Why do you take pictures? I mean, really?

[FrankS]

An ant once asked a millipede how it managed to walk without tripping over its many legs. The millipede stopped to think about it, and never walked again.

Please don't make me think about why I take photographs, it's just something I do. I"m not sure I want to analyse why.

 

[Nick R.]

Some people are the light; some the mirror that reflects it. My camera is a mirror.

 

[wtl]

An ant once asked a millipede how it managed to walk without tripping over its many legs. The millipede stopped to think about it, and never walked again.

Please don't make me think about why I take photographs, it's just something I do. I"m not sure I want to analyse why.

it seems to be a smart answer but the fact that you saw the title line and still clicked on it to read indicates something otherwise from what you said.

i use photography to connect with people. it provides me the opportunity to meet people and listen to their stories. so it is more or less a selfish act because it fulfills my needs more than anyone else.

 

[remrf]

The answer for me has changed over the years I have been taking photographs.

At first I took them to learn about a technology that I found very interesting.

For a time I took them because that was my job.

Still later I took them to document where I was and what I was doing . And the people I was doing it with.

For a time I took them to try and create images of beauty or interest. This desire is still a subset of my motivation today.


Now I take them because I have a fondness for the process and the technology. I enjoy the steps required to make photographs. And I enjoy using the tools that make them.

And as some have already stated:

Cause' I want to.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

Photography is not about the thing photographed. It is about how that thing looks photographed. -Garry Winogrand


I have a burning desire to see what things look like photographed by me. -Garry Winogrand , said when he was asked why he photographs.



For me the true business of photography is to capture a bit of reality (whatever that is) on film…if, later, the reality means something to someone else, so much the better. -Garry Winogrand


Winogrand had several good quotes I can relate to, but I think it's the insatiable urge to create something is why I shoot.
Sometimes it's just the act of pressing the shutter, sometimes it's when I see the negs dripping wet with photo-flo that I'm satisfied, either way it's an addiction.

todd

 

[ywenz]

David Alan Harvey's old works inspire me to be like him.

 

[raid]

I had different needs and wishes throughout my life when it came to taking photos.
When I was a a young boy and a teenager, I observed my Dda taking photos, and I may have wanted to be "like Dad".

While being in college in Baghdad, I noticed an irritating student in my class using a Chinese camera. It took him forever to take a photo. I was curious. At that time, the situation in Iraq was getting worse and worse, and my dad put all his photography aside (forever!), and I started using is Zeiss Contina. Then, I was very interested in people around me. I took photos of them.

While being a graduate student in the USA, I was under immense pressure due to difficult Ph.D. level courses. This pressure was intensified by bad new every week in Iraq, and I was homesick. I took out my Contina and took many photos each day in Blacksburg (Virginia), which is a nice area in southwest Virginia with rolling hills and streams and horses ... etc. I would either take night scenes after I completed my studies, or I would shoot from the window of the building where my department was housed. This got me to take photos to unwind.

The wish to take photos is still with me today. I adjust based on what is happening in my life. I used to take nature photos because (like many others here) I enjoy going out and being close to Nature. Now, I have little kids, so my universe is at home with my family.

I mail/email photos of us here to my old mother (in Baghdad), and they help her keep going.

 

[Simon Larbalestier]

Photographs are a record of time, lifestyle and history. Change continually is happening but at such a slow speed that we don't see it from day to day. Photography allows us to take a fraction of a second and preserve that moment so that we might reflect on it in the future. We can then compare today to days in the past and see the change.

Photography is a very strong tool that allows us to share our thoughts and vision. The viewer can look through our eyes for that slit second that the shutter is open. The camera is a window into the soul with no curtains to obscure.

Photographs have the ability to make change and impact lives, good and bad.



http://www.photo.net/photos/X-Ray

Don, perfectly put. I wish i could write with such clarity.

 

[Sparrow]

It’s a natural thing part of being human, a need to show others the pictures we each see inside our heads, a way of saying “look this is how it is” a simple human need to communicate.
The earliest of man’s artefacts were found in a south African cave, pieces of red ochre engraved with geometric patterns and used to provide a red pigment to decorate either themselves or their surroundings I suppose charcoal would also be available from the beginning, I suspect we have always made pictures.
ps
bet the guy with the charcoal complained bitterly about the introduction of colour and agonised as to which bag to put his burnt sticks in!!

