AlexBG
Well-known
I have realised lately that I take less photos when I am unhappy. I may take the odd phone shot but actively choosing to take a 'real' camera out with me day to day or on trips is something that I don't even think about. Most photos I take are capturing memories of family and activities so that I can remember the moments, I can only assume that being a bit unhappy with life at the moment has made me not want to capture these like normal.
Wanted to ask because I'm sure, or maybe hoping that there are people the opposite to me who take a load pf photos when they are sad as a type of remedy/therapy? If you do, why? What of? How do you go about it?
Wanted to ask because I'm sure, or maybe hoping that there are people the opposite to me who take a load pf photos when they are sad as a type of remedy/therapy? If you do, why? What of? How do you go about it?
froyd
Veteran
Sorry for the rough patch Alex. My 2020 was very slim in terms of photographic output because it was not a happy time, but I watched with a mix of puzzlement and envy the work of those who capitalized on the moment to produce special projects whether pandemic-specific or else.
Taking pictures brings me joy, and at times it's been therapeutic, but if I'm not in the mood to take pictures I find it hard to kickstart my photography. When I've been successful at getting out of a photographic funk, I started small: cellphone pics, a few snaps here and there to rediscover my passion.
Taking pictures brings me joy, and at times it's been therapeutic, but if I'm not in the mood to take pictures I find it hard to kickstart my photography. When I've been successful at getting out of a photographic funk, I started small: cellphone pics, a few snaps here and there to rediscover my passion.
Being creative makes me happier. If I stop photographing, I’ll find something else to fill the void. I am a big fan of not forcing myself to do things that I should enjoy. Last time my photographic funk lasted 8 years. I made music instead. It’s been 13 years since that photographic funk ended and my music funk began. I don’t plan to make music again…
Prest_400
Multiformat
I notice that lately I am more on/off about photography and that is just due to the day to day hecticness. WHenever I am picking up the (film) cameras again, it feels very refreshing.
Infact I am going to visit family tomorrow, after the length of winter and so, and decided to just take 35mm and not Medium Format. That decision sort of filters out how much photo centered will those days be.
On the other hand, winter was quite productive as the darkroom was a good space to be given the cold and social distancing circumstances. I haven't shot much since Spring rolled in.
Infact I am going to visit family tomorrow, after the length of winter and so, and decided to just take 35mm and not Medium Format. That decision sort of filters out how much photo centered will those days be.
On the other hand, winter was quite productive as the darkroom was a good space to be given the cold and social distancing circumstances. I haven't shot much since Spring rolled in.
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
If something bad or sick, I'm not into it.
SausalitoDog
Well-known
I think we all have that tendency.
One trick I read about and have used to get back on track both mentally and photographically is to make a plan and follow it. Choose something to define what you will be looking for an shooting. Maybe red, maybe triangles, maybe circles, maybe street dogs...whatever. If you go out with that in mind you will find many things to shoot that might have gone unnoticed if you weren't really motivated.
Just a thought...hang in there...this, too, will pass
tom
One trick I read about and have used to get back on track both mentally and photographically is to make a plan and follow it. Choose something to define what you will be looking for an shooting. Maybe red, maybe triangles, maybe circles, maybe street dogs...whatever. If you go out with that in mind you will find many things to shoot that might have gone unnoticed if you weren't really motivated.
Just a thought...hang in there...this, too, will pass
tom
Axel
singleshooter
It depends. My photography does not need a special condition of myself. Can be happy or sad or nothing of both.
Like John I don´t force myself to anything.
If I am in the mood to take a photo it can be a bit therapeutic also sometimes.
Like John I don´t force myself to anything.
If I am in the mood to take a photo it can be a bit therapeutic also sometimes.
Vince Lupo
Whatever
I'd actually think the opposite - that in creating art one needs to have some kind of 'unsettledness' in one's life. I think that when I'm in that kind of state it puts me more into the creative mode. Maybe that's why I like gloomy days instead of sunny ones? Dunno. However I don't think my mood necessarily dictates whether I actually go out and try to make something happen.
