Why take pictures?

Bill Pierce

Bill Pierce

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What was it in photography that caught your interest? The gear, the process, the subjects???? I joined a camera club at school because you had to have a certain number of extracurricular points to graduate. I was a science nerd; so I loved the gear, both the camera gear and the darkroom gear That shoot and print philosophy got reenforced years later when David Vestal and Gene Smith, good shooters and good printers, went out of their way to help me. No question, I enjoyed the toys and craft, still do, but working as a news photographer made me incredibly aware that you learn from observing and interacting with your subjects whether it be the subject of a portrait, a community caught in a war or just groups of friends or an isolated individuals on the street or your own family and friends. And that’s incredibly enjoyable. I’ve mentioned before that my normal reply to someone saying “That’s a really nice picture.” is “You should have been there.” Quite often, for me, that’s the best part of photography. And, along the way, you will get some nice pictures.

So - why do you take pictures? What aspect of photography is the one that’s fun for you?
 
Surprisingly as I age, I take pictures to see small things better.
I really enjoy macro, as well as regular normal photography.
I never had a class in school so I never got into the chemical side of it. I love the gear though, and using old lenses on new(er) bodies.
Can't wait for my new used camera to get here Wednesday.
 
What do I look for? I think its the pursuit of something with at least a touch of artistry about it. It started with the realization that there was more to photography (for me anyway) than just making a faithful representation of a scene or object or person. Almost anyone with a camera can do that even if only sometimes. (No offence intended to those who do not aspire to try something different than this - if that is your "thing" then that is cool with me. And I have to acknowledge that there are plenty of people out there who are far better than this type of photography than I. Indeed that kind of photography is the bread and butter, the meat and potatoes that puts "food on the family" as Dubya Bush once said, for many many thousands of pro photographers. But it is just something that does not quite float my boat as a means of expression for me personally.) At some point I must have looked at images, probably images others had made, and realized they had succeeded in capturing more than a scene; they had captured the essence of the thing being represented in the image. Or an emotion, or a thought or an idea. They had captured a feeling. That for me was the gateway "drug" in photography.

As I say in my Flickr introductory page "I am more interested in an artistic approach to photography - which demands not technical perfection, but commitment to creating mood. Given the choice, choose mood and atmosphere every time. A photo should not just be an image of place, it should aim to convey the essence of a moment."
 
I got started when taking courses for printing in high school. We built a process camera and darkroom, and I was given use of the schools camera for a weekend ( a Spartus Fulvue as I recall). I didn't have a budget for doing photography on my own so it was kind of hit or miss while I messed around with some Polaroid cameras to start with. After that I bought an M42 outfit from Sears with four lenses, flash, and a bracket for the flash off camera. I ran around taking photos of everything, and even got a couple of pictures in the local newspaper.

It was something I was good at right off the bat, and I wanted to pursue it as a profession, but the government had different ideas as to how I should spend my youth, and I found myself in the military where you don't really get a choice in what you do unless you pick the one thing no one else wants to do.

After my four years were up I just kind of floated around for a while, even sold my camera (by that time I had an outfit built around a Nikkormat FTn) to a friend, and went about starting a career working for the railroad.

It took me a couple more years before the photo bug bit again, this time with another Polaroid, the famous SX-70. It didn't take long before I wanted something better and I bought a Nikon FM. Then I started getting serious.

Long story short, even though I started doing some commercial work, it was hard to fit it in between my day job requirements. I was also looking at wanting to build up a retirement nest egg, and have some job security, so I gave up the studio, and concentrated on whatever the railroad wanted me to do.

I still love taking photos though, and like to practice at it whenever I can. When I go out I still have that mindset that I've got a project to complete, and that I need to consider all the variables that go into the craft of capturing that proper image. Best thing is I'm my own boss, and own critic, so I don't have to deal with all the deadlines and compromises that go into something that someone else is directing.

Mainly, it keeps me going, even after all the issues I've had to deal with this last year. I'm finally feeling good enough to head out for an afternoon without the fear of having to head back early when my personal systems start to act up. I just wish the meds weren't so irritating first thing in the morning, but even that is starting to get better.

One can lose oneself in the pursuit of art, and it's times when I'm behind the camera that I feel like I'm where I should be. All the other cares and tribulations just fade into the background for a while, allowing me to feel, and think, and see what sort of vision that I can contain on film or a sensor.

My family doesn't understand why I still do it. "Perhaps they never will".

PF
 
Years ago, I took pictures because I thought that a picture could record an event, person, place or thing. I was partially correct.

Forty years later, I still take pictures because every exposure I make is an experiment with unexpected results; every frame is a record that is flawed--sometimes in an "interesting" way that tells me something that I didn't know or see at that time.
 
As a self-proclaimed archivist / historian of where I live and what I see, that is the main reason I make photos.

For the last six months I’ve been scanning negatives that I made over 40 years ago and have never seen printed - I just glanced at them after development and put them away. So, right now I’m traveling back 40 years in time.

Every so often I make a really nice artistic shot, too.
 
I don't know. I can't explain it. But it does give me pleasure.
 
