how would you describe your personal vision?

[back alley]

or would you bother?

i believe that i was influenced many years ago after doing some reading...influenced to look for the 'vignettes' in life...also described as 'photo moments' perhaps...this has led to my 'style' of creating images that contain a 'picture'...some might say pretty pictures...
i think this is common in home decorating as well, to create various vignettes around the home, be they as simple as an arrangement on a mantle or how furniture is placed in a room.

it struck me today that there are many photographers that don't bother with vignettes at all but that they see a scene in motion, a slice of activity as it is happening and that they try to capture it in order to tell a story. their images have, to me, a fuller context and a richer reason for being.

it's like comparing screenwriters to set decorators...

anyway, it got me thinking about my images and how they differ from other's images.

make sense to you?

 

[thegman]

I don't bother. I'm not an artist, so I don't have an artist's vision or anything like it. All I'd like to do is go to beautiful places and attempt to do them justice by recording them at least adequately.

If I had a vision statement outside my first exhibition, it would say "I hope my photos are adequate".

 

[paulfish4570]

phlegmatic ...

 

[sepiareverb]

a poke in the eye.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

I have no vision. All I want is to capture memories. It's a bonus if they make sense to other people.

 

[dave lackey]

Joe, that is a multi-layered question there.:angel:

It depends for me on what I happen to be doing with a camera in hand in the first place. If it is a documentary of a town, for instance, it is far different than if I am shooting portraits. If I am shooting because of something that catches my eye without thinking, then, it may be because I react to something "pretty", colorful, or geometric.

Having an extensive career in architecture and civil engineering, I'm afraid that I am hopelessly drawn to geometry in my surroundings but also the beauty of the motif and/or surroundings. Also the historical significance. Documentary photographers are like that.

Lately, I find myself coming away with contrasts in life. These interest me a great deal. Imagine looking out the window of the hospital after several weeks and realizing that the people standing around outside talking are only there for a smoke break. With an IV in the arm and the bag of fluids on a wheeled stand so they can walk outside and smoke a cigarette!😛 It is the scene at the hospital we resided in from November through February this year...odd and intriguing, yet sad.

My own new personal vision? Documentaries of people living through difficult situations. But that will have to wait for awhile, I am just not physically up to that task.

 

[Roger Hicks]

How do you describe 'personal vision' in anyone's photography without falling into the traps of either platitude or pretentiousness? If I think of my favourite photographers -- Roger Fenton, Brassai, Willy Ronis, Raphael Schott, whoever -- then the best I can say is, "I recognize it when I see it." A fortiori, the same is the best I can say of my own work.

What is more, it varies from series to series: Roger Fenton's Crimean War series is not the same as his still lifes, and Raphael Schott's Circus series differs from his Dolls series.

Let others decide whether you're an artist (or even an Artist, with a capital A). By all means listen to what they say, to see if there's any overlap. My own pictures (depending on the series) have been described as 'playful', 'old fashioned', 'spiritual', 'boring' and ''you b*astard, how did you manage to make a really good picture out of nothing like that?"

Sometimes, these wildly different labels have been applied to the same picture.

Cheers,

R.

 

[msbarnes]

This is something that I struggle with. I feel that describing my photography/vision sounds too artificial and pretentious. I just shoot and hope to figure things out through time. I try to answer these questions but I just can't.

 

[one90guy]

I have no vision. All I want is to capture memories. It's a bonus if they make sense to other people.

That has always been my goal.

David

 

[noisycheese]

I thought I had a photographic vision once.

Turns out it was more of a hallucination than a vision. 😀

 

[Clint Troy]

Mine fits two words perfectly, IMO.

Truth
and
Emotions

 

[Contarama]

I understand what you mean sort of I think.

It is like you are trying to capture that is beyond the superficial...

Something about soul maybe. Really masterful with the tools.

As far as my personal vision I would say I admire really good photographers because they achieve this ~ sort of like I know it when I see it. So I aspire to be as good as them. I'm not there yet for sure but I feel like I am making at least a little bit of progress don't know that I'll ever get there though.

 

[erikhaugsby]

I had a photo teacher once tell me: "the perfect picture story is one image."

I've since adopted it and modified it to words my own: a good photo is one where, when someone looks at it for the first time, they evaluate the feelings within the photo and say "I understand those feelings."

I'm not there yet.

 

[bsdunek]

I thought I had a photographic vision once.

Turns out it was more of a hallucination than a vision. 😀

🙂 Kind of what I found about myself.

 

[huddy]

I'm telling the story of my family through images. I'm hopeful that one day we will all get to enjoy the images as much as I do now. It's a continuing narrative of mostly routine moments from our lives. I suppose some of those are vignettes.

 

[back alley]

i'm NOT talking about art, ART or artists...

i am talking about how YOU SEE things when you photograph.

unless you are a blind photographer shooting in the dark, then, you do see when you shoot.

for years i saw 'images' as small vignettes of life...do you?
if not, then how do you see things?

don't get all caught up in the word 'vision'...i'm not asking for artist statements...

 

[pakeha]

"how would you describe your personal vision?"

in one word - declining.

 

[back alley]

There's a difference? Surely you're creating what you're seeing based on what it is you see.

what you see or what you look for?

 

[back alley]

i also am in seach mode...
today, it just struck me that i am looking for a certain type of scene to make an image...

so, not really looking at but looking for...seems to me that this would really limit what/how i see the world...

 

[jsrockit]

I can tell you what I think I'm doing, but what matters is what my photos tell someone...and that all depends on the viewers experiences and interpretations.