Your most meaningful images

[hanzo]

I agree.. beautiful and nostalgic 🙂

 

[Roger Hicks]

A fascinating inquiry into the meaning of meaning. My mother died almost 40 years ago, and yet I have almost no pictures of her that 'mean' anything. Two, in fact. One is a sort of 'vamp' pose about 45 years ago, in the doorway of our house in Bermuda, when she was 40 or a little older; one just before she died, in Kent in the UK, with my father. My memories are far more meaningful than the pictures.

And yet, there are other picture of moments in my life that are more important because they are moments. My mother was a (seemingly eternal) part of my life until I was 24 years old. My father is still alive, 86 next birthday: again, seemingly eternal. There's so much I can remember about both of them -- overwhelmingly good, so little bad -- that pictures fade by comparison.

For 'meaningful' pictures, it's probably a mixture of people --a friend's mother, now long dead, school friends I still see sometimes, strangers who were important to me in places I visited -- and places: a moonrise in Wales, a ruin in Greece, a beach in India (albeit with fishermen), monuments in Hungary, Moscow and St. Petersburg the last days of the Soviet Union.

Thanks very much for helping/forcing me to think about this.

Cheers,

R.

 

[kxl]

The photos that have been most meaningful to me are:

1) those of my wife and son

2) those of my travels (since those are special memories shared with my wife)

3) this photo of my dad - I left the Philippines when I was 16 (35 years ago); he stayed. I have only seen him 3 times since. This one was his last visit to the US when he was still in reasonably good health.

 

[Brando]

Not always, but family is usually the most meaningful to me. Probably not the best images.

This recent image I made of my Grandparents, in their mid-90's, is meaningful because it was made during Christmas when they got to spend it with my 1 year old son.

 

[Roger Hicks]

There's also an important difference between what a picture means to you (or to me), and what it means to someone who doesn't have the emotional baggage associated with a particular image. There's a big difference between 'my mother' and 'everyone's mother'. The former need be no more than a snapshot or souvenir, and therefore by definition substantially devoid of anything but the meaning of an aide-memoire. The latter is generally a far more interesting photograph to everyone else. Which is 'meaning'?

Cheers,

R.

 

[Godfrey]

I'm particularly interested in contributions from those who have been shooting for a long period of time, but all input is welcome.

Firstly, looking back, I'm curious if the images that are subjectively the most meaningful to you are of people, of places, or are representative of a period of your life, or something else?

Secondly, looking back, what do you wish you made the effort to shoot more of?

Thirdly, if you feel inclined, feel free to post an image with a narrative, describing why it has become so meaningful to you.

Some of my photos are meaningful for purposes of remembering family, friends, and the departed through time. Some of my photos are meaningful for the situation, event, or circumstance they portray. Some of my photos are meaningful for what they represent in my journey through the pursuit of photography and art.

I don't know how to rank these three contexts. My I'd hate to lose any of them.

For example, my mum passed away a few years ago and I recently found some photos of her college commencement in 1986. (She'd started college before WWII, had to go to work to help support the family while her brothers went into the military, and swore she'd return to finish her degree someday. 40 years later ...) Those are significant and poignant memories, meaningful in that context. They'd likely be quickly forgettable by anyone not in our family ...

So is that more or less meaningful than the photos which made it into my first "for sale" photo book? I don't know.

G

 

[L David Tomei]

This was a tough question but there was one image that has been with me for most of my life... the very first photograph that I ever took on my own. It was a black Kodak Brownie box camera with a viewfinder that was practically impossible for a 5 year old to handle. However, I recall my Dad telling my Mom to be patient, "he'll be OK" he said. That day on our small farm along the Susquehanna river is still as vivid as ever though the photograph fades.

 

[jsrockit]

When I'm feeling sentimental, then its friends and family of the past. When I'm interested in doing photography, it's the ones that end up being my favorite photos that fit my ideas...and those can be my favorites for many, many different reasons.

 

[raid]

They are of family and relationships.

I was just about to say the same thing, Frank. While at first, such images may appear as "boring to many people", this is not important to the photographer of people dear to him or her. I am fascinated each day at the images of my family, especially the ones from a few years ago.

It could be simple situations, such as my youngest daughter sleeping, or my wife in thoughts. People change over time, and these images bring us back fond memories.

 

[Phil_F_NM]

This was taken when I realized that I wanted to be a photographer for the Navy.
Dhows in Dubai harbor.

The night we declared war on Iraq I was shooting in Baltimore.

I was stuck inside a barracks building for a couple days during a typhoon in Guam back in 2003. I started experimenting with my 180mm lens on an extension tube and saw myself in a different way.

Working with the New Mexico Children's Cancer Fund for three days in early 2004.

A girl begging for food outside Camp Fallujah.

On patrol in Fallujah.

Fun is a global concept, not just an Anglo one and I was surprised at how ignorant I was to be shocked that a Ferris wheel would be at the center of an Iraqi town.

People.

The beach at Grand Isle, La. in the summer of 2010 when I went to the region to do some spec photography and writing about the oil spill. This was endemic of how I was stonewalled by various security forces.

