Why Your Pictures Suck

Well I liked the post!
To me it is so true. The number of people I hear say 'just photoshop it'.
And taking loads of photos as 'at least one must be good' attitude (IMHO) is wrong also.
I take photos to please me. I do not do competitions etc. Not for fear of loosing, but they are not why I do photography.
Using LF cameras has made me think long and hard before snapping that shutter lol.
BUT at the end of the day as long as they enjoy what they do, does it matter?
Alan
 
Gear heads are an essential element of the used camera market. Without their continuous cycle of buying and selling gear the modern camera market would collapse. Imagine buying a good camera and just using it for 20 years! What a silly idea.
 
I like looking at the pictures I can find that were taken by the various posters in this thread. It puts what they have to say in perspective. ;-)

Most of the people I know who are doing the best in their fields are the ones who look themselves in the mirror every morning and say "You're not doing it well enough".
 
No, it's exactly how people get good. Being defeatist is never wanting to ask the question because you already know the answer.

Can't find any of your pictures, by the way. 🙂
 
KoNickon said:
I have no idea what the "issues, narrative structures, conventions, and techniques behind the various genres of photography" is supposed to mean. Sorry, but this smacks of "the academy" to me -- an arresting image is an arresting image. That's part of the reason photography is so popular -- anyone can go out and take a good picture.
Click to expand...



This is the absolute necessary first step: dehumanization of your photographs. José Ortega-y-Gasset expalins this:
http://www.amazon.com/Dehumanization-Culture-Literature-Princeton-Paperbacks/dp/0691019614
It is actually very simple concepts, once you "get it".
Without understanding these concepts though person cannot move forward, pass phographing cats on pillows and comparing summicrons with summiluxes.

But then again, not everybody is even aspiring to do art, some are perfectly fine with testing latest summiluxses...
 
mdarnton said:
Most of the people I know who are doing the best in their fields are the ones who look themselves in the mirror every morning and say "You're not doing it well enough".
Click to expand...

i would agree with this statement.

and it's not to say it is defeatist either. it is the challenge that they know they can always do better.

for me, i take a lot of pictures. once i feel that i've reached a threshold in my work, i keep taking photos (trashing many) until i can safely say i reached another. that's just me though. but i haven't had a lot of time lately to do such...so the journey continues onward, though rocky it may be.
 
"My father used photography to record the lives of members of his family, that was his goal. He was VERY good at it. The photographic record he left me most decidedly does not "suck.""

I'm in this camp. I photograph for my family and myself. Occaisionally I come up with something that I think someone I don't know might like to look at, but usually in those cases I don't want to look at it so much. I need a personal connection to what I photograph. Other's have done much better; why not just look at theirs? I think of photography as a very personal gratification, not much more. And the fact that I like using and preserving old well-made things that still work gratifies me in another way. Two pretty unrelated gratfiications from one activity! A bargain!

Many of us have very different goals in mind.
 
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Well my use of abstracts is perhaps a poor choice of words, and I admit it has been a VERY long time since I studied even part of his work, but it seems very out of touch with actual creativity to me. Explaining art in his manner is always a slippery slope IMO.

I get it but don't care about it. I admit to being rather reactionary about the concept of learning to be creative or dissecting creativity. And most likely the RFf is not the place to delve to deeply?
Click to expand...


To me, it's either one way or another, no middle ground. It's a basis for understanding art, to me anyway.
I find that there is no coming back, once you understand that language, or at least start to, you will never look at photograph the old way.

But you are right- it's not life-threatening situation if you don’t 🙂
RFf is not the place - right again. 🙂
 
First you have to decide what "good at it" means.
Click to expand...

True... and that will differ for everyone. However, should I say competent instead?

Many amateurs I see have decided not to shoot with any purpose in mind, but try to learn to make random "good" images in imitation of the great work of artists. What will mediocre photos, taken of strangers, mean to those in their families after they have gone?

"How come your dad didn't take any photos of you growing up?"
"Dad just liked taking photos of the backs of people's heads on the street."
"How come?"
"He was very shy."
Click to expand...

Man, too funny...
 
KoNickon said:
I have no idea what the "issues, narrative structures, conventions, and techniques behind the various genres of photography" is supposed to mean. Sorry, but this smacks of "the academy" to me -- an arresting image is an arresting image. That's part of the reason photography is so popular -- anyone can go out and take a good picture.
Click to expand...

true, anyone can take a good picture, but some people seem much luckier than others. you've got to make your own luck. don't just give up and say "i have no idea! it must be unfathomable!" if my argument sounds academic, it's because...wait for it: i learned it in college.
 
Point taken & sure I am guilty of some of this but hey, who cares. It's my passion, my hobby, my desire. & one point the writer failed to mention. At least I'm not dumping 15 or 30 photos into the gallery at one time for your viewing displeasure.😉
 
I guess I'm not really sure of the context of the blog post. It looks like he's responding to one individual directly. Either way, yes, my photos suck. If you (the author of this blog post) don't like them, don't look at them. I'll return the favor.

Edit: 777 posts. Lucky!
 
Why do MY pictures suck?

Why do MY pictures suck?

I have to be careful to avoid post hoc ergo propter hoc, but since switching from the M7 to the M9P, my pictures have gone downhill. Previously, I could easily visualize the (color) subject in B&W, but shooting in color (+conversion) confuses me. I've gotten very few keepers since going digital. Maybe I'll trade in the M9P for an MM in the hope of getting back to my comfort zone. Comments welcome.

HFL
 
I sympathize. Round three or four of Leica selling for me (first one was a IIIf in around 1967) was to get a Nikon D300 in 2008. That ended my photography for a while. I, at least, shot more for the color than the subject matter, which was a big mistake. A lot of these are now hidden from the collective you on my Flickr page. So then I got a Nikon FG and some Tri-X, and everything was fine. Now I'm back in the RF saddle, and it feels GOOOOOD.
 
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