photography's main pitfall

M

Margu

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once photography becomes like second nature after a lot of practice and photos, the world becomes only interesting if its visually interesting, otherwise if there are no photos to be taken there is no interest.

in my case even if i'm in a really beautiful natural location, i only think about photos and don't really get to enjoy the location. this is slowly bothering me because now i won't just go to simply enjoy nature, if i go anywhere its to take photos.

this is almost close to one might call greed.
 
that sounds like an addiction. as if you were not able any more to perceive the world without the filter of photography. i´m glad i´ve never reached that grade of obsession, always could see life apart of the images of life.
how about leaving the camera at home deliberately from time to time, switching from photo mode to live mode?
 
I'm halfway there myself, if I'm traveling with friends almost anywhere is fine when I have company, sometimes I like to travel alone and there I only choose visually stimulating places. I kind of like my obsession though, I'm aware of it and it doesn't get in the way of other things.
 
You can take interesting photos of your own shoes, if you want. A nice location is always a nice location, even if you do not take landscape photographs. Widen the scope of your photography.


20113110 by mfogiel, on Flickr
 
To me Photography is a means of communication. I don`t go after "good photos". I like to see things and events, and like to see how they turn up in photographs. To me the "best photos" are for example musicans on stage, with all light, motion exitement etc and then see how I could capture it, transfer it to a two dimensional image on a paper...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40146285@N08/3730107400/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40146285@N08/3798014480/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40146285@N08/9189268053/
 
Too many photographers are looking at the thing in front of them, seeing the world superficially in terms of shape, colour and line, as surface juxtapositions. Instead, engage with life – interact with the world! Think about what you are seeing means to you or how you feel about it - then, picturing that, photograph these thoughts!

Photographers shouldn’t be aloof from their surroundings but intimately bound up with them...
 
I just caught the tale end of Stephen Shore being interviewed on BBC radio four, asked if he always sees photographs when out and about, he replied no, and he'll often avoid taking a camera so as not to detract from the experience of what he's visiting.

I liked that.
 
My method is I separate my life from my photography, sure sometimes I take a camera for some snaps of the kids etc.
When i 'do' photography its often prepared, something I've seen noted and go back to take later. It can lack spontaneity, I have the odd snaps with 35mm for those.

Often I just don't take a camera at all.
 
I have on occasion had tremendous anxiety about traveling. Back in years, I hoped that I would get put on the 'no fly' list so that I would have an excuse not to go anywhere.

Now if I do have to travel I concentrate on photography. If I have something to focus on I am not so nervous.

Randy
 
Feel fortunate you are always looking and curious. Many people spend their lives looking at their feet! (or worse their smartphone)

:D
 
I mostly am absorbed by photographing things near home or work. I do like going you without a camera and should do it more.
 
I take my camera a lot of places. As much as I enjoy working with my Leicas, I don't obsess about it on the street. I try to live the moment. I take snaps of places and people to remember the unique experience, instead of writing in a journal.

I don't take other gadgets. When I'm talking with someone I prefer to look at them in the eye, not looking down at my latest electronic wizardry. Life is too short. The human experience is what matters most to me.

I'm on my way to the rainforest in a few days. I'll take a few snaps here and there; however I won't live out of the camera.
 
I always have a camera with me and I find that the camera helps me to see many things that I might not notice otherwise. An interesting detail on a house, an unusual pattern on a leaf, cloud shapes; I'm pretty sure the list is as close to infinite as makes no difference.

I'll study something through the finder until I can record what it is that has caught my attention. Great pictures? Not sure I've yet met one of those. Interesting pictures? They seem to be everywhere and a lot of them are posted by the people on this forum.
 
Interesting point of view, for me, it's very far from the case though.

I was out a couple of nights ago near my house, and it so happened there was a beautiful sunset out over Port Philip Bay. I didn't have my camera with me, but no big deal, I'm sure there will be more beautiful sunsets.

Another point is that the world can be interesting without visuals at all, sound (or lack of), smell, taste, feeling etc. Photography, for all it's strengths, I don't think can at all adequately represent all those other senses. Even visually, does not matter how good a photo you take of a beautiful location, does not beat actually being there.

Easy fix is to simply go somewhere you love without a camera, or at least bring a camera which will not impede you (i.e. something small).
 
back when i was still shooting dslr and specifically digital, i felt like the need of shooting continously. i was basically travelling to take pictures.

ever since i moved to RF and film, I believe that I travel more to learn, discover and be with the wife than taking pictures.
being able to take pictures is just a bonus.
but of course there are some exceptions where I will still wake up very early to catch the sunrise and take some landscape pictures
 
Margu said:
once photography becomes like second nature after a lot of practice and photos, the world becomes only interesting if its visually interesting, otherwise if there are no photos to be taken there is no interest.

in my case even if i'm in a really beautiful natural location, i only think about photos and don't really get to enjoy the location. this is slowly bothering me because now i won't just go to simply enjoy nature, if i go anywhere its to take photos.

this is almost close to one might call greed.
Click to expand...
Lucky me , I'm not a nature landscape photographer lol , but still my girlfriend complaints about me not listening to what she is saying because I'm focused more on the scene and framing the picture is too often priority.
 
I have always found that the craft of photography has taken me deeper in environments i would normally be prone to pass over, unconnected. The camera provokes me to look deeper, to connect with the people and place i am in. Perhaps this is because of the overload of imagery we are now faced with motivating me to find new ways of using a camera? new ways of seeing things?

Without a camera I travel straight lines. To and from. With the camera? Don't wait up.
 
I was kid, yeas before I get into photography. We were waiting for train to get us back to home up north from vacation at the Black Sea.
We were long waiting at the station platform and my cousin after looking at me for sometime told me - you look around like you are taking pictures.
Now, decades later, I'm who I'm, I take camera with me every time I leave the house. And I'm using it to help my eyes to look around better.
 
I love taking photographs of landscapes through which I'm walking (backpacking). The camera is just an excuse to slow down and take in more in certain spot.
When it comes to people, I refuse to take a lot of photographs simply because my emphasis is on the relation, not the photograph. My best photos of people are always about a relation. Maybe what some people are calling communication.
For that reason, there are a lot of "street" images that I don't appreciate. Sometimes they look like the photographer was riding a train through the street, sometimes they look the photographer was capturing somebody else's personal moment. Really good street photographers are able to bring out that part of the public space in which we are all related. In fact, that is originally the definition of "civil society" in the modern era. Unlike in an agrarian society, I have relations with all kinds of people I don't really know. Just turning on the light switch brings me into relation with a whole slew of people I don't know, from the places where the energy is first produced to the place where it is transported and consumed. Unfortunately I don't know how to capture this in my photographs, and i think only a few gifted people can achieve that.
 
be thankful-you've found your passion which many seek.
"True happiness brings more richness than all the money in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi
 
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