I love the gear, I love the banter, I love the theory, but most of all, I get a kick out of a great image - more often than not, in print, and absolutely nothing (for me) beats viewing slides on a light box!
 
As many have said, the reasons we take pictures evolve over time.

As of late, I try to rephrase it into the following question:

If we have the ability to record in a video everything that we see, why do we still need pictures?

My answer for now: Isolate fragments of reality that create a feeling of transcendence.
 
I was not attracted by kids photo circle (this is how they called camera club in summer camps for kids in USSR). The whole thing looked boring. They were not taking pictures much. Not I was interested in something I didn't have.
At some point I realized it is cool to take picture from where I have been. By the same time I got access to family FED-2 and had some money to buy ORWO slides film. I couldn't care less about technicalities. S16 was in the instructions sheet with every roll. All I had to do it to expose, pay for developing and get it into cruel soviet diaprojektor to see it on the cut from the bed sheet hanging at the door.
It was enough until wedding days where I screwed it because I didn't knew how to use flash.
By the same time plastic P&S from the civilized world became available and we switched to the C-41, prints. Family pictures and some travel. In 1998 we got EOS 300 and used it on green box. Few rolls per year as usual. No technicalities involved. Point and shoot only.

It 2003 we managed to escape and I started to travel in Canada. Mobile phones had some primitive cameras around 2005 and I started to take more pictures on travels and using them as illustrations on personal Russian LiveJournal blog. My entries were getting stolen, some of my writings about Canada were published in Russian Cosmopolitan. Around 2007 we switched from film to advanced FujiFilm P&S. I got tripod and started to experiment with photography. By 2009 we got Canon 500D and this is were I learned all kinds of photography and how to take it.
Around same time we had long project in Montreal. Instead of sitting, drinking and eating after work I went on the streets with camera and tripod. Trying to catch some views. And just to be healthy.
Sooner or later I realized to be more attracted by people. I was always looking at people since kid, not on views.
Went back to film in 2012 because I like the film look and had time. I have tried all film formants and camera types. I was purchasing cameras in need of service. Not because I like the gear, but it was less expensive. I was fixing, trying and selling.

By now I'm keep on studying the North America population (if you know what I mean). I'm studying every appearance of humans I have access to, to be honest :) .
 
Photography is a creative outlet for me. As a kid I used to draw pictures all the time. There was never any instruction in art in my early life so what talent I had remained undeveloped. I also did some writing, basically learning from the books I read constantly but, again, what talent was there never had any development. I guess I was always hungry to create but starving for skills.

I took up photography accidentally but discovered a purpose there. Where I had no background in art or writing, the simple act of taking pictures really didn't require education as much as an eye to see. I found a magic in taking a fragment of time and saving it on film and paper. And as my curiosity grew so did my abilities and my vision. It's taken the better part of my life for me to educate myself and that education continues.
 
It's a timely question for me. My photographic output has fallen to a trickle, mainly because, after nearly 50 years of shooting, I can't come up with a satisfactory answer to the Why? question. Could be passing doldrums but feels like more. I'm writing and making music more, so the creativity is flowing. Just not in this direction.

John
 
As a kid my parents had a subscription to LIFE magazine. I spent hours poring over the images. I wanted to make images like that. I started in grade school with an "Instamatic" and then a cheap Polaroid. As with all the male descendants of my maternal Grandfather, it was required that I obtain an engineering degree in college. I chose mechanical engineering, but snuck in photography classes where I could. Got my first "real camera" in 1976, a Canon SLR. Kept trying to make B&W images like LIFE magazine.

In grad school I shot for the college newspaper, and continued working part time in photojournalism throughout the 1990's. Eventually ended up in Chicago, and shot for the two city newspapers. Still love B&W imagery and still trying to make images that can stand up to the ones from my LIFE magazine childhood.

And with a mechanical engineering degree, I certainly love the gear.

Best,
-Tim
 
Initially, photography gave me something to do with my daydreaming escapes from a horrible childhood, those dreams had a place to actually go and something came of them.

But ever since, it has been a great excuse to avoid getting a "real job".
 
Photography helps me to look beyond my interior monologue and see the world around me: I suppose that's a sort of meditation. Where there's light, there's the possibility of making a photograph.

It's also a good way to remember: Many of my photos from years past depict lost worlds; former workplaces and other everyday sights which once seemed mundane and unchanging, but which no longer exist today.

Of course there's the matter of having toys to play with! I enjoy refurbishing and using an older camera which was otherwise just some old piece of junk. It's a form of recycling, and it represents old carbon emitted decades ago. New gear can be fun too of course, but is best purchased sparingly.
 
I like photography as an art, so I like viewing it and making it. Also, it is an important aspect of my mental health. Lastly, I just love figuring out new ways of composing and framing banal objects into different combinations!
 
Lenses are shiny and the glass makes cool reflections. Cameras (mechanical only) make nice sounds when you use them and are full of wonderful gears and springs and other neat things. Pulling a freshly developed roll off the reel is a feast of anticipation, what treasure awaits the eye. I’m really not at all an artist, but the tactile feel of a fine mechanical camera is just delightful, even after many years.
 
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