Why Do You Use Your Camera?

[Rob-F]

PS. Maybe you had to load a film. That itself is grand: opening the crinkly sleeve, the smell and the feel of the paper and the black backing and the tug of it all winding on...

Like unwrapping a cigar, cutting the end, getting out the special lighter. I haven't smoked in over 20 years, but I remember that ritual. And yes loading film in the camera is a satisfying ritual in itself. Good point!

And I think photographing can be a ritual, when we load up and go out "in search of." A chance to be creative and original, and be able to say, "This is something I made, just how I saw it."

 

[Richard G]

Because it gives me something to do while walking and listening to Donna Summer's I Feel Love turned up to 11 🙂

Your amp goes to 11?


🙂

 

[Pál_K]

Your amp goes to 11?


🙂

Well, you're all the way up, all the way up - where can you go from there? Nowhere. Exactly. So, what we do when we want that extra push over the edge? 11. Exactly. One louder.

 

[RichC]

Couldn't care less about using my camera, really. They're only tools - just buy the cheapest for the job, replace when it doesn't do it well.

A well-known photographer whose name escapes me said he dislikes cameras. I totally get that: cameras just get in the way. They're a necessary evil.

Film cameras are now obsolete - outclassed by digital. And technology keeps getting better, so I get a new camera every 3-4 years - at the moment that seems to be the timescale for tech advances to make getting the photographs I want easier.

I'll keep replacing my tools until that stops making a difference. Image stabilisation, electronic viewfinders ... the next revolution will be computational photography where the camera does things like changing depth of field through manipulation rather than a true record of reality (photos are lies anyway, even if they are records at the same time).

The question you should be asking is "Why do you make photographs?"

"The instrument is not the camera but the photographer.”
— Eve Arnold

 

[Richard G]

I’m sure I’ve read this on RFF: “Wish I had the <<insert camera of choice here>> when I took this one.” That’s the opportunity cost of not carrying your favourite camera. The OP’s question has worked well precisely as posed.

 

[Darthfeeble]

Because I can't draw worth a damn.

 

[jsrockit]

The question you should be asking is "Why do you make photographs?"

Sure, that is a very good question as well. However, there is nothing wrong with liking your tools either. If I wasn't making photographs, I wouldn't own a camera. I get that. But...since I do want to make photos, I see nothing wrong with liking my cameras too. It is always best to be comfortable with your tools.

 

[Tim Murphy]

To record things that interest me

To record things that interest me

Dear LC,

I use a camera overwhelmingly to shoot nature and wildlife scenes that I find interesting. Often that requires the use of a telephoto, or a wider angle lens than a cell phone provides.

The better question for me is, why do I have DSLR's, when most of my pictures are taken after spying something of interest while driving in my car? In those cases I use the digital P&S that always sits on the passenger seat.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg, PA 🙂

 

[Greg Maslak]

This is not off topic, a reprinting of another wonderful essay of Nabokov’s: “Man and Things.”

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/man-and-things/amp

"Finally, the heading of my talk might produce yet another quid pro quo... and take on the image of things for which the management bears no responsibility." - Nabokov's unintended prophecy placed with wonderful irony on the pages of The NewYorker surrounded by presidential impeachment. Thank you for the smile.

As for me and cameras, I like N's idea that things need us as much as we need them to complete the creative circle. This afternoon, I think I will hone a plane iron and, perhaps even, make a shelf.

 

[Guth]

In part due to my long-held desire to operate the camera as opposed to being captured by it. In part due to the satisfaction that the camera brings me through use as a photographic tool. Ideally if all goes well I end up with some nice photographs that do not include myself amongst the subject matter.

 

[charjohncarter]

I'm simply a hobbyist, but photography has opened my eyes to things I don't think I would notice with my hobby. Yesterday, I took a long walk with my Pentax 6x7 so I also got outside and did some exercise (the 6x7 is heavy).