I don't necessarily think of taking personal photos as making me 'happier', I personally don't think of it in those terms. It just sort of is, if that makes sense. Of course with commercial work what makes me happiest is getting paid!
For many years I've had this Graham Greene quote stuck on my fridge and I think of it often: "Sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.”
I don't necessarily think of taking personal photos as making me 'happier', I personally don't think of it in those terms. It just sort of is, if that makes sense. Of course with commercial work what makes me happiest is getting paid!
For many years I've had this Graham Greene quote stuck on my fridge and I think of it often: "Sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.”
nikon_sam
Shooter of Film...
Interesting topic...
I've been in a funk since mid April...my wife's business partner was killed in a car accident while heading home...its been just over two months but seems like an eternity...we had her Service two Sundays ago but still I haven't been excited to photograph much...the occasional pretty flower or recording the family of owls in our backyard...
I always take a camera everywhere I go but I haven't been using it...
Our daughter is coming home for a few days and will be putting in some training for an upcoming Horse Show...I'll be taking my camera and I'm really hoping for a break through...
I've been able to shoot in most moods but this one has me stumped...
I've been in a funk since mid April...my wife's business partner was killed in a car accident while heading home...its been just over two months but seems like an eternity...we had her Service two Sundays ago but still I haven't been excited to photograph much...the occasional pretty flower or recording the family of owls in our backyard...
I always take a camera everywhere I go but I haven't been using it...
Our daughter is coming home for a few days and will be putting in some training for an upcoming Horse Show...I'll be taking my camera and I'm really hoping for a break through...
I've been able to shoot in most moods but this one has me stumped...
KoNickon
Nick Merritt
If I'm sad or stressed, I lose the urge to take pictures or do anything else "frivolous," like working out or reading.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
I think Vince and I are on similar wavelengths.
I don't make photographs to feel happy, or to assuage sadness. I make photographs because I need to make photographs. Sometimes I feel the urge to push the button and other times not. Sometimes I feel the urge to produce a finished product from the button pushing, and sometimes not.
There's neither rhyme nor reason to it, it simply is.
There are times when I push the button a lot and nothing happens immediately. But over time, I see something emerging and I start to pursue it. Those are good times.
G
I don't make photographs to feel happy, or to assuage sadness. I make photographs because I need to make photographs. Sometimes I feel the urge to push the button and other times not. Sometimes I feel the urge to produce a finished product from the button pushing, and sometimes not.
There's neither rhyme nor reason to it, it simply is.
There are times when I push the button a lot and nothing happens immediately. But over time, I see something emerging and I start to pursue it. Those are good times.
G
jpressman
Well-known
I'm with most of you. This last year was difficult for me to take photos, as it was for many. With the lockdown and the masking, I was low and lost interest in getting out there. Instead, I looked back at my photo history to kind of make sense of it. I've never had a single focus (pun intended), just kind of shot whatever looked interesting to me at the time. I found that I was able to create some categories out of the chaos, and that was very helpful.
xayraa33
rangefinder user and fancier
Most people do less of what they like to do when they are depressed or not in a good mood...just wait it out till you feel happier and then you are back in the saddle again with camera in hand.
DownUnder
Nikon Nomad
Covid-19 and all the associated lockdowns, shutdowns and inevitable breakdowns ("the 'three downs' crisis" as my partner calls it) threw many massive wrenches into the works of all our lives in 2020.
This year, less so, but in many countries the crisis continues. At my age, I no longer look for excitement, but I need an interesting life. My photography and writing, the two interests that have sustained me since my retirement in 2012, were impacted - and I'm feeling the effects.
I believe with the right mindset, periods of crisis in our lives can be productive, even if the effort involved to get started and do things, is so demanding on our mental (and physical) energies.
In March last year, I had to cut short an ongoing photo project in Southeast Asia, and return to Australia at short notice. This impacted in a big way on all my creative pursuits, and it took me a few months to regain equilibrium and get back into my creative work. My visual styles were affected and I had to work hard to regain my vision and go on shooting new images for my visual project - colonial architecture. As I realised, there is plenty of this everywhere, here in Australia every country town is replete with old buildings. For most of last year, to get out and finding these lovely Victorian structures was the problem. I no longer drive, my partner works full-time, and public transport was impacted by the ongoing lockdowns - we could not even travel to Melbourne and I had to order all my photo supplies online, which I did.
