Why the Heck do we do this?

[cp_ste.croix]

Photography is one of the few socially acceptable exercises in slowing down, looking closely, and seeing things for what they really are. Nobody gives us a second glance when we are wandering around with a camera or tripod in a beautiful park, for example, but if we were to slowly stare at various objects with a similar intensity of concentration sans photo equipment, we would arouse all sorts of suspicions......

good point, and I find having a frame focuses my ability to see.

 

[FrankS]

Another great line: having a frame focusses my ability to see.

 

[cp_ste.croix]

Thanks Frank!

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

In the early 70's when I was in college, my friend, who was the school newspaper photographer, showed me a book "The Family of Man" from a traveling exhibit of the same name.

I didn't know there's a book. I should look for it. Interestingly enough, my entry into Rangefinders was a bit of a chicken-and-the-egg story (ok, easy to spot the first egg):

I had come across a photograph which grabbed my attention for its remarkable look. It had that je-ne-sais-quoi that just not only stood on its own compositional merits, but technically it had something I had not really quite appreciated before; unfortunately I don't remember the title or whose picture it was, but I remember that in the technical info it said "Leica".

As I researched "Leica", I came across this site (of course, before all the wealth of information in the photo gallery was zapped away) and compared photos taken with certain lenses. I also came across the Family of Man 2 site ( http://www.familyofman2.com/ ).

So I went on to purchase the cheapest Leica I could afford: an R4 and a 50mm Summicron-R. Ever since, of course, my wallet has also not been the same.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Snow! It's minus 2 stops right?

LOL -- no, it's plus two stops. It depends on your point of view. Is that clear now? :angel:

 

[FrankS]

It depends if you have an incident point of view or a reflected point of view.

 

[vrgard]

Not sure this directly answers the original question posed, but one reaction I have to the various responses given is that photography helps me find the beauty all around me. Slowing down and really noticing the world around me is part of it. Framing a shot to reveal the interesting portions of a larger, seemingly mundane scene is part of it. The surprise when a random shot turns out to be one of those, "yeah, that's what I'm striving to achieve!" kinds of images. Even nice when someone else appreciates the shot, but that's less important to me right now. All told, I guess it's the pure selfish self-reflective and self-satisfying pleasure of capturing a small bit of beauty from all the random, chaotic life going on around me. Which also relates back to the comments of others about not being able to adequately produce art in other forms (painting, sculpture, music, etc.). Just my $.02 worth... 🙂

 

[cp_ste.croix]

LOL -- no, it's plus two stops. It depends on your point of view. Is that clear now? :angel:

i should change my sig to 'open two stops'...it's what i meant 🙂

 

[Andy K]

Because nothing beats the feeling of achievement when that photograph comes out of the fixer... and it's just right.

 

[bmattock]

Because nothing else makes the angry clowns in my head stop hitting me with a fluffernutter while shouting "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" over and over and over...

 

[zpuskas]

I think we are all creative, and some of us create using photography. Others use writing, painting, cooking, etc. We all need to find something that allows us to speak to others in a nonverbal way (at least those of us that are not that verbal and more visual oriented).
Earliest man painted on caves to record his existence; we use photography for the same reasons.
And besides, cameras a really nice mechanical objects to fondle.

 

[anselwannab]

Dan Rather, haven't thought about him in a while. Did they catch the guy who beat him? Why didn't Dan just make up a frequency?

Courage.

 

[reagan]

Why? To be creative. We were all made to create. Our lives grow dim when we don't create. When we're finished creating, we're finished.

I create pictures with words... in sermons, in songs, in poems. I also like to tell stories with photographs. Attached are two family photos. The first is the only picture I have of my father with his father. The second is the one picture I have of my father with his grandfather. I look at these two and get a glimpse, a small glimpse of the story of their lives... in their faces, their hands, their clothes and surroundings. So my favorite subject to shoot is anyone in my family... so my granddaughters and their daughters and get a glimpse too.

I like to catch a shot of an old barn or building here or there, or some stranger passing by on the street, or some rusty old something out in the weeds. But all that is just practice for me and maybe a little glimpse of the one behind the camera. The keepers though, and the "why?" are capturing the moments that make up my family's story.

 

[ch1]

Maybe just because it's FUN?