Vision?

[dazedgonebye]

Do you go out with a "vision" of the image you want to create, or do you find something you feel is interesting/beautiful and make an image out of what you see?

This feels like an important question to me.

I know that most of the time, I just head out to some locale I think will have something to offer and look for an image to be made. Very seldom do I have a vision in my head and go out looking for ways to put it on film.

I like this shot.

It's the pier in Newport Beach, Ca. I'd been there once before, and when I found out I would be going back, I packed my pinhole and a disposable tripod so I could make this shot. It turned out much as I thought it would.
So, was this shot the result of an image I wanted to create or a thing I found that I wanted to make an image of?

Does that distinction make any sense?
Should I have been drinking heavily before posing such a question?
Do I need to adjust my meds and get over myself?

 

[le vrai rdu]

i don' have vision, I feel it is ok to shoot, or interesting, I wouldn't say beautiful, beauty as nothing to do with photography imho (but, as I am french, and because I speak french, I may not put the same meaning as an english native speaker behind the word "beauty" )

 

[Keith]

I seem to need some type of vision to produce anything worthwhile. Occasions where I just randomly shoot seldom produce anything I really like.

 

[tmfabian]

i avoid having a "vision" when i go out to shoot. Having a vision can inhibit your creativity by locking your brain into what you think the shot should look like and causing you to overlook what the moment truly has to offer.

But, this is just my point of view and my way of working.

edit: in my use of "vision" i was thinking about having a vision of how a photograph should look, whenever I start a project i start it with only the concept of what the project is about, but when I go to photograph it i keep my mind empty of a "vision" of how the images should look and simply allow them to unveil themselves.

 

[dazedgonebye]

One of the things that prompted me to ask was a thread on another forum. It asks people what projects they have planned for the new year.
A project is an interesting concept to me. It would mean, I think, having an idea of what you wanted to say with your photos and a plan on how to say it.
I envy that perspective, but I'm not sure I can play that way.

 

[le vrai rdu]

I had a project last summer with my training period in a shipyard 🙂

It was a very interesting way to shoot 🙂

And I didn't really shot out of that shipyard, I was a bit tiring ( I shop maybe 70 roll for 13 weeks 😀 )

I would like to have a new project, maybe making some little "roman photo" like duane michal on this site : madeinphoto.fr 🙂

 

[Michael Da Re]

I think a lot depends on your style of photography. All aspects of style such as portrait, landscape, macro etc.. takes vision. Because you know what your looking for before you find it. Street photography on the other hand is being creative as the moment arises. I think that's one of the reasons for it's popularity.

 

[le vrai rdu]

interesting 🙂

he speaks quickly but the accent is OK 😀 great 🙂

I think I should take note on a little book 🙂

 

[mcgrattan]

I usually don't have either a project in mind or a 'vision' for individual images in advance. I do far too much aimless shooting.

However, when I do shoot in a more considered way, the results are usually among my favourite shots. Imposing arbitrary technical limitations or trying to pursue a particular stylistic quirk or look also work for me. Any kind of imposed structure works.

After a Rodchenko exhibition I saw, for example, I spent an afternoon shooting in a 'constructivist' style. The experience was fun, informative and the imposition of some stylistic and technical limitation on what I was doing made for better pictures.

 

[dazedgonebye]

Steve,

Having projects is a great way to keep things in perspective and to give motivation.
Have a listen to this audio clip from Stephen Schaub at Figital Revolution.

The Photographic Project. (link)

What he says certainly makes sense.
Any business or project needs a statement of purpose or a well defined goal.

Ironic to my problems in this area...my degree is in Project Management!

 

[shadowfox]

In my understanding, a vision here is an ideal image in our mind.

So I think all of us (photographers) have a collection of "visions", even for the spontaneous styles like street. Otherwise, how do we know when to trigger the shutter?

Most of the time, the resulting image that is recorded is a mix between one of those visions and the opportunity (subject, settings, light, etc.) we are faced with.

If the mix leaned towards the vision, then it's a realization of the said vision.

If not, it's either a reject, or an inspiration for a new vision.

Another thought, a vision may be born from editing also.

 

[Bob Michaels]

I am always working on a specific photo project, which may take 3 months to several years, or trying to hone in on what the next project will be. Without that focus to create a cohesive body of work that tells a story, I am just shooting a bunch of random photos. And the chance of coming up with a spectacular image from random shooting is lower than the odds of winning the lottery.

I may be a bit different but I only want 20-30 really good photos a year or so. I think that nobody, I mean NOBODY, wants to see your best 100 photos from 2008. That includes your mother, best photo buddy, spouse or significant other. They only want to really see the top 12. And they want to see them telling some cohesive story.

