back alley
IMAGES
lots of gear talk tonight and lots of excitement about the new fast 50 from cv...
but i was wondering about communication and if photographers here photograph in order to communicate something?
i know this likely sounds like another why do you photograph questions but i'm not asking that...i am asking where does communicating something specific fit into your photography?
joe
but i was wondering about communication and if photographers here photograph in order to communicate something?
i know this likely sounds like another why do you photograph questions but i'm not asking that...i am asking where does communicating something specific fit into your photography?
joe
maddoc
... likes film again.
If the term "communicating" includes "telling a story, showing something - regional, social - specific, showing something non day-to-day" I try to do so (sometimes at least 
).
).Sparrow
Veteran
I always sort of divided it up, drawing and painting (and the like) as communication and photography as recording of stuff, if that make sense
Trius
Waiting on Maitani
I think I'm always attempting to communicate something, even if I can't articulate it verbally.
MartinL
MartinL
At the very least every photograph communicates:
"I was there; I thought this might be a worthy subject; I like it well enough to keep it." Quite possibly, "I want you to see it." And, "therefore, you know at least this much about me."
That's the beginning of a communication--sort of the default that I impose on my own galleries. Beyond that, I'm always discovering something about my own taste and character by asking why a particular shot "survives" when others are discarded in a world in which so many excellent and artful photos are taken.
"I was there; I thought this might be a worthy subject; I like it well enough to keep it." Quite possibly, "I want you to see it." And, "therefore, you know at least this much about me."
That's the beginning of a communication--sort of the default that I impose on my own galleries. Beyond that, I'm always discovering something about my own taste and character by asking why a particular shot "survives" when others are discarded in a world in which so many excellent and artful photos are taken.
back alley
IMAGES
nicely said...thanks.
Morca007
Matt
Not narrative, but my pictures are a conversation, mostly with myself. I don't expect anything to be communicated to the viewer other than the relative light values within the scene, anything more is a bonus.
willie_901
Veteran
Communicating something is my fundamental goal.
However I feel only successful when an image can communicate rather different things to different people.
However I feel only successful when an image can communicate rather different things to different people.
bucks11
Established
Well put...
With my images, I just like to photograph; not to communicate my story, but maybe generate one, or receive one when it is viewed...
MartinL
MartinL
Yes, that's pretty much what I'm thinking. Sorry for the longish response, but clearly I'm using this thread to figure out my own standpoint.
My background is not in visual arts and my photography craft is "under developed."
Instead, cognition, learning, and literature inform my approach. I see photos, at their best, as metaphor: variously defined , but most simply as "a comparison, one half of which remains unstated." In literature, metaphor works because the author directs or focuses attention or is in control of the initial image (the "stated" half of the comparison.) This, in a sense, is universal: everyone reads the same words or sees the same photograph.
Then it's up to reader/viewer to draw from their own experiences to complete the comparison--a highly individual, but always connected process.
I enjoy photographs when they allow careful and observant people to add meaning to my prior experiences (and add experience to my prior meanings.) Often, I appreciate their providing additional context to their images--yes, using language to help me "relate" or point me in a useful direction.
Also, I am wary of those photographers who simply say, in effect, "I shot it; take it or leave it." That works for the occasional and proven genius, an artist whose work has earned trust among the community of trustworthy observers.
It's much riskier for all the rest of us who "expose" our work and take responsibility for the fact that if it's public, it communicates.