I was mostly at home on my own. With our two cats for company, nice felines ("furbags") and lap warmers - but not really substitutes for getting out and about and communicating with humans.
After my dormant period , I got into my writing and film scanning. I finished two manuscripts of projects I'd had hanging about for too long - a spy thriller novel set in Bangkok from the 1970s and a travel book set in Indonesia from 1993. Both are now done and with a literary agent in Europe . It was a great relief to be rid of those after so many decades as paper drafts in filing cabinets.
For most of the year I wasn't up to any new photo projects, especially with the restrictions on regional travel, so I decided to tackle my film folders (dating to 1961), then my digital image files from 2008.
Six months later I have both set up. Rather an effort, with 80,000+ film images (culled by 30%-35%,) then my digital (100,000+ images, 40%-45% deleted). My folders are more "focussed" and I easily find material by date or keywords. Many hitherto lost slides turned up, notably Kodachromes from Bali in 1970, 1972 and 1974, 400 images of the oldBali royal dance school in Ubud, lost and I believed destroyed.
I'm now scanning film taken in Indonesia from 1985 to 1992. Images from other Asian countries will be done next. My old Plustek still works well if slowly (like the photographer), but a new scanner will be ordered next month.
I haven't yet decided what I'll do with all my images, but the satisfaction of finally having done it is already great. Part of my life put into order, at last...
In photography, I've not done so much. A few regional trips to shoot (mostly) architecture, visits to national and state parks (for the pleasure of being out and about, more than any "academic" goal), and a long overdue tidying up of my darkroom, have all taken place.
In 2020, finally, I decided to stop snapping nice landscapes during my travels. I have too many of these in my files, both on film and as digital images. They take up space (not so much on hard disks, but those yellow slide boxes do fill up cartons and even filing cabinets!) Also several thousand negatives of long-departed felines, and snaps of people I no longer see or want to see. Much work with scissors and off to recycling they all went, negatives, prints and slides.
Family photos were kept, scanned and emailed to friends and relatives around the planet. A small album of my best 20 (okay, 50) cat shots is in the works.
It's good that we have "survived Covid" with our creative projects. For many of us, photography is an important and valued lifeline to the world and our mental health, and it has to be sustained. Long may we go on doing so!!
This year, less so, but in many countries the crisis continues. At my age, I no longer look for excitement, but I need an interesting life. My photography and writing, the two interests that have sustained me since my retirement in 2012, were impacted - and I'm feeling the effects.
I believe with the right mindset, periods of crisis in our lives can be productive, even if the effort involved to get started and do things, is so demanding on our mental (and physical) energies.
In March last year, I had to cut short an ongoing photo project in Southeast Asia, and return to Australia at short notice. This impacted in a big way on all my creative pursuits, and it took me a few months to regain equilibrium and get back into my creative work. My visual styles were affected and I had to work hard to regain my vision and go on shooting new images for my visual project - colonial architecture. As I realised, there is plenty of this everywhere, here in Australia every country town is replete with old buildings. For most of last year, to get out and finding these lovely Victorian structures was the problem. I no longer drive, my partner works full-time, and public transport was impacted by the ongoing lockdowns - we could not even travel to Melbourne and I had to order all my photo supplies online, which I did.
I was mostly at home on my own. With our two cats for company, nice felines ("furbags") and lap warmers - but not really substitutes for getting out and about and communicating with humans.
After my dormant period , I got into my writing and film scanning. I finished two manuscripts of projects I'd had hanging about for too long - a spy thriller novel set in Bangkok from the 1970s and a travel book set in Indonesia from 1993. Both are now done and with a literary agent in Europe . It was a great relief to be rid of those after so many decades as paper drafts in filing cabinets.
For most of the year I wasn't up to any new photo projects, especially with the restrictions on regional travel, so I decided to tackle my film folders (dating to 1961), then my digital image files from 2008.