 

[Swissmadepix]

There is a well known photojournalist, that writes a monthly column for a website. It's called "Through a Lens, dimly". I'll alliterate that into "Through my lens, humbly".

When I walk, when I drive, when I talk to people, I always find a moment, an expression, a situation that speaks to me. No matter what the reason might be. And I have kicked (and still will kick) myself in the "Allerwerteste" so many times for not being able to share that moment with other people. Photography is a mean that allows me to do just that.

When it comes to protraits, I heared several time what George mentioned re: the picture being distinctive of my way of shooting. In the end, to me, it's also another form of communication.

I mentioned "humbly". About a year ago, a very good Friend visited me and she was surprised that I had none of my pictures on my walls. She told me I should try to print some out, matte and frame them. And so I did. I'm happy I did. I had some of th eprints already but going through my archives and deciding which one deserves to be framed, was an enlightening experience: it reminded me why I take pictures and how much I enjoy it.

It's been only a couple of weeks that I've rediscovered film in general and rangefinders in particular. What I like ? It's a much moire (oups..typo, but I'll leave it there) paced way of capturing the light and the patterns it forms. The majority of my pictures is taken (even if digital) in full manual mode, so that was not new to me as I am used to think before snapping. What IS new, however, is the fact that I have to wait longer to have an idea on how muchj I was able to record. A bad thing ? I don't think so.

 

[GeneW]

When I was younger I used to think about this question quite often. I could never work it out, so I gave up asking the question and decided it was better just to take photos and not worry about the 'why'...

Gene

 

[jonasv]

‘I don’t want anyone to enjoy the light or the palette of tones. I want my pictures to inform, to provoke discussion. And to raise money’
(Sebastiao Salgado)

 

[DougK]

I'm not being sarcastic here... because I want to and because I can't draw/sketch worth beans.

 

[JoeFriday]

I take photos because it's easier than painting

 

[oftheherd]

...

I took out my Contina and took many photos each day in Blacksburg (Virginia), which is a nice area in southwest Virginia with rolling hills and streams and horses ... etc. I would either take night scenes after I completed my studies, or I would shoot from the window of the building where my department was housed. This got me to take photos to unwind.

...

.

Raid, that sounds like a Hokie reason to me! 😀

...

I mail/email photos of us here to my old mother (in Baghdad), and they help her keep going.
...

.

That alone is a superb reason to photograph. I pray she remains safe there.

 

[Iskra 2]

To agitate and convince my offspring who consider an old man running around with too many old film cameras as demented/senile. 😀

 

[tkluck]

Two reasons, no philosophy:
1. Six grandchildren.
2. I have fun doing it.

 

[Ken F.]

Capturing moments in time, and like tk above, having fun doing it!

Cheers,
kf

 

[JimG]

First because I enjoy using well made and designed archaic tools from an other time.
Second because I'm always amazed when I take the film out of developer tank that the exposures were correct and the alchemy of it all came together to create these negatives.
Thirdly the rush I get watching the creation of a new print as it appears in the developer tray.
Number Four is finding the right combination of exposure time, aperture and what ever else is needed to make the best print I can.
And lastly getting someone to acknowledge it even if they hate it.

 

[Chuck A]

"I photograph to see what things look like photographed" Gary Winogrand, 1928-1984.

I think that sums it up for me, and I would guess quite a few others.

I agree.

For me it is the surprises that I see in my photos. The photos that I feel are my best are the ones that surprise me when I look at them. I consciously see something that I like and take a photo. Later I see things that my subconscious has seen. Moments or photographic elements that I never saw consciously. Some people call them "Happy Accidents". Either way they keep phptography fresh for me. I photograph to see them.

Also, I love cameras and the act of taking a photograph with a fine instument.

WInogrand generally didn't look at his negatives for years after taking the photo. He tried to remove the emotional attachment to the time and event that he photographed before he looked at his photos.

This has been a great thread. I really enjoyed reading the answers.