What is the Point of Photography ?

LC Smith: I like your points. I agree that news or documentary photography has its purpose and limitations. I was thinking more along the lines of images that convey a spiritual element or that show the human condition and the world in ways that are timeless and make us wonder about possibility. Of course, not every person will connect with every image or every type of image!
 
ellisson said:
LC Smith: I was thinking more along the lines of images that convey a spiritual element or that show the human condition and the world in ways that are timeless and make us wonder about possibility.
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Ah yes, then we are most in concert.
 
Philosophically, I don’t know.

The enjoyment and technical challenge of using a camera aside, I just take photos to record the life I see around me, and because I enjoy seeing the output in print.

Human mark making to record what one sees is a fundamental human instinct; humans have been doing it on cave walls and rock outcrops since the dawn of time, only the medium has changed.

Other than this photography (and any image making) by others has to move and involve me on an emotional level.
 
Seems from my point of view it's to enhance the economy. Still, I like to take pictures, that's it. When I get a good one I like to see it printed and up on the wall. I don't have some deep message. I consider myself a yeoman photographer and at best a documentarian.
 
Personally, mental health and for some reason endlessly putting a frame around something, over and over, to see what it looks like, just does it for me...
 
When I think of my photo friends... I have over the years come to know and appreciate their individual style, texture, and depth... there's no point by or in itself or themselves... as a body of work photography is part and parcel of who they are, considering the time-factor, growth, and change.. although the latter factors may have less impact than one might imagine.

Through photography (as one activity) we come to know our friends and ultimately aspects of who we are.
 
Garry Winogrand answered it and I doubt many can improve on the reasoning, rationally, that is to see what something looks like when it’s photographed.
 
If you had asked this question of me thirty years ago I would have probably had a quick answer. Now, with three quarters of a century close ahead, I'm not so sure.
 
You guys are much more philosophical than me. I thought the point of photography was to buy more cameras and lenses. By that measure, I am very, very good at photography. :D
 
I'm with Franko.
While I love threads of this kind, I can't think of a clever or deep statement that describes why I like to take pictures, though I have taken pictures almost continuously since I was 15.
 
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