Six months later I have both set up. Rather an effort, with 80,000+ film images (culled by 30%-35%,) then my digital (100,000+ images, 40%-45% deleted). My folders are more "focussed" and I easily find material by date or keywords. Many hitherto lost slides turned up, notably Kodachromes from Bali in 1970, 1972 and 1974, 400 images of the oldBali royal dance school in Ubud, lost and I believed destroyed.
I'm now scanning film taken in Indonesia from 1985 to 1992. Images from other Asian countries will be done next. My old Plustek still works well if slowly (like the photographer), but a new scanner will be ordered next month.
I haven't yet decided what I'll do with all my images, but the satisfaction of finally having done it is already great. Part of my life put into order, at last...
In photography, I've not done so much. A few regional trips to shoot (mostly) architecture, visits to national and state parks (for the pleasure of being out and about, more than any "academic" goal), and a long overdue tidying up of my darkroom, have all taken place.
In 2020, finally, I decided to stop snapping nice landscapes during my travels. I have too many of these in my files, both on film and as digital images. They take up space (not so much on hard disks, but those yellow slide boxes do fill up cartons and even filing cabinets!) Also several thousand negatives of long-departed felines, and snaps of people I no longer see or want to see. Much work with scissors and off to recycling they all went, negatives, prints and slides.
Family photos were kept, scanned and emailed to friends and relatives around the planet. A small album of my best 20 (okay, 50) cat shots is in the works.
It's good that we have "survived Covid" with our creative projects. For many of us, photography is an important and valued lifeline to the world and our mental health, and it has to be sustained. Long may we go on doing so!!
pyeh
Member of good standing
Ozmoose, you've been tremendously productive during Covid. Very admirable!
Good luck with the books you've written.
Good luck with the books you've written.
Before Covid, I was into street photography. I had to go downtown many times a week or I felt unproductive and depressed. However, my wife and I had a baby at the same time Covid started getting worse in Chile (March 2020) and I knew these both would keep me from going downtown to photograph. It sucked at first, but I edited all of my photography from NYC and Chile, made a website, wrote some articles, participated in gallery shows, made books, bought a lot of photography books and really thought about how they are made, learned a little about In-Design and really thought about what I wanted to do next with my photography. What I thought would be a horrible time away from what I loved ended up being a great thing for me. I would have kept putting that all off while just photographing on the streets. I never stopped photographing either, but I was recalibrating... and now I'm working on completely different projects that don't involve photographing people. The last thing I feel like doing is straight forward street photography. Life is strange sometimes.
narsuitus
Well-known
When I first started working for a newspaper, I learned to take photos regardless if I were happy or sad.
Since then, I developed the habit of being happy when I was making money.
I have not been happy for the last 12 months.
Since then, I developed the habit of being happy when I was making money.
I have not been happy for the last 12 months.
JeffS7444
Well-known
Emotions like sadness are an inward-looking thing, but in order to photograph well, I feel I need to be able to look outwardly, and to see what's actually going on around me. As that becomes habit, I sometimes find that my woes aren't as overwhelming as they once seemed.
Tom R
Established
My "mood," generally, does not impact the number of exposures I might make over a given time period. Because I'm retired, however, I have more flexibility; so it's the setting, content and composition that differ.
Archiver
Veteran
Interesting to see the range of responses and rationales for taking photos.
For me, photography is way of documenting my life, and it ramps up when something unusual happens. During lockdown last year, I recorded several self-videos of talking about my thoughts and feelings about the lockdown period, and shot the supermarket when I made the occasional grocery run.
M9 - Beaches Closed by Archiver, on Flickr
When I'm out to deliberately take photos for myself, I seek that zen state where there's just me, the camera and the subject, which I find remarkably refreshing and therapeutic. There's something very calming about the act of taking photos. Usually, I'm so busy that I don't get to go out for a dedicated photowalk, so I cherish it when that becomes available.
