How often do you shoot?

I shoot every day, average 1 roll of 35 or 220 a day, then I develop both b&w and c41 in my garage. I have a full time job, so I shoot mostly on my lunchbreaks or on the way home. Always street. My favourite game is "make an interesting photo without using any of the following: buskers and homeless people, pigeons and babies" :p
 
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hipsterdufus said:
Given this information about myself, I wonder about the type of people who shoot on a daily basis. What type of photography are you shooting? Why do you feel compelled to go out and make pictures each day? How can you afford it, if shooting film? What type of subjects inspire you to go out? Finally, how do you have the time
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I shoot everyday.

All different stuff. Still Lifes, landscapes, street, urban and abandoned locations and occasionally street people (but I aspire to do that more).

I started shooting everyday because of my PAD (Picture-A-Day) project. It has helped me improve my eye, my photography, my post-processing.

I shoot mostly digital on a daily basis, but when I shoot film I develop it myself. The film itself is pretty darn cheap.

Time - I've made the time. I do work fulltime and am a wife and mom. Sometimes I shoot on my lunchbreak from work (did that a lot in the winter), or I'll go out in the evening right before or after dinner. I run my 16yo daughter around a lot, so sometimes it's while I'm out with her or waiting for her. The days I'm stuck in meetings are the hardest, especially during the winter, but now that the days are longer it's not really all that much of a challenge. It really has just become part of my life.

If you want to shoot more, you should! If you think you're not good at certain types of photography, try them for a while and see if you can improve. You might surprise yourself and enjoy the process :)
 
I shoot a few roles a month. That's not nearly enough and I find it frustrating.

I'm not into street photography, which I see as an essentially urban activity. There's little or no street activity in my neck of the woods, anyway.

I don't carry a camera with me every place I go. Again, I think that's primarily an urban activity because walking is actually a mode of transport in a city. Here, walking is a mode of exercise. Getting to someplace means driving.

So, almost every time I shoot is a planned event. I get in the car and drive someplace specifically to take pictures. Last weekend I drove to a location where I've shot several times, took a look at it, said "Fah!" and turned around.

So, I envy people who shoot every day and/or carry a camera at all times. I envy their living in an environment that's conducive to that.

Now, I know I sound grumpy. And I know the photography gods say good photos can be found anywhere. So, maybe I need to start looking with fresh eyes. But, right now, what I'm seeing around here are wide streets, empty sidewalks, trees, overly large suburban homes and shopping centers. I'm tired of looking at them.
 
Roger Hicks said:
True, but there are always plenty who just went right on failing.

This must be very much a matter of personal temperament. Trying to force myself to take pictures is a real damper on creativity as far as I am concerned, and for me it is rarely a good idea to try to shoot on days when (a) I don't feel like shooting or (b) doing something else creative (usually, writing) or (c) trying to finish another job, even if it's as mundane as servicing the Land Rover.
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Those who "just went right on failing" haven't taken enough photos (or played enough music, or auditioned or whatever) yet, or are not mindful of their practice. It's not the failure itself that teaches you anything, it's figuring out why you failed and coming up with a new way of doing something, in an attempt to not fail the next time. (Which you probably will do, and, if you're mindful and considerate, you will have eliminated one more path to failure.)

I don't force myself to practice, so much as I feel compelled to make pictures, usually every day. The work will tell you how much you need to shoot.

Last June, I think I shot all of three photographs, cell phone snaps included.

I've found that the concept of "Practice" has become tainted with the stain of mindless discipline to an external authority, like those awful sessions at the family piano between (equally insufferable) piano lessons so many of us had as children.

The "Practice" I'm talking about is more akin to curiosity: you ask yourself, "what will happen when I do _______?" and then you go and find out what happens. "What happens when I try to make an interesting photograph of my desk?" "What happens when I try to make a photograph of my children that doesn't look like all the ones I've already taken?" "What happens when I am in Pairs and have a Leica?" (The last one is my favorite! Heheheheh.)

There's a great book that explains this approach in much greater detail, and though it is directed at musicians, its lessons apply to any creative endeavor: Effortless Mastery. Yes, the title sounds too good to be true, and it's not quite accurate, it will require some effort and focus, but only enough to get the cobwebs out of your thinking. It's not too steep of a learning curve, really.
 
wgerrard said:
But, right now, what I'm seeing around here are wide streets, empty sidewalks, trees, overly large suburban homes and shopping centers. I'm tired of looking at them.
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So, stop looking at them and start photographing them! If you can make an interesting photograph out of McMansions and shopping centers and nearly-empty sidewalks, you're really doing something!

