why is it so important to us?

I have to amend my previous post.

When I carry a camera, I concentrate on looking at what I see, finding a frame, an event, something. the motivation is the chase.

When I edit, I concentrate on weeding out the duds, and the selection, I try to make it look more like what I saw than what I saw.

On the whole, the motivation is quality. As in Zen and Motorcycle Maintenance.

And when I publish, I'm an attention whore.

Cheers
 
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While I've gotten ok at painting walls and trim, painting anything else looks like I should have held back in kindergarten (still).

Drawing is fine with a straight edge and on a drafting table, a square for marking wood to cut, don't look for me to sketch anything intellagable.

I do it because I can edit what I do and can try and get better. Try new things and trash the stuff that didn't work the way I thought at the time I released the shutter.

Why something different, we need to do our part to help the economy get stronger.

B2
 
Darthfeeble said:
As a fumbling amateur, I continue to believe that the problem with my images is the camera.
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I did a great deal of agonizing about the same issue. As did you, I finally came to the same conclusion. (But it wasn't easy) :p

Actually, I just enjoy photography, when I can.
 
I shoot because it's an incredibly satisfying feeling knowing that I'm creating something from ordinary events and seeing my work improve over time... or, at least I think it is.
 
back alley said:
i'm talking about the average amateur now...

we look at new gear with great lust in our hearts...
we check out each other's new images with great gusto...
we agonize over each new purchase...should it be a body with better af or a lens with incredible low light ability and bokeh?

is it really art if it's digital...will film last as long as i will?
which post processing software gives better highlights, more shadow detail, crisp edges?

speaking for those of us who wont make a dime from their photography this year...what drives us so crazy about this hobby?
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Marketing/advertising is a social science that studies how to manipulate human behavior. By now they are very good at this.
 
FrankS said:
A distraction from the ultimate emptiness and purposeless-ness of life?


;)
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There is something to this. A hobby can be a denial, a defense mechanism. Denial of death.

But it is also a way of seeing and participating in the world. One has to look more carefully when photographing. We are more likely to remember what we have seen.
 
back alley said:
i'm talking about the average amateur now...

we look at new gear with great lust in our hearts...
we check out each other's new images with great gusto...
we agonize over each new purchase...should it be a body with better af or a lens with incredible low light ability and bokeh?
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We do? That is a very broad brush you have there. I'm having a lot of cheap fun with plywood and foam core pinhole cameras, homemade 4X5 box cameras with plus diopter lenses, all with photo paper uses for negatives.
As an aside, I would think quite a few of the members here simply do not have the disposable income to pursue avidly new photographic equipment. I certainly do not. (That is not a complaint, just a notation)
 
one doesn't need lots of money to look at gear and images...or bokeh ;)

yes, it is a broad brush but i think it fits for many here...lots of intense discussions about the things i listed...
 
lukitas said:
I'm aching for flattery, love and admiration. I melt when somebody I respect pats me on the back. I'm a pathetic ego-tripper, please love what I do.

That said, it's mostly about the chase. About looking consciously, not the routine taking care of not treading onto turds. Almost everything else I do is on auto-pilot. Looking for a decent frame is what keeps me awake, involved, on a quest, a chase for that moment when everything falls into place : light & composition & emotional appeal.

And, it is also very much like collecting stamps or postcards.

In sum, I am chasing that photograph that will make me world-famous, adored by multitudes, with scores of buxom ladies trying to catch my eye. And I'm a perverted old stamp collector who likes to shoot pictures of people who may not be aware of that fact.

fogging perverts with obscene curiosity and illusions of fame and glory, that's what photographers really are.

Cheers
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Love this. :)

I do photography because I enjoy finding ways to remember what has affected me and sharing those moments. Making prints, producing books and videos, telling stories ... these are things that give my life some of its meaning and reward me with great satisfaction.

I enjoy cameras because they are fascinating devices, clever machines, with a rich history of people and ideas in their development. That's a study unto itself and somewhat separate from photography.

G
 
Ned Bojic said:
Extreme boredom.
Unhappy lives.
Jealousy.
Ineffective reality checks.
Lack of sex.
Lack of drive in general.
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I guess my therapist isn't adhering to any confidentiality standards. How do you know him, anyway?

Yeah. It's this stuff.

I also have the ridiculous notion that great photographs are somehow IN the particular camera or lens. I look at so much photography every day, and i save a lot of images. When i view them, it's almost as if something in my head convinces me that if i had that particular lens, i could create a similarly fantastic image. But, what's left out of the equation is that i basically sit in my apartment all day, every day, and don't experience the bits of life that actually lead to photographically compelling moments.
 
Photography keeps me active both physically and mentally (I walk miles with a camera and whilst I have the camera in hand I find it helps a lot to sharpen my observation and engagement with my surroundings).

There’s also the fact that I like using mechanical cameras and film. In the past I had access to a darkroom so I did all my own black and white developing and enlargement; these days my films are sent off to be developed and scanned.

For me, the whole process from taking the picture to the final print was an engaging and satisfying process, both physically and intellectually. These days the computer route is a poor but necessary substitute given my circumstances.

Finally, to boil it all down, there’s Winogrand’s statement: "I photograph to see what things look like photographed". I like that.

Apart from this most people I know couldn’t give two hoots about my photography.
 
Brian Atherton said:
Photography keeps me active both physically and mentally (I walk miles with a camera and whilst I have the camera in hand I find it helps a lot to sharpen my observation and engagement with my surroundings).

There’s also the fact that I like using mechanical cameras and film. In the past I had access to a darkroom so I did all my own black and white developing and enlargement; these days my films are sent off to be developed and scanned.

For me, the whole process from taking the picture to the final print was an engaging and satisfying process, both physically and intellectually. These days the computer route is a poor but necessary substitute given my circumstances.

Finally, to boil it all down, there’s Winogrand’s statement: "I photograph to see what things look like photographed". I like that.

Apart from this most people I know couldn’t give two hoots about my photography.
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+1

When I was working..photography and gear was a way for me to relieve the stress of my job. Now that I am retired, I tend to take a lot of hikes and walks. I find having a camera w/ me..makes me look at things in a different light...my days w/ an enlarger are done, but the digital path whether film or digital raw file to ink jet print is what I do today.

I shoot pictures for fun..
Gary
 
back alley said:
one doesn't need lots of money to look at gear and images...or bokeh ;)

yes, it is a broad brush but i think it fits for many here...lots of intense discussions about the things i listed...
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On a daily basis I look at gear...and once or twice a year I might buy something...this year I've bought one lens and one enlarger easel...in total under $100
Looking at gear helps me learn about gear...I learn what different lenses do and how they record images...I look for images that these lenses created and while looking at these images I see the many different ways others shoot...win-win...:cool:
 
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