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Why Do We Photograph? A Top 25 List.

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 12:58 pm
by DonMammoser
With the turn of another new year I thought I’d look back on the past 12 months and offer up a bit of what goes through my head when I photograph. And why I do it.  
 
In today’s world, where anyone holding a smartphone is now a ‘photographer’ and every subject has been photographed endlessly and there really isn’t any way that you can compete with the millions of images that exist of every subject, you might ask, why photograph at all?
 
If I choose a general subject – say - birds in flight, or mountain photos, I can see on Google and elsewhere that there are millions of examples of photos that would out-compete my images on all levels. There’s simply no way I can get the best photos of anything – no way I can get complete coverage of all seasons or weather in a place. No way I can capture all stages of an animal’s life, no matter how remote or ‘uncommon’ it might be. The reality is that there will always be another time when someone else is ‘in position’ with an image-taking-device when the light or the situation is better than when I happened to be there.
 
So why bother you ask? My answer is simply that I do it for the love of it. I do it because I love to stand at the edge of the lake in the crisp morning air or to sit and watch birds feeding or flying by. I love to share such moments with Anya or with clients who wish to learn something from me, or those who simply want to share such moments with other like-minded souls. I love to capture memories so they can be re-lived and I love having the chance to see something new that I haven’t gotten in my photographs before. No matter how many times I’ve been to say, the Canadian Rockies, I still love standing at the edge of a lake there and waiting for the sun to rise, just in case it might make the clouds glow a bit differently this time or because the reflected mountain might be perfect this time or because I think, maybe an ethereal layer of fog might show up today. It’s not complicated at all, this love I feel and for me it’s wonderfully ideal.
Continued here: http://www.donmammoserphoto.com/blog

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 10:08 pm
by PV Hiker
Dan thanks for your post. I do share similar goal as why we photograph. Enjoy your adventures. Patrick

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 10:47 am
by dougc
Because I can't sing or dance.

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 10:59 am
by david fletcher
I can't sing or dance either... but I do love the outdoors and wildlife...

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 12:35 pm
by SantaFeJoe
Doug and David, you guys sound like the lyrics to a Phil Collins/Genesis song:

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/genesis/icantdance.html

Joe

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 7:39 pm
by OntPhoto
I enjoy photography for many different reasons. Capturing memories.  Sharing experiences.  A creative outlet.  I enjoy the great outdoors and all that it has to offer and maybe I can capture some of the great moments encountered so I can share with others. How many of us have looked through a National Geographic or some other magazine and been inspired to go visit a certain place or see a certain animal or bird?  Photography is for sharing.  All the above can be said for videography too.

PS.  I can't sing or dance either but that's not why I enjoy photography.  However, it does give me an excuse to opt out when invited to Karaoke or dance.  I can take photos of the event :-)

Re: Why Do We Photograph? A Top 25 List.

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 8:50 pm
by bradmangas
Like many if not most forms of art, for photography to be more than just a hobby and to be a meaningful personal expression it must become a completely selfish act. As much as we try to articulate the social side of it, that remains the "social" side not the creative side. This is not to say artists are unsocial but many are strong introverts (which is not the same thing).

Though social aspects are what many find appealing with photography those reason seem to have little to do with photography. In contrast others find the personal side the most rewarding which also may or may not have much to do with the act of photography. Art has always been thought of as a personal growth endeavor rather a social one. The goal is not to grow socially but personally. When this happens images become by-products with deep personal influence as opposed to pictures for social appeal.

The acceptance of ones photographs by others has little to do with whether your photography is successful.

"Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known."
~Oscar Wilde

Re: Why Do We Photograph? A Top 25 List.

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 8:40 am
by OntPhoto
bradmangas wrote:Like many if not most forms of art, for photography to be more than just a hobby and to be a meaningful personal expression it must become a completely selfish act. As much as we try to articulate the social side of it, that remains the "social" side not the creative side. This is not to say artists are unsocial but many are strong introverts (which is not the same thing).

Though social aspects are what many find appealing with photography those reason seem to have little to do with photography. In contrast others find the personal side the most rewarding which also may or may not have much to do with the act of photography. Art has always been thought of as a personal growth endeavor rather a social one. The goal is not to grow socially but personally. When this happens images become by-products with deep personal influence as opposed to pictures for social appeal.

The acceptance of ones photographs by others has little to do with whether your photography is successful.

"Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known."
~Oscar Wilde
Art is self-expression and your interpretation of how you see something.  Art can be anything.  You may remember the photo of a potato that sold for a million plus.  Or the artist who photographed a road that also sold for a few million. 

Re: Why Do We Photograph? A Top 25 List.

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 5:00 pm
by MDougherty
On trips to outdoor locations, I'm getting away from viewing images by themselves but to look at my images as a group of images and telling a story.  After going on a trip, I like to select the best 20 or 30 and then write down comments to jog my memory in the future.  

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 7:31 pm
by WDCarrier
I'm a wildlife biologist. I've probably seen 10,000 deer in my life but I couldn't draw one to save my life. But I can take a photo!

Re: Why Do We Photograph? A Top 25 List.

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 10:43 pm
by prairiewing
To communicate.

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 11:37 pm
by E.J. Peiker
I have an insatiable thirst to see as much of the planet as possible - I have had that since I was young and it is probably due to the fact that I moved from one continent to another at age 8 and that exposed me to two completely different worlds at an early age but even before that I was looking at World Atlas' almost everyday.  About the only thing that slows me down is that it has to fit within a certain budget.  If it wasn't for that I would probably be in a different country every couple of weeks but I still manage to visit 5 or 6 new countries almost every year.  While I am attempting to satiate that thirst I want to record as much of the natural wonder of our planet as possible and do it as well as I possibly can.

Oh, and I also love the technology of digital photography and try to understand it as deeply as is possible.

Re: Why Do We Photograph? A Top 25 List.

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2017 10:09 am
by Kerry
The best explanation of why I photograph that I can relate can be found in this nearly five-year-old entry on my blog.

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2017 9:20 pm
by Karl Egressy
I started general photography in my early twenties, however it became more important after I got into bird watching and had the urge to
take pictures of the birds I saw and show the images to anybody who had any interest of seeing them.
I started out bird photography with film cameras in the nineties and switched to "digiscoping" a few years later.
I soon realized that a better way is to buy a DSLR and a decent prime lens, so I did.
Why do I take pictures?
Because I'm out there anyway whenever I can, watching my birds and I want to share with you  the simple joy of seeing them.

Re: Why Do We Photograph? A Top 25 List.

Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 7:37 am
by stevenmajor
Nature photography encourages the conversation evolution interrupted.
Truth abounds in the wild kingdom.