ever get the feeling...

[Joakim Målare]

If we (each of us individually) are the center of our universe, why do we keep producing stuff that looks like everyone else's stuff?

One way of looking at it is that everyone has the same bits to work with. Within space, time and the reduction of these into the flat, static picture, there are only so many variations possible. Add the fact that the more pictures you see, the less likely you are to find something highly unique. It doesn't make it easier.

We are exposed daily to thousands of images that reinforce this group think. But we are afraid of using our freedom to break out of the box, so we never explore deeply enough what we think.

A different way of thinking is that the above is only an assumption. You cannot know that there isn't a deep and meaningful thought behind super-boring photograph no. 5573228109 - the photographer may have worked hard to break out of his/her box.

Besides, you can not be certain that you see the same picture that the author made. Every single image recorded may even be a product of your own mind. You could be the only photographer, ever. So, really, everything you see may be your creation.

(Did someone mention insanity?)

Nah, I'd say, find the core of your existential relations and revolve around that for guidance in your own personal evolution/transformation. Revise the output for any meaningful context and if you can inspire others to do the same, consider it a bonus.

 

[pachuco]

Yes. But I get paid to do so. Still, it is quite soul crushing once that realization kicked it.

 

[icebear]

A lot of stuff I shoot is street in NYC and it is never the same 😀.

 

[back alley]

not really talking about shooting in the same place...i have a preferred area of town that i like to shoot in, it has a character that i like and that is not easy to capture so there is a consistent challenge for me.

 

[robert blu]

Sometimes it is the way to shoot: I have friends who like to shoot in the street wnd pictures are not bad at all. But they are all similar: a view from a 35 or 20 mm with a person in the foreground on one side occupying 1/3 of the frame and leaving the other 2/3 for the background. The places can change, the person changes, sometimes a man sometimes a woman, time in the day is different or weather. Of course the light can be different. But when you have seen 10 or 20 of these pictures you notice they have all basically the same scheme, repeated many times. It's a "winning formula" but in the time becomes boring. But agin changing it means to take a risk...
robert
PS: just thinking loud about some of my doubts...

 

[David Hughes]

Likewise... but that lends itself to a rutty feeling after a while -in my case.

Hi,

Um, I only do it with the first roll...

Regards, David

 

[willie_901]

I feel that way often, but they pay me to do it, so...

 

[burancap]

Hi,

Um, I only do it with the first roll...

Regards, David

Me too...

I must buy too many cameras! 😀

 

[f6andBthere]

I'm sure somewhere there's a McDonalds employee sighing and thinking:

"One day I'd like to whip up a medium rare filet mignon for these wankers ... maybe some finely sliced truffles in a sauce to die for?"

🙂

 

[TheBretster]

Never. Even if I photograph a place or person or thing I have photographed many times for many years, I am photographing in a different time and condition.

This is a powerful statement. In time everything changes for better or worse.

 

[randolph45]

I like going back to places i've photographed.Evertime I look for what I missed and there is always something.

 

[Pablito]

yes, when you do right it's called "having a voice", when you do it wrong it's called stagnation or redundancy. 😉

 

[FrankS]

If one thinks their pictures all look the same: if its a good thing, one calls it a style, if its a bad thing, one calls it a rut. A couple of easy ways to break out of a rut is to change up something on the outside like the camera gear, and to travel. Making a change from the inside out is more difficult, because something on the inside needs to change.

Interesting question.