsrockit said:
To me, seeing in general is a challenge in photography.

What is simple to one person, might not even register as a possibility to someone else. It is always easy to say you could have did something after someone else did it. However, can you actually do it or is it just seemingly easy.
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Agreed. People always need to feed their own egos, I suppose. About the only photos I would say that I could have done THAT, would be a driver's license photo.:p
 
If you mean challenging as broadening my vision and experience, Yes.
But if you mean challenging technically, then my answer would be: No. I don't seek out technically difficult photos just for the sake of the challenge.
 
The challenging ones are the ones that make you learn, but many times the really good ones come easily (not always though). Another way of saying this would be that it's easier to do good when you are in your comfort zone, but with those challenging ones tend to make your comfort zone larger in the long run.

There's also shades to this... Not just black and white.

However if you stay too much in your comfort zone you get bored and it will show in your output too.

Well that's my way of seeing it anyway... I usually just photograph stuff I find interesting in some way. Sometimes it's more challenging than other times. I also challenge myself by trying different cameras that make me photograph differently, but mostly the challenges present themselves without much searching. That could be because I have not learned that much yet.
 
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