I fought the concept of needing a cohesive body of work for several years. It was just fun to go out and photograph whatever seemed to come up. But I finally had to admit that the really significant photographers worked on a consistent theme. While I had no goal of public acceptance, I did want to accomplish something in my own mind with with photography.

 

[dazedgonebye]

In my understanding, a vision here is an ideal image in our mind.

So I think all of us (photographers) have a collection of "visions", even for the spontaneous styles like street. Otherwise, how do we know when to trigger the shutter?

Most of the time, the resulting image that is recorded is a mix between one of those visions and the opportunity (subject, settings, light, etc.) we are faced with.

If the mix leaned towards the vision, then it's a realization of the said vision.

If not, it's either a reject, or an inspiration for a new vision.

Another thought, a vision may be born from editing also.

I can't decide if you've got a great point or are just giving me the excuse I need to avoid reforming my haphazard ways. 😀

Seriously, I get your point, but I still feel I may be missing something by not taking a more project oriented approach.
Now, if I can only come up with an idea before wandering around with a camera and waiting for inspiration to strike.

 

[antiquark]

Occasionally I have an idea of a picture I want to take. Sometimes the final photograph is good, sometimes it isn't. Usually the best pictures are scenes that I "discovered" rather than "invented". However there are successful photographers who do both.

As for projects, I find a good project is to simply document a large location, like a big park, or a long street. If the location is big enough, you'll have to return many times in different weather conditions and seasons, and the process could take months. If it's a long project you'll actually improve in your framing, composition, etc, which is a bonus.

Documentary style projects are great because you are guaranteed to succeed... if you flop artistically, at least you still have a historical document! 🙂

If you think you've reached a "new level" of artistic understanding, then you could try to capture the "essence" of a location. If you do it well, you'll have a project that succeeds in being two things: a historical document, and an artistic expression.

 

[Bob Michaels]

Now, if I can only come up with an idea before wandering around with a camera and waiting for inspiration to strike.

I find that my "wandering around with a camera" or sometimes "just wandering around" is where most of my ideas for photo series come from. I find something that interests me and find that I am going back and working on something similar, then things begin to develop. Not all ideas pan out and most make a few turns along the way. Most series concepts begin very broad then seem to tighten up into something manageable along the way.

One example is the Daytona Beach Boardwalk. It is less than 50 miles from my house and was always a fertile ground for photo ops. I kept going back over several years. Then I decided to do a series of everyone who visited there for a six month period. I already knew there was the low budget winter visitors, then the NASCAR crowd, then the Bike Week crowd, then the Spring Break crowd, then the Black College Reunion crowd and typical summer visitors. So I ended up photographing almost every weekend for six months in an area that is 60 feet wide and 1,200 feet long plus a pier. But I would never have attempted that without wandering around there sporadically for several years earlier. Plus in my wandering around, I had concluded that year 2005 had potential for great change at the Boardwalk. It turned out that I was right.

I wandered around photographing my broadly defined community until it evolved into a series of photos of the divergent population and current socio-economic change. That series took about 18 months.

Then that series took me into photographing one minority neighborhood of about 4,000 people. I spent just over two years there. Got to really know the community. Got to know almost all the people. And most of them knew me. I think my work turned out reasonably well.

You can see examples of all those series on my website if you have any interest.

Just never feel bad about wandering around so long as you are seeking some ultimate goal. It is just the wandering around with no objective that keeps you perpetually wandering.

 

[Nh3]

I worked on personal project photographing Tibetan protests during summer Olympics. After a while not only i got bored of the whole thing, i became cynical and conflicted about the project and ended up canning the whole thing.

The lesson that I learned was quite simple: Let the project come to you, and don't go around searching for a project.

As far as vision is concerned I have none.

 

[mh2000]

I tend to go out looking for beautiful/interesting things/details that when photographed or incorporated into a photograph broaden or strengthen my personal vision.

 

[dmr]

Occasionally I have an idea of a picture I want to take. Sometimes the final photograph is good, sometimes it isn't.

This is what happens to me, I'll visualize something, go there, shoot it. Sometimes it works, often it does not. 🙁

When I come upon a scene which evokes a certain feeling I want to capture, sometimes it's indeed the money shot, but other times it's just blaaaah. Other times I just *KNOW* I have the perfect shot when I snap, but I find technical errors or stuff like lens/film limitations. I'll occasionally go back and reshoot. Sometimes more than once.

I have a handful of scenes in my mind which I haven't been able to find in real life, even though I keep looking for them, if this makes any sense ...

 

[Sparrow]

I don’t have visions myself but often steal….errr, reinterpret, other peoples. Don't know if that counts or not

 

[oftheherd]

I used to go to what I thought would be interesting places and shoot what I found there. I didn't have a vision per se. I have done that too though; an idea of what I wanted before I got there. Some times that has worked, some times not. I still tend to just look where I am for what I think is interesting.