Ever feel like quiting?

[pdeeh]

I occasionally feel like quilting

 

[NB23]

I, for one, enjoyed those ten photographs immensely.

Ken

Thanks Ken!

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Ever feel like selling all your gear and just forgetting about it completely? I am at that point. Maybe it is fleeting, maybe it is lasting. Considering selling all my stuff and moving on. Anyone else ever get like this? Don

No. Never.

 

[MattKing]

David said:

Originally Posted by David Lyga (there was a url link here which no longer exists)
... it matters MORE to be to be ABLE to create pictures than to ACTUALLY CREATE THEM.

I think I know where he is coming from.

But it is true though that it doesn't make sense if he doesn't create at least a few.

I think of the satisfaction I sometimes get from seeing a chance for a good photograph and envisioning the process. Even if I cannot take that photograph, I know that I can, and will take and make others.

As long as the potential is realized at least some times, it is very satisfying.

Contrast it with those who see what to them should be able to be made into a good photograph, but who cannot succeed in doing so, despite lots of trying. There frustration is obvious.

There is a thread here on APUG about photographs enjoyed even when not taken - I think that is the sort of thing David is talking about.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Why is that? I thought pro models were pros?

i've used wannabee MM models, or at least tried to. The few that were set all flaked. I gave up on them and went back to street shooting.

Yes wasting time and money on flakes is depressing.

These were MM models. I can't afford/won't risk $500/session or more that pro models charge. Therefore, I'm stuck to looking for folks who are willing to work within my budget. I've actually had the best luck and best results from working with folks who will pose for free.

 

[removed account4]

hi don

no need to apologize ...
i have often not wanted to make photographs, pick up a camera &c ... sometimes you get bitten by thebug, sometimes, you don't .... i went through a period of maybe 4 years where my camera
just sqt there ... then i started to enjoy it again ... nothing much as a cure but just waiting ....


eddie, steven wright had it right.

 

[lightwisps]

Actually, Iluvmycam, have been doing that with some success. 2 Galleries in town are interested and the people that bought my old gallery to turn into a rustic type home furnishing store have left the door wide open for when they re-opened. They finally did re-open last week so I am going to see them hopefully today. Thanks for the advice and am going to follow through. Don

 

[lightwisps]

I always use free models. It used to be easy to find, but now being a geezer it has gotten much easier. Not sure this girl is going to flake out totally, but seems that something else always comes up. Decided to move on for now. Thanks, Don

 

[lightwisps]

I am lucky. I live in a little village that is known for being artsy fartsy. Part of why we moved here. That and we ended up with 80 acres of rural land that is beautiful. At this point the most photographed land around, I am sure. It even has really old water pumps and who knows what all. So that is helping too. There are 2 galleries that are interested and today I am going to talk to another one. Wonderful having all day to do these things. Take care and good luck. Europe? Haven't been there in a couple of decades. Great place to explore. Good luck and keep on trying. Don

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

$500?? Wow, I didn't think it cost so much unless you had some high powered models. Your lucky you live in a big city. With my local, nothing but flakes. I could never get one from MM. One model went around for a couple months writing and canceling. A gal just wrote me a few days ago. Sounded like it might work out. Then nothing, she flaked out as well. If my photo work revolved around models from MM I guess I'd probably be quiting too! Glad it works out for you!

Do you do much street shooting in DC. I'd love to be close by to DC. DC must be a dream city for street shooting.

I think you have to get in to the $500+ range to get folks who are reliable, because you need to book through an agency, not through MM. I've largely stopped using MM to find models now - I'm going back to the friends network, that is, I ask friends to do it. IF they say yes, then it really means yes, and we have a good shoot and it all works out.

I do a lot of street shooting in DC, although more buildings/urbanscapes than people per se. Any decent size city is good for street shooting, really, all depends on your perspective. I think there's a fine line between being anonymous as a street photographer and being known as a street photographer - sometimes it's easier if nobody really knows who you are because then they don't care, but sometimes it would be easier if folks know you because then they know what you're doing with their photos and might be more amenable to being photographed.

 

[David Lyga]

eddie and MattKing: I DO MAKE PRINTS! But the 'knowing' how to make them does not force me to make tons of them like some people have a need to do. I derive immense satisfaction from KNOWING how to do things and this satisfaction, in and of itself, is a large part of my own particular creative process. It puts my mind at ease and allows me to think more lucidly while removing mental clutter.