Have you seen any of Robert Adams' work? He makes the prettiest pictures out of the ugliest subjects, while still reminding you that the subjects are, at heart, ugly. His stuff has been an inspiration for me, a kid of the suburbs, and it might be for you, too. Hell, it's worth a trip to the library, if nothing else. Oh, and take your camera with you- you never know what you'll find at the library.
 
I always have a camera on me unless i'm doing any of the following:
A)showering
B)sleeping
C)Exercising.

Other than that, I always have a camera on me and try to take at least a couple of exposures a day. I'm becoming notorious for being that "kid that always has a camera"
 
hipsterdufus said:
I wonder about the type of people who shoot on a daily basis. What type of photography are you shooting? Why do you feel compelled to go out and make pictures each day? How can you afford it, if shooting film? What type of subjects inspire you to go out? Finally, how do you have the time?
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i have a 2.5 year old son and a 6 month old daughter, a small business and a 120 year old house that requires *constant* repair and i still find time to shoot.
it's a hobby, but it's my only one, so i make a point of having a camera with me as often as possible. i usually walk to work with a camera because it's one of the few times in the week i don't have a kid with me. it's also when the light is best here, we face the east and have a mountain to the west, so mornings are ideal for me.
i usually shoot the same stuff over and over and i have found that i've learned more from doing that than anything else.

my .02

bob
 
maggieo said:
Those who "just went right on failing" haven't taken enough photos (or played enough music, or auditioned or whatever) yet, or are not mindful of their practice. It's not the failure itself that teaches you anything, it's figuring out why you failed and coming up with a new way of doing something, in an attempt to not fail the next time. (Which you probably will do, and, if you're mindful and considerate, you will have eliminated one more path to failure.)

I don't force myself to practice, so much as I feel compelled to make pictures, usually every day. The work will tell you how much you need to shoot.

Last June, I think I shot all of three photographs, cell phone snaps included.

I've found that the concept of "Practice" has become tainted with the stain of mindless discipline to an external authority, like those awful sessions at the family piano between (equally insufferable) piano lessons so many of us had as children.

The "Practice" I'm talking about is more akin to curiosity: you ask yourself, "what will happen when I do _______?" and then you go and find out what happens. "What happens when I try to make an interesting photograph of my desk?" "What happens when I try to make a photograph of my children that doesn't look like all the ones I've already taken?" "What happens when I am in Pairs and have a Leica?" (The last one is my favorite! Heheheheh.)

There's a great book that explains this approach in much greater detail, and though it is directed at musicians, its lessons apply to any creative endeavor: Effortless Mastery. Yes, the title sounds too good to be true, and it's not quite accurate, it will require some effort and focus, but only enough to get the cobwebs out of your thinking. It's not too steep of a learning curve, really.
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You are of course absolutely right, especially the parts I highlighted. But it's also true that some people will NEVER be any good.

I've always disliked 'winners never quit, and quitters never win', because it's nonsense (I'm not accusing you of saying it, but it's part of my side of the argument). Knowing when to quit, and do something else, is the hallmark of the vast majority of winners.

Cheers,

R.
 
maggieo said:
Have you seen any of Robert Adams' work? He makes the prettiest pictures out of the ugliest subjects, while still reminding you that the subjects are, at heart, ugly. His stuff has been an inspiration for me, a kid of the suburbs, and it might be for you, too. Hell, it's worth a trip to the library, if nothing else. Oh, and take your camera with you- you never know what you'll find at the library.
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Thanks, Maggie. I've seen some of Adams' work, and I'll make a point of chasing down more. His work seems to me to be a flavor of documentary photography, about which I have mixed feelings. I'm close to Duke University, which runs a nice documentary photography program that I've thought about pursuing. Yet many of the documentary images I see leave me cold, including some that I've tried to take myself. If it isn't something that would attract my eyes in the first place, I'm not sure I want to photograph it. But, since the terrain isn't going to change, I guess I ought to work on my own perspective.

Still won't carry a camera, though, unless I am specifically looking to shoot. Just don't like carrying stuff. Don't even carry a phone.
 
