Taynt3d
Member
Without a doubt, yes.
Photography for the sake of photography
- Thread starter ebino
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keepright
matthew
Of course photography can simply exist for the sake of photography - poetry and end-tables both do.
"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the--if he--if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not--that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement."
"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the--if he--if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not--that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement."
ebino
Well-known
What about Robert Frank's The Americans?
Had those photos been simply photographs for the sake of photographs, they'd be considered sloppy, boring, and most of them would not be keepers to a lot of amateurs... I'm sure Frank could take really competent pictures, he had studied photography in some famous school in Switzerland but instead he went for the sloppy and boring stuff.
It really makes one wonder, because while photographers are obsessed with gear and image quality and a lot of other nonsense, the greatest photography works are made up of really simple photographs with utter disregard for typical norms of technical photography. I mean Atget is another example... It seems to me that photography for the sake of photography is driving us into the doom and gloom of still photography becoming completely irrelevant... Everywhere you look video is available at high quality, heck even DSLRs the main workhorses of still photography are turning into video cameras... Why would you "document" with still photos when you can shoot in HD, provide narration interviews and all the good things video does. Why need PJ shots for front cover when you can upload a high quality video of the event on your website? I know this sounds alarmist and one can wonder what it has anything to do with us, humble amateurs just trying to have fun, but I personally don't think photography is all fun and games, it might be for the first few years but after that once the novelty is gone, you either burn-out or lose interest if you don't get serious.
Had those photos been simply photographs for the sake of photographs, they'd be considered sloppy, boring, and most of them would not be keepers to a lot of amateurs... I'm sure Frank could take really competent pictures, he had studied photography in some famous school in Switzerland but instead he went for the sloppy and boring stuff.
It really makes one wonder, because while photographers are obsessed with gear and image quality and a lot of other nonsense, the greatest photography works are made up of really simple photographs with utter disregard for typical norms of technical photography. I mean Atget is another example... It seems to me that photography for the sake of photography is driving us into the doom and gloom of still photography becoming completely irrelevant... Everywhere you look video is available at high quality, heck even DSLRs the main workhorses of still photography are turning into video cameras... Why would you "document" with still photos when you can shoot in HD, provide narration interviews and all the good things video does. Why need PJ shots for front cover when you can upload a high quality video of the event on your website? I know this sounds alarmist and one can wonder what it has anything to do with us, humble amateurs just trying to have fun, but I personally don't think photography is all fun and games, it might be for the first few years but after that once the novelty is gone, you either burn-out or lose interest if you don't get serious.
Gumby
Veteran
Morca007
Matt
Photography as a a concept cannot exist for itself it can exist only as it is created and beheld. Or at least we would have no knowledge of photography it if it did.
oftheherd
Veteran
What is the sound of one shutter curtain capping in the deserted woods?
t.s.k.
Hooked on philm
Wow.
Sounds like you're having your own struggles.
Could it be your brain is getting in the way of truly enjoying the craft? We have all been there in one shape or another. The mind is a wondrous tool that can bolster or squash our best efforts. Sometimes I wish there was a switch. 😀
<edit> ... a switch for me
ebino
Well-known
Could it also be that I'm enjoying this hobby just a little too much and thus I'm worried about the way its going?
Or thinking and worrying is really not fashionable because to achieve anything what you need is positive attitude with boundless optimism and some other silly catch phrase that Tony Robbins came up with.
Pherdinand
the snow must go on
that's what my photography is all about.
Tompas
Wannabe Künstler
We don't know. Did it?
Pickett Wilson
Veteran
"I know this sounds alarmist and one can wonder what it has anything to do with us, humble amateurs just trying to have fun, but I personally don't think photography is all fun and games, it might be for the first few years but after that once the novelty is gone, you either burn-out or lose interest if you don't get serious."
Well, I been snapping photos most days for 50 years, and it's as much fun for me as it ever was! I feel off if I miss a single day shooting.
Of course, like anything else in life, if it's not fun anymore, don't do it. Angst over photography is simply a waste of time and energy.
Well, I been snapping photos most days for 50 years, and it's as much fun for me as it ever was! I feel off if I miss a single day shooting.
Of course, like anything else in life, if it's not fun anymore, don't do it. Angst over photography is simply a waste of time and energy.
SolaresLarrave
My M5s need red dots!
Guys, load your cameras and go out. The weather is good, sunlight is nice... I'm going to put some film in one of my Leicas and go for a walk.
t.s.k.
Hooked on philm
shadowfox
Darkroom printing lives
How does that work? sounds contradictory to me.
Photography is the process of freezing a moment for someone to view (and appreciate) later. As long as there is a moment to freeze and a person to view it later on, photography will exist.
Simple as that.
If I understand your further concern, will still-photography still exist when all we seem to care to create are videos?
My answer is: yes. Still photography (along with painting, sculpture, and music) fulfills our need when we want to just appreciate something in a contemplative way.
Videos -- and I'm not including those nature simulation, meditative ones -- are not a substitute in this regard because by its very nature, a video demands a continuous attention from our mind.
It leads and sometimes dictate what our mind supposed to imagine. Unlike still-images, that becomes a seed for our mind to create its own path from one thought to another.
surfer dude
Well-known
The point is not that the question is answered, but that one considers the possibilities.
As a poster said a couple of posts up, while it is interesting to ponder such questions as photography just for the purity of the experience, there is no substitute for actually engaging in the activity.
Whatever the subsequent use of that photography, does it really matter?
Tompas
Wannabe Künstler
Again: we don't know. Does it? 🙂
I may very well do not get what you mean, but IMO this is completely subjective.
For one photographer the act of taking pictures may be 'enough'; for another the photographing itself may mean nothing, if it produces no (good) output.
And there's also the other side: noone may be interested in your photos; or your wife, girlfriend, family or even the whole world may eagerly await your latest work.
We don't know. 🙂
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