Why the Heck do we do this?

[stevew]

Why do we shoot?

Fleetingly thought of Fame (many years ago). Not!

Posterity? Maybe!

Pass on to children? My son will throw my stuff in the trash someday.

I guess I just need to record my vision! No one else needs to care, I just have to take down the things that are important to me.

 

[FrankS]

Because when I paint it looks like crap.

Photography is a creative outlet for me. I don't know exactly why I do it but I am somehow driven to do it. I don' t think I would be as healthy mentally, if I stopped.

Photography is gratifying for me to do. It helps me feel good about myself.

 

[aad]

As I look through my pictures, I am very glad I've taken the time to record my life. All of it will likely go to another in my family someday, just as I now keep the pictures from my ancestors-at least, the ones who bothered!

 

[bmattock]

Because when I paint it looks like crap.

Photography is a creative outlet for me. I don't know exactly why I do it but I am somehow driven to do it. I don' t think I would be as healthy mentally, if I stopped.

LOL!

I do it for the same reasons - except a bit reversed. I feel that society deserves to be kept from contact with me as much as possible - so I get out into the field and inflict myself on barns, old cars, and flowers.

I don't practice photography so much as hurl myself at it.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[back alley]

for the chicks man!


🙂joe

 

[JoeFriday]

the green eyed redheads?

 

[back alley]

the green eyed redheads?

are there any other kind?

 

[Wayne R. Scott]

I do it because it is the closest thing to magic that I have ever done. I still get a thrill out of watching a print come to life in the dark room.

Wayne

 

[cp_ste.croix]

I do it for the challenge of creating photos that I like. I'm not very good at that, so I keep striving and getting inspired by others photos which I wished I'd taken.

That and something I think Wallace Stevens said "After one has abandoned belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes it's place as life's redemption" Substitute 'art' for 'poetry' and it's spot on for me.*



no offence meant to any of my religious friends on RFF.

 

[stevew]

I agree to that.

I agree to that.

I hear you all.

I love the subtle colors of a watercolor, but I can't paint.

I love a drawing done by a master, I'm not one.

I love the precise details of a silverpoint engraving, but I can't do it.

I love sculpture, but I just beat on rocks.

Years ago, in college, I took a photo course under Jerry Uelsmann. His advise to me: Steve, you are very good technically, "but" you are too rigid, compose your photo, raise the camera back over your head, take the picture, and print it. Works for him, not for me. I shoot what interests me. I like rocks, trees, buildings, or things that look like rocks, trees or buildings. Graphic forms interest me. So sue me.

 

[Bobbo]

Because I want to...

I like to tell stories. I like to get creative. I like to play MacGyver when I'm out shooting or working on a camera. I like to travel. I like to feel like I've acomplished something every now and then...like this print I made for my grandmother's Christmas present today...I also like to get paid for the above😀.

 

[rpsawin]

I think Frank's comments are my thoughts as well. I am part of a show and was gallery sitting a fewweekends ago. While watching several people look at the show I realized nobody really cares about these images. That prompted me to wonder why I should continue. And immediately I realized I did it because it turns me on, it makes my life better and all that makes me a better person. And like Frank I think I would get unhealthy if I stop.

Bob

 

[DougK]

I want to share the world and the things in it with others as I see them.

 

[back alley]

I do it for the challenge of creating photos that I like. I'm not very good at that, so I keep striving and getting inspired by others photos which I wished I'd taken.

That and something I think Wallace Stevens said "After one has abandoned belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes it's place as life's redemption" Substitute 'art' for 'poetry' and it's spot on for me.*



no offence meant to any of my religious friends on RFF.

i love that quote!

i may have to use it somewhere soon...

so, i jag off with with a one liner and all you guys go serious on me.


i love the combination of magic, art and craft.
i love the machines that do this work, the metal, the glass and the film.
i love when someone looks at one of my shots and goes ah!
i love when a friend introduces me as a really good photographer.
i love that being a photographer forces me to look at the world and see art everywhere.

joe

 

[DougK]

...i love when a friend introduces me as a really good photographer....

Me too, Joe, me too 😀

 

[SolaresLarrave]

I'm not good at this, so I like the challenge of getting moderately better at it.

And of course, over years of crappy shots, I have accumulated an impressive record of different moments of our lives in this house. I have photos of my wife reading a certain book that bring back memories of what we were immersed in back then... and it's nice to see how things change, yet they remain the same.

So, in other words, I like to document my life. Hence the camera never leaves my shoulder.

 

[Honu-Hugger]

My pictures reveal something about myself I don't yet understand. I take a lot of pictures and very few of them are good, but every now and then one strikes a chord with me and I wonder why? It's never the one that I thought might be good -- it's almost always a surprise. Sometimes it's a quick shot that I took without thinking; I've tried to "not think" in the hope of getting more keepers but the double-negative doesn't work (thinking about not thinking eliminates any advantage). It's a hopeless pursuit of something, but fun all the same... 🙂

 

[nemjo]

There are several reasons.
- It'd be very nice to stop that hurry. If I feel that catched an important moment, it helps.
- So good to try to do something not to earn, but for just.
- The simplest photography is creative too. Good to feel myself creative sometime.
- Ofcourse it's great to handle theese small wonders. (Ok sometimes not so small.)
- Let's be honest. I'm to take similars to Moholy-Nagy and the others...

nemjo

 

[ch1]

Because I can record images from my life such as the attached (hope this works!):

 

[wlewisiii]

It's hard to say this without sounding smartassed inherently, but I really am of the opinion of "why not?" Film is cheap, developer is cheaper and fixer is cheapest of all. My shots are the closest thing to creating art that will ever exist in my life (I will _not_ touch whether or not it _is_ art. We will _not_ play that inherently hatefull game on this web site.)

Beyond that, Honu has some good things to say. Anyone reading this entry would do themselves better by going up an meditating on that, instead.

William