GR - Docklands Sunset by Archiver, on Flickr
Work is somewhat different as I'm aiming for an output that pleases others as well as myself, but since my clients know what kind of images I produce, I'm fairly safe in pleasing myself first. But I've always got a template of client needs in the back of my mind. This process has its own emotional payoffs, but doesn't have the same calmative properties of shooting for only myself.
Another aspect of photography that I enjoy is the physical act of it, particularly with haptically good cameras. If a camera feels good in the hand, focuses well, and has a satisfying shutter sound/feel, there's a real sense of pleasure in taking images. There is no perfect camera for me in this regard, or at least, I haven't come across it.
X100 - Fancy a drink? by Archiver, on Flickr
The M9 is very close with its handling and 'feel', but the shutter sound leave a bit to be desired. The M7 has a gorgeous sounding/feeling shutter, and I go through periods of dry firing it between rolls. The Pentax ME has a lovely feel, but too bad its lenses focus in the opposite direction from all my others. The Panasonic G9 has an annoyingly sensitive shutter release and a loose half-press position, which detracts from its otherwise superb handling and feel. The Olympus E-M5 has a very satisfying shutter, well damped but with enough of a muted crunch to feel like you've done something positive. Dad liked the feeling of it so much that he got one for himself. If the G9 had the E-M5's shutter, it would be wonderful. It makes me wonder about the Olympus E-M1 Mark II or III. When I held the original Leica SL, it was just too blocky and sharp, but the SL2 feels glorious.
G9 - The Second Wave by Archiver, on Flickr
So to sum up, I shoot because I like shooting, the process gives me a zen state, and the physical act of photography with a satisfying camera cannot be underestimated. Not to mention, knowing that I'm producing personally appealing images and documenting my life is the later reward.
M9 - Relaxing with Schweppes by Archiver, on Flickr
For me, photography is way of documenting my life, and it ramps up when something unusual happens. During lockdown last year, I recorded several self-videos of talking about my thoughts and feelings about the lockdown period, and shot the supermarket when I made the occasional grocery run.
M9 - Beaches Closed by Archiver, on Flickr
When I'm out to deliberately take photos for myself, I seek that zen state where there's just me, the camera and the subject, which I find remarkably refreshing and therapeutic. There's something very calming about the act of taking photos. Usually, I'm so busy that I don't get to go out for a dedicated photowalk, so I cherish it when that becomes available.
GR - Docklands Sunset by Archiver, on Flickr
Work is somewhat different as I'm aiming for an output that pleases others as well as myself, but since my clients know what kind of images I produce, I'm fairly safe in pleasing myself first. But I've always got a template of client needs in the back of my mind. This process has its own emotional payoffs, but doesn't have the same calmative properties of shooting for only myself.
Another aspect of photography that I enjoy is the physical act of it, particularly with haptically good cameras. If a camera feels good in the hand, focuses well, and has a satisfying shutter sound/feel, there's a real sense of pleasure in taking images. There is no perfect camera for me in this regard, or at least, I haven't come across it.
X100 - Fancy a drink? by Archiver, on Flickr
The M9 is very close with its handling and 'feel', but the shutter sound leave a bit to be desired. The M7 has a gorgeous sounding/feeling shutter, and I go through periods of dry firing it between rolls. The Pentax ME has a lovely feel, but too bad its lenses focus in the opposite direction from all my others. The Panasonic G9 has an annoyingly sensitive shutter release and a loose half-press position, which detracts from its otherwise superb handling and feel. The Olympus E-M5 has a very satisfying shutter, well damped but with enough of a muted crunch to feel like you've done something positive. Dad liked the feeling of it so much that he got one for himself. If the G9 had the E-M5's shutter, it would be wonderful. It makes me wonder about the Olympus E-M1 Mark II or III. When I held the original Leica SL, it was just too blocky and sharp, but the SL2 feels glorious.
G9 - The Second Wave by Archiver, on Flickr
So to sum up, I shoot because I like shooting, the process gives me a zen state, and the physical act of photography with a satisfying camera cannot be underestimated. Not to mention, knowing that I'm producing personally appealing images and documenting my life is the later reward.
M9 - Relaxing with Schweppes by Archiver, on Flickr