Someone here said that that type of thinking is philosophy, not photography. So be it, and, thus, Susan Sontag was a photographic non-entity? There is more to photography than the next exhibit. The photographic time-capture has depth and dimensionality and dynamism; and all that dynamism is not taken up solely with its visual aspects. - David Lyga

 

[Bob Carnie]

Most Museums are not interested in submissions . They have walls built up to protect them from floods of image makers pleading with them to show work.
If your work is in their mandate , some times you will get invited to exhibit which usually they cover the costs.
To date I have produced six solo shows for larger venues for photographers I print for. They include the Smithsonian, George Eastman House, and three at the Royal Ontario Museum, As well numerous prints for group shows that is a very large list, this is after 30 years of working .
I do not use this as a benchmark of success , as I believe that you are only as good as what you can produce each day, that I use as my goal.


On a personal level I doubt that any Museum is thinking , boy we should ask Bob Carnie for his solarizations.. this just does not happen. I am approaching hundreds of gallery's, to show the work I have produced, but I am following their guidelines to a tee and never send unsolicited submission. I am looking at their other artists and seeing if my work could work in their gallery .
This takes time, years in fact and my hope is one day this to pay off , but I am not banking on it , rather I am enjoying moving my work around to different city's, visiting the city's , meet new friends and associates, and for me that is all I can ask for. Many years from now I will learn if my work has any legs, but now its just hard work moving it about.

I use clamshell boxes and post bound binders for the most part with my prints.

Have you done any work trying to get into museums or other institutions?

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

I never felt like quitting photography. At the worst moment, I just put down my camera and not shoot for a while just to recharge my creative batteries.

 

[lightwisps]

I was just having a senior moment I think.

 

[DrTang]

I feel like quitting


everything

selling everything but a flyrod


oh.. about once every three months


haven't done it yet...yet


I'm tired of looking for a space to shoot though..it's tough in my town.. rents are steep and since it's only for my own amusement - I won't / can't spend an arm and a leg on rent

I could rent places by the hour..but I got so much stuff..I just don't want to load..unload..setup..shoot (or not if the model(s) flake) break down..load..unload

so yeah.. not right now..but w/i 3 months..I'll feel like chucking it all

 

[kb3lms]

Yes, other stuff. But not photography.

 

[Bill Burk]

eddie and MattKing: I DO MAKE PRINTS! But the 'knowing' how to make them does not force me to make tons of them like some people have a need to do. I derive immense satisfaction from KNOWING how to do things and this satisfaction, in and of itself, is a large part of my own particular creative process. It puts my mind at ease and allows me to think more lucidly while removing mental clutter.
- David Lyga

Hi David Lyga,

This is a thought directed at myself, a bit of introspection you inspire by your introspective opposing viewpoint.

I consider myself a low volume producer. Four prints a day, or maybe in a week is peak production for me. So I am guilty of being a less-productive darkroom worker than I should be.

And I feel bad about that. I should make more prints. I should print every good negative and make multiple prints of the really good ones. I have a ten-year backlog at this pace and I keep taking pictures. I have constraints that keep me from consuming too much material, and constraints that keep me near the darkroom but not using it. I see that I am better now than I have ever been, but recognize that my constraints limit how good I can be. In some respects I might be like you... I make peace with a realistic idea of how good I am. But I can not rest. I see only the limit to how good I might become if I continue following this path. So instead of peaceful clarity this makes me un-easy. I want to be better at dodging, better at retouching negatives, better at making prints that are obviously better when seen side by side with the rejects.*

That some photographic workers are compelled to print in volume is cause for celebration. If you enjoy something immensely and do not spend much time doing it, can you be as happy as if you spent more time at it? If you are good at something and spend more time doing it, do you not get better? And if you produce tons of prints, aren't you giving future generations of sensitive photographic collectors the gift of affordable enjoyment of your original work?

*And since these are pretty clear goals, I actually think I can make some progress.

 

[David Lyga]

Bill Burk: Your prescience is in danger of being properly construed as being naked inteliigence: You have presented both sides and have done so admirably.

By waiting to print, you encourage introspection and modification of your original thought process as to what will ultimately manifest. Rather than finalizing and restricting the image to what you think now and are able to produce now, and thereby tethering yourself to the image's restrictive final portrayal, you, by delaying, allow modification and possible amendment of the thought process to becomeultimately, an integral and intimate part of that image.

That said, the 'drilling' of the 'craft' aspects of making print after print cannot be said to be amiss. There is much to gain here. Photography is not only craft; it involves subjective aspects and semiotics as well. Significance of the visual image has impact in more ways than the obvious and blind people can also take part in this fulfillment, given a bit of intellect and ability to project.

An