Are photographs the main reason you photograph?

[Ed Sukach]

All in all I, like many of you, need some very serious help.
Bob H

The greatest help I could give you would be to place your finger on the shutter release - and ... I don't know - possibly adminster a mild electric shock ...

NOTHING will be more effective - will promote growth - faster or more efficiently than DOING!!! Simple, plain DOING!

You have all the tools, talent, everything you need. What remains is to draw them out ... USE THEM ... and if there is another way to do that, other than by DOING, I haven't found it yet.

I'm certainly not immune either - this applies to me, as well. Now, to get my OWN gluteus maximus into gear!!!

 

[Robert Brummitt]

I photograph because I like the process of looking and then sharing. I don't go to galleries or showings that much, simply because I rather be with my family. I go to the local museum only when its showing a certain photographer or movement of photography.
I shared the original opening thread with some friends and I got many of the same answers as you all shared.
One person loves the education of photography. Another loves to look at photography but doesn't really go out and photograph. Some like to simply collect images. Others love the social aspect of gathering at gallery shows. So the subject is broad and wide in the various ideas.
This is a great thread. Hope more thoughtful questions like this are coming soon.

 

[ghost]

I'm in it for the chicks.

 

[mike c]

Man you guys cover a lot,I don't get out shooting very much at least as much as I would like.I have more unprinted negs than I could possible print,but I still have that great desire to shoot more, can't say what I like better shooting or darkroom work. Doing ether is way fun. I guess all I can do is live by the code,expose for the secretes and develop for the surprises.

 

[BobNewYork]

I'm in it for the chicks.

yeah, me too! But after 25 years it doesn't seem to be working out too well! I guess some photographers turn women's heads - me I turn their stomachs

Bob H

 

[hughitb]

I'm in it for the chicks.

I'm in it for the clicks.

 

[rudolf]

For me... it depends.
Photography is on one day making the prints.
On other day, it's wandering around and looking. It sometimes takes me to my friends, sometimes takes me to my darkroom. Sometimes it's a joy of looking at other photographs (like listening to the music), and sometimes it's a joy of making prints (like playing music), and sometimes it's a joy of taking pictures (like writing the music down).

Well, but anything I do, photography enriches my personal life. I met wonderful people thanks to it, so every aspect is so important.
And - thanks to 2F/2F for bringing that topic and to everyone of you for discussion.

I think it opens our eyes.

 

[BetterSense]

I do it for teh lulz.

 

[jimgalli]

I love photographs. Mine. Other peoples. I DO enjoy the books and I'm guilty of owning a lot. I do go to galleries to look. I hang out at websites like this. I waste time at Ebay. I talk to most anyone that wants to talk.

I love the cameras. I really love the lenses Ultimately I love the potential. Perhaps I haven't made anything important yet, but the potential is there. That keeps me seeing, keeps me learning, keeps me printing, keeps me photographing. I'm not sure why that is important, but it is. Perhaps I've evaluated my personal set of gifts, abilities, and interests and decided, this is something I can do. Perhaps I will do it well.

So the answer to your question is; yes.

 

[JMcLaug351]

yeah, me too! But after 25 years it doesn't seem to be working out too well! I guess some photographers turn women's heads - me I turn their stomachs

Bob H

Me too Bob. Only it's 40 years for me.
JOHN

 

[Tom Stanworth]

As much as I love photography in general, if I could not create my own the frustration would probably not allow me to enjoy the wider subject. So yes, I do it because I need to create and deal with my own perspectives. Its an outlet that prevents the perssure getting too high. If I cannot shoot for a long period of time I go fairly nuts.

 

[mjs]

I thought about this for a while...

I'm in it for the photographs (prints.) I looked at pictures for decades before I ever took up a camera (I'm a late starter. Or, as my wife claims, just 'late'.) When I started I used print film, slide film: slides never really interested me but prints do. I have books and magazines, I go to museums and galleries. One of the best part of gatherings with photographic friends is the opportunity to see what they're doing, photographically.

I love the process, too. This past Sunday I got up unGodly early and drove to a state park. Hiked over the hill to the west end of the lake. Wandered around until I finally set up the 4x5 then watched the light on the lake and listened to the geese as the sun rose. I love this sort of thing and the feeling of satisfaction when everything's just right and that mechanical 'click' of a Copal shutter firing just satisfies me to the soul. Ten negatives in two hours -- breakneck speed for me!

But, yeah, it's the print.

Mike

 

[Paul Jenkin]

Photography has played an integral part in most of my leisure time for the past 35 years. I know embarrasingly little of the names of trees, plants and such but photography (the process) has got me off my rear-end and out into the wild blue yonder with my trusty (insert camera brand here) round my neck to try to capture its essence.

Despite still using lots of film (but since I no longer have my own darkroom), few of my photos end up as prints. However, whether we love or hate the new-fangled digital medium, we are on this forum as a result of its ability to share our literary and pictorial views. Consequently, most of the output I make public (be it scanned negs or digital photos) end up on my website and/or on other photo galleries.

I love the end result of my photographic efforts (however humble they may be in comparison to other, more professional and gifted artists' works) but the process by which I obtain them is just as important to me. I suppose that's one of the differences between amateur and professional - for the professional, the end result has to be the most important objective.