Phil Forrest

 

[kxl]

There's also an important difference between what a picture means to you (or to me), and what it means to someone who doesn't have the emotional baggage associated with a particular image. There's a big difference between 'my mother' and 'everyone's mother'. The former need be no more than a snapshot or souvenir, and therefore by definition substantially devoid of anything but the meaning of an aide-memoire. The latter is generally a far more interesting photograph to everyone else. Which is 'meaning'?

Cheers,

R.

Meaning requires context. I would venture to say that "Meaning" can be categorized as follows:

1) No Meaning - may be good photos that we appreciate aethetically but with which we cannot personally connect since they lack personal context.

2) Private Meaning - photos of family and friends that have meaning on a highly personal individual level, but aboslutely no meaning to others beyond family and friends.

3) Shared meaning - typically iconic photos that have context at a national (or even global), social or cultural level. Examples would include Dorothe Lange's "Migrant Mother," Eisenstadt's V-J Day in Times Square and others. There are some images in this category that may have context to some, but not to others. Example: how much meaning can "Migrant Mother" have to a wealthy twenty-something?

Just my $0.02.

Cheers.

 

[shadowfox]

Unfortunately, my best people shots are of my daughter, and I've made it a rule not to post those on the internet...

+1

I do post regularly on my tumblr my photos with thoughts that goes with it. For example, this is my latest entry:

I call it "Heartbreak Hotel"

 

[Roger Hicks]

Meaning requires context. I would venture to say that "Meaning" can be categorized as follows:

1) No Meaning - may be good photos that we appreciate aethetically but with which we cannot personally connect since they lack personal context.

2) Private Meaning - photos of family and friends that have meaning on a highly personal individual level, but aboslutely no meaning to others beyond family and friends.

3) Shared meaning - typically iconic photos that have context at a national (or even global), social or cultural level. Examples would include Dorothe Lange's "Migrant Mother," Eisenstadt's V-J Day in Times Square and others. There are some images in this category that may have context to some, but not to others. Example: how much meaning can "Migrant Mother" have to a wealthy twenty-something?

Just my $0.02.

Cheers.

Dear Keith,

Nice analysis. Will need several days to argue (if I decide there are any flaws in your argument at all).

Cheers,

R.

 

[back alley]

i have lived away from family for over 40 years...my father dies when i was a baby and my mother dies in her 50's...too young...
i rarely photograph friends or family...memories contain my deepest meanings...

i have several photographs that represent some wonderful things to me but most of my images are just pretty pictures.

is that sad?

 

[rkm]

is that sad?

Not sad at all if that's what you want, Joe. Memories are the thing, with or without photos to prompt them.

 

[rkm]

Meaning requires context. I would venture to say that "Meaning" can be categorized as follows:

1) No Meaning - may be good photos that we appreciate aethetically but with which we cannot personally connect since they lack personal context.

2) Private Meaning - photos of family and friends that have meaning on a highly personal individual level, but aboslutely no meaning to others beyond family and friends.

3) Shared meaning - typically iconic photos that have context at a national (or even global), social or cultural level. Examples would include Dorothe Lange's "Migrant Mother," Eisenstadt's V-J Day in Times Square and others. There are some images in this category that may have context to some, but not to others. Example: how much meaning can "Migrant Mother" have to a wealthy twenty-something?

Just my $0.02.

Cheers.

Keith,


Perhaps images only have the amount of meaning we invest in them?

When I think of family photos that have a large amount of 'private meaning', it's due to a few factors: there are not that many photos (my father shot about one roll a year), and therefore the images have been returned to many times; stories have been related about the images many times, imbuing the images with meaning. Photos don't have to be good photos in order to have a lot of private meaning. As Roger said, they serve as an aid to a body of memory that is much larger.

As for images that have 'no meaning' or 'shared meaning', perhaps they are all part of the same category. They depict something that we don't have explicit knowledge of. Perhaps as photographers we hope that these images we make will move from having no meaning to having a degree of shared meaning (some here expressed satisfaction in strangers buying or liking their images, giving them meaning). We hope our images will 'resonate' as someone said in this thread. Perhaps a good aesthetic image simply resonates, although the meanings people ascribe to the image may be many and varied. In this sense, trying to make an image that resonates, becomes a difficult and mysterious thing.

The shared meaning you referred to with images like Dorothea Lang's "Migrant Mother", are shared because a context is given by extra information (as you mentioned). I imagine that even with this extra information, the shared meaning found in images may be distorted or appropriated over the course of time. So much so that meanings change?

I'm rambling now. Interesting stuff to ponder, though.

 

[hteasley]

My instant answer is "family", of course. I'm always annoying my kids with the camera, and have many shots of them I love. But for me, The Picture is of my father-in-law, on a bus tour of China. He had a heart attack on the trip, and passed away a few days after this picture was taken. He was such a sweet, good man.

 

[dmc]

This was a tough question but there was one image that has been with me for most of my life... the very first photograph that I ever took on my own. It was a black Kodak Brownie box camera with a viewfinder that was practically impossible for a 5 year old to handle. However, I recall my Dad telling my Mom to be patient, "he'll be OK" he said. That day on our small farm along the Susquehanna river is still as vivid as ever though the photograph fades.

Beautiful, seriously beautiful. Thanks for this.