You don't have to carry a camera to make pictures. André Kertész said that when he was very young he wanted to be a photographer, but being a child, he had no way to buy one. So, what he did was to take pictures in his mind. He would imagine the framing and the moment he would snap the shutter and he would fix that image in his mind. He said he did that every day until he had the means to buy himself a camera. I think one of the most telling things is what he said about what came after that moment- "now, with a camera, I can show my pictures to others."

Oh, another thing that's great is to go and look at other forms of visual art, especially painting and drawing. Learn to see how an image is put together with intent, so that when you come across a potential photograph, you can recognize the things that a painter would put in a picture with deliberation and choose to include them in your selectivity of vision.
 
maggieo said:
I've found that the concept of "Practice" has become tainted with the stain of mindless discipline to an external authority, like those awful sessions at the family piano between (equally insufferable) piano lessons so many of us had as children.

The "Practice" I'm talking about is more akin to curiosity: you ask yourself, "what will happen when I do _______?" and then you go and find out what happens. "What happens when I try to make an interesting photograph of my desk?" "What happens when I try to make a photograph of my children that doesn't look like all the ones I've already taken?" "What happens when I am in Pairs and have a Leica?" (The last one is my favorite! Heheheheh.)
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You are right. I found your opinion quite helpful and wise, and there is a space to get into and really reveal some questions and its answers.
Everyday shooting might not increase us as photographers, but everyday thinking and seeing with 'photographic eyes and mind' (both just passing by a street without and with a camera).
 
Yes! Exactly!

Back when I was in art school, I used to play a game of "find a famous painting in what's around me," where I'd always be on the lookout for an arrangement of people or things or light that reminded me of a painting. Sometimes I'd have a camera, most times I wouldn't (I had a Nikon F3 back then and it was too big to lug around all the time.) but it was a fun game to play with myself, sort of an ongoing thought experiment. Here's a time I had a camera and was able to get a shot:

lauras_world.jpg
 
I shoot daily and always have a camera with me. I went months even carrying my tripod with me everywhere, everyday just because I would never know what I would find and if I would need it. I feel naked without my camera and it bothers me throughout the entire day if I don't have it within reach. I would much rather carry it around day after day and possibly not take any photos rather than miss a shot by not having it a all.
 
I would love to bring my camera everywhere i go, however, i just gotten my Bessa and it's still naked without straps or cases to protect her. So i can't justify bringing it out on the crowded streets and trains in Singapore.

Rush hour is a deal breaker for me and my Bessa (i'm still studying, but doing my internship this semester). No space for photo taking and the thought of someone accidentally damaging your camera.

Thus, i try to free up my weekends to go out and have some shots taken.
 
I always bring a camera w/ me everywhere I go, and if something appears I shoot every day. Doesn't mean I trip the shutter every day. Some days are a washout. But I'm ready! Too many bad memories of neat things that appeared and I didn't have a camera.

I like the suburbia version of Crawling Christine. Man, I hate that illustrator. The photo here is FAR better.
 
I must admit that I can't recall an instant when I did not have a camera with me - in the last 40-50 years. It is probably slightly obsessive and I really feel restless if I haven't finished at least 1, preferably 2 rolls in the day.
I did shoot for a living for many years - interesting and well paid and all that - but somewhat soul killing for my "private" pictures.
I have grown to like the Flickr - it has become my "contact" sheet for pictures. We have only been on Flickr since February 2007 - and I did check it out and we average 11 shots a day!! Nuts - but fun.
Tuulikki is the digital shooter - one camera - one lens and color. She very much has her own style, though occasionally we overlap - same scene, different take.
I usually have some idea when I go out - either trying out a different lens/film/developer or a camera (system). Shooting commercially you spend a lot of time trying to please a client or respond to a specific demand from printers/editors - and though it can be interesting as a technical challenge(how to light a 900 feet long machine in a dim factory) - it also gets a bit regimented. Working for myself in a field that allows me ample time to "test" stuff - is much more pleasant. After almost 25 years of doing this - I could not go back to the old way - and if I did I would have to teach myself to use all that digital stuff, No thanks - I rather have 10-15 rolls backed up for processing and be surprised when the negatives hang up to dry - just to see what I took pictures of 3-4 days ago.
Some 9 years ago I had to spend almost a month in hospital - in one of those "air bubbles" - virtually no visitors (extremely aggressive chemo treatment). I still managed to shoot 1 roll a day - mainly of my feet, under the blanket, on the blanket and also some snaps of nurses and doctors. I think I would have felt even sicker if I had not done it.
 
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