 

[Chuck_P]

It's hard as hell for me to photograph and print the way that I really want to, it's a time issue among other things. It would be pointless for me to photograph and not complete the process to arrive at the print I'm looking to have. Photography , and all of its related processes, is a huge release for me, so I guess I need to experience the whole thing from start to finish.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Insanity Asylum

For me photography is something I do to get a break from reality. I'll admit that I absolutely detest processing film. It's a chore, no matter how you twist and turn it.

But doing the actual shooting, looking into the ground glass, composing, directing if with people, metering - taking all the factors into consideration before I release the shutter - that's both fun and meditative. And when I'm at it I forget about the world around me and focus only on making the perfect negative to print.

And here comes the transition of processing film. It's a necessary intermediate step that solidifies the ideas and thoughts I had, so at least it's productive, and a means to an end.

Printing - that's the truly magical part for me, because that's where my ideas are tweaked into making the best representation of my original idea as possible. It's not until the print is dry, flat, mounted, set in an overmat, and preferably framed that I feel like it's a complete accomplishment. I rotate many mounted and overmated photographs in my frames, and dream that perhaps one day they'll hang in a gallery, museum, or someone's home for others to enjoy. I'd like to think that my images could have a positive impact on somebody's life. I know this is the case for a couple of people that have purchase my prints, and that gives me a huge kick.

But seeing a print that I'm truly happy with, where the printing is just right, all of the tonal values are as I like them to be, the tone and color from toning suits the subject matter, and the final presentation is before me - that makes me happy.

During the process, attempting to focus and make one single thing perfect - that's the 'asylum' part of it. It helps me relax from the rat race of every day life. It helps me stay sane. I hope to God that I never have to become a digital photographer, because it doesn't give me any of the pleasures above.

 

[Paul Jenkin]

Thomas, like yourself, I always regarded developing the negative as a complete and utter chore. I saw it as maths and science and physics and done to a pretty exactling formula - and something to get done to allow me to get on with making the print (in the days when I had a darkroom).

I'm not very dextrous and, consequently, I wasn't naturally gifted as a printer. I could produce decent quality prints for camera club competitions and good enough for me to hang on my walls but if I did a wedding or any serious assignments, I went to a pro lab.

These days I'm happiest with slides and (dare I say it) digital as I can tweak and re-tweak the digi file as much as I like to get the desired result. I really envy you and the other 'quality' chemical printers as I'd rather give up than continually produce results with which I remain disappointed.

 

[EASmithV]

Apug is an incredibly magical place when it comes for technical nerdiness and information. Always interesting to see a post that seems to differ slightly from this.

I really don't know... I just kind of got distracted... And more distracted. Photography is my great distraction, and the problem is, I can't and won't stop! Heeeelllllpppp!!!

 

[EASmithV]

TBH, Half the time is because I feel cool walking around with a Graflex.

 

[NickSimcheck]

I'm sure somebody has said it before me, but;

Can't I love the entire process from start to finish?

I love using different cameras, I love interacting with people and places, I love seeing the final image when the process is finished.

I do feel that images can have just as much (sometimes more) meaning to the viewer then the photographer, but they can also be quite different feelings.

 

[phyllis72]

it's an interesting question to say the least. Concerning my own personal experience, with the film it's about the final out come, and the total darkroom experience. With digital it's about the shooting. A theory for why; I don't regard digital as real. Even though I shoot both, (yes I'm a whore, and suffer from GAS because I work in a camera store. It's hard not to be.), enjoy printing both . I do like going to galleries and museums to photographer's works. I think it's the printing aspects that get me for museum shows. When I saw Ansel Adam's moonrise it was a laugh because of seeing all the burning and dodging marks on it. To me it's like seeing a painting vs. a print of the painting. It's affirming to see the mistakes and short cuts the "masters" have made.

 

[sionnac]

Phyllis - I felt the same way about digital, that it wasn't the real thing - until we got a nice archival printer (Epson R1800), which makes me appreciate the images more. And I love going to exhibits and looking at prints, especially by Koudelka, Sudek, Sally Mann.

I shoot mostly film for my personal work, digital for my job. I do it for the process of learning to see through the lens and catch those fleeting frames that matter to me. Not having a wet darkroom right now - landlord issues - makes me sad, because I love to make prints. It's Photoshop that I now think of as not real

 

[gr82bart]

The act / process / activity / result is therapy for me.

Regards, Art.

 

[Mike1234]

I'm just now re-entering the world of photography as a hobby after a quarter century of doing without. For me, as my feeble mind can recall, it was a multifaceted joy which came from...

1. Recognizing what will make a nice image... shape/form/texture/light and knowing how that all translates into two dimensional grayscale.

2. knowing how to filter/expose/process/treat/print and what must be done to preserve all the important details to make that transition from inceptualization/visualization to print.

3. Displaying a final image that people truely enjoy and appreciate adding a small spark of joy to others' lives.... as brief and inconsequential as that spark may be.

4. The intermixing of technical and creative thought is what appeals to me most, I think. This lights up both hemispheres plus the frontal lobe and joy areas of the brain all at the same time.

5. Knowing "I did that" and realizing it's pretty darned good. It's a sense of accomplishment and pride of ownership.

Heh... I didn't realize until just now how much I truly missed it. I can't wait to get started again!!