photography satisfies in many ways

FrankS

FrankS

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The artist in me is enamoured by the imagery of photography.
The engineer in me is satisfied by the gear and technical aspects.
The scientist in me is intrigued by the optical physics and chemistry.
The humanist in me is enriched by the social aspect of sharing interests and ideas with others, through local gatherings and forums.

(Did I miss any?)

Not everyone enjoys all aspects and that's fine. To each their own. But this is me.
 
Frank, you've covered well many of my own feelings about photography. Further to the humanist aspect, I am enriched by the interaction with others both through taking their picture and later in sharing the results with them.

Nice post, Frank. I'm hopeful that others will chime in with their own views.

-Randy
 
I find, photography satisfies also as a means to meditation and increased awareness of the outside world.
There's a huge pleasure contained in the process of "seeing" something photographically interesting, and while the process itself has already found a sophisticated school (Miksang photography) of followers, I also experience a certain interior reward, when I manage sometimes to make some sense of the visual chaos, which then can result attractive photographically.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59177039@N00/1462598395/sizes/l/in/set-72157601175708450/

A friend from flickr - brassai63 has pointed me to this Miksang link:
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=gqbAfCCSIGI
 
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Thanks, mfogiel, for reminding me of another reason that I enjoy photography. As you said, it's a way to slow down and increase my awareness of the world around me. That's a point I tried to make in my comment in the Rangefinderforum Book 2.

-Randy
 
FrankS said:
The artist in me is enamoured by the imagery of photography.
The engineer in me is satisfied by the gear and technical aspects.
The scientist in me is intrigued by the optical physics and chemistry.
The humanist in me is enriched by the social aspect of sharing interests and ideas with others, through local gatherings and forums.

(Did I miss any?)

Not everyone enjoys all aspects and that's fine. To each their own. But this is me.
Click to expand...

Very nice post Frank. Enjoying is easy and isn't.

BTW there is also the artisan, or craftman, printing at his darkroom.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
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I know no-one who is antipathetic towards photography. Those who take snapshots enjoy doing so, their subjects similarly enjoy looking at the final results. People who are more ambitious often try to push themselves or their equipment to the limits, sometimes with good results, oftentimes with not so good results, but always with a certain amount of satisfaction even if it is only the knowledge that there is better still to come.

It is the most democratic of art forms, anyone who can pick up a camera can almost immediately take a satisfying photograph. I bought my five year old her first camera for Christmas and she hasn't stopped using it. She gets more fun from it than any of her other toys - and, yes it's a toy digital camera. Maybe next year we will go or something a little better, then the year after that perhaps a better one and on and on and on...!

Cheers.
 
Steve Bellayr said:
There is an historical/biographical aspect to photography. We can look upon the past both of others and ourselves.
Click to expand...

This aspect can be worthwhile when the weather is too bad to get out and enjoy one's surroundings. I have digitized all of my collection of photos and passed CDs on to my children. I am now working on my late father-in-law's negative collection. Look around, there are a lot of things to be preserved.

Jim N.
 
I found myself being drawn nature as I got deeper into photography. It allowed me to unwind from the stress at work, while it showed me repeatedly how beautiful the world is. I find all previous points applicable and meaningful to me.
 
Corny as it might sound in some corners, photography for me had been something of a form of therapy in my late teens, and grew into something bigger from my 20s onward. I made it pay as a vocation in certain ways (lab rat and stock agency liaison, among other jobs), but it's the "avocation" aspect that's loomed largest. It's been a way of exploring the world, outer and inner, and, to a certain extent, helping me sort out my place in it. Sometimes revelatory, sometimes disturbing, sometimes beautiful, and only occasionally boring. Like life, really. :)

A really good thread, folks. Can't add much more to it.


- Barrett
 
Doctors now point to "passion" as a key element in maintaining good mental and physical health. It could be said then that photography is good for your health.

I now find it an integral part of my health regime.

Bob
 
I find the meditative quality mentioned earlier in the thread one of the most enjoyable aspects to photography. It doesn't often come, but when I am really concentrating and looking intently into the world, all of the F-stops and film speeds, lens types and tech stuff fall away, and I am left with what I think is at the heart of any creative act - the opportunity to be what God most likely intended us to be - free of ego, free of ambition and goals and resistance - in short, in meditation with Him, returning to the One source that we all go back to when we leave our bodies at death. Seeing and then taking a photograph when in this state is almost beside the point, and it is a rare a beautiful thing I think.

There have been times when I have tried to explain this to people, even other photographers, and I always end up feeling self conscious and foolish, but I know there is something very real we are tapping in to out there if we want to.

To get there, I need to have meditated or prayed before shooting, I have to work alone (ironic for the street shooter since we sort of count on other people to make our work) and I can't be listening to music or anything that takes me away from focusing my faculties on what I'm doing.

The rest of the time in my life, I am fighting losing the faith in Art and photography, wasting energy worrying about gear, or just being lazy and watching hockey and drinking beer when I should be working on photography. But when it happens, that meditative state keeps me coming back.
 
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Excellent post, Frank. I can only add one:

The collector in me is attracted by the beauty and history of photo gear
 
The accountant in me figures a way to justify spending oodles of money on this stuff ;)

Dave
 
FrankS said:
The artist in me is enamoured by the imagery of photography.
The engineer in me is satisfied by the gear and technical aspects.
The scientist in me is intrigued by the optical physics and chemistry.
The humanist in me is enriched by the social aspect of sharing interests and ideas with others, through local gatherings and forums.
Click to expand...
The philosopher in me is fascinated by stopping time, and by how memories are formed and re-experienced.
 
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