Photographically, What is Your Holy Grail?

Cool Question Dave. Great idea for a thread.

I suppose for me it's Family.
When I view old photographs of my Family from Switzerland(mom side) and Syria(dads side) going back to before WW1 , I realize how important these photos are.
The images I take or my other family members take today will have the same significants for our following generations.
It makes all those family snapshots feel very special. Because they are!

Here is my uncle Khalil. He was the first to come over from Syria in the early '50's.
He got his Doctorate and taught MBA's at Seattle U for 32 years. There is an endowed chair in his name from a succesful student (quite a story).
His G,G, Great Grandchildren will have this image.
Untitled by Adnan, on Flickr
 
My Holy Grail is a project I envisioned one day looking at a map. It involves a certain road, and the lives of the folks who live and travel along it. Hopefully, someday I'll have the health and resources to accomplish it.

In the meantime, I work on my alternate project of old automotive service stations.

PF
 
In 1994 I was shooting for a weekly in New York when the Stonewall 25 celebration happened and I was sent to cover it. That's where I found my Holy Grail and spent time, on and off, for the next twenty years using my photography to try and help the cause of LGBT rights and Marriage Equality.

Stone94.jpg


Now that things are going well, I need to find a new Holy Grail.
 
Thanks Andy. That first pic was of the mile long rainbow flag that was unfurled at Stonewall 25. Below is the signing ceremony almost twenty years later when Illinois passed Marriage Equality in our state.

Done.jpg


It was a fascinating twenty years.
 
A project that I've come up with and would like to see if I would be allowed to do, is this...
I'd like to visit our local Pick-a-Part...for those who don't know what that is, it's an auto salvage yard where you find the part you need and remove it yourself..
My project would be to photograph the person/persons when they get there and then after finding and removing the parts...some big projects could result in one or more pretty dirty but happy treasure hunters...and that would be the name of the project...
"Treasure Hunters"
 
Philosophically, I do not believe a 'holy grail' is meant to be found or achieved. To me, what is important in the quest for a holy grail is the quest itself and what you find out about yourself (and everything else) during that quest.

Having said that, my photographic holy grail is to photograph ALL of the UNESCO World Heritage sites.
 
If I could do a photo project one iota the value, impact and beauty of Minamata by Eugene Smith.

Philip Forrest
 
For me, making pictures is a literally (and only) a "journey of self discovery". It's a day-by-day trip, and I don't know where I'm going.
This is the most attractive aspect of the hobby for me, after spending decades "planning . . . reviewing . . . planning . . . planning . . . planning . . . test run . . . replanning . . . final execution . . . post-mortem analysis". (I get sick just rethinking like that.)
So, I guess that I am not pursuing a holy grail that I can talk about. My pictures are what they are and that's all they are.
 
Good stuff Timmy.

For me, at this moment in time, it's to continue exploring visual relationships and the moments they come together.

I do have another project in mind for down the road.
 
Not sure if it's holy grail level but I got 2project in medium format going. they're a subset of the sea marsh series I've being doing. One is the small hammock isles in the marshes the challenge is getting either close enough or far enough away for a good composition. And for those not familiar with salt marsh mud you do not want to step in it without someone to pull you out with a rope. the second involves live oaks that have been killed from soil salinization. The limbs are more twisted tan usual for a live oak looking to my eye like an organic sculpture crossed wit a giant sized bonsai. Not sure if I can actually get exactly see in my head on film but that's the fun of it.
 
nikon_sam said:
A project that I've come up with and would like to see if I would be allowed to do, is this...
I'd like to visit our local Pick-a-Part...for those who don't know what that is, it's an auto salvage yard where you find the part you need and remove it yourself..
My project would be to photograph the person/persons when they get there and then after finding and removing the parts...some big projects could result in one or more pretty dirty but happy treasure hunters...and that would be the name of the project...
"Treasure Hunters"
Click to expand...

This one, I find interesting.
 
Dave, "Holy Grail" suggests to me a picture that exemplifies, or is emblematic of, what I am trying to say with my photos. So in that sense, it could be a photo I have yet to take (I think that's what you mean), or it could be one I have already taken; one that already says what I want to say. But is that anywhere close to what you meant? Or do you mean photos we aspire to make in the future; ones that may or may not be possible for us?

I have a feeling that several photos I took at a much younger age may have already said what I want my photos to say. So this thread makes me wonder just what it is I'm trying to do by taking more pictures.
 
Rob-F said:
Dave, "Holy Grail" suggests to me a picture that exemplifies, or is emblematic of, what I am trying to say with my photos. So in that sense, it could be a photo I have yet to take (I think that's what you mean), or it could be one I have already taken; one that already says what I want to say. But is that anywhere close to what you meant? Or do you mean photos we aspire to make in the future; ones that may or may not be possible for us?

I have a feeling that several photos I took at a much younger age may have already said what I want my photos to say. So this thread makes me wonder just what it is I'm trying to do by taking more pictures.
Click to expand...

Hi, Rob,

Thanks for the thoughts, you have hit on some very good points. Life is so complicated...

You and I have been around long enough that somewhere in our past we may have the one photo already there that defines our work. Sometimes no one really appreciates it for a very long time, if ever. But whether we are driving ourselves looking for our best or favorite photo or not, I like to think it is our collective body of work that I kept working on.

Now and then I surprise myself with an unexpected image that may be of a texture that just adds to the enjoyment of the composition of something as simple as a birdhouse.

Or it may a portrait of my bride. That is not necessarily a photo grail to start each day with but maybe it should be! I am still looking for a way to photograph her dignity through the suffering she has to endure.

I forget who said, "The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all."
 
Nice quote Dave, remember you flower is nurtured with endless amounts of love. I suspect the pursuit of your grail is the primary thing; not the grail itself. My warmest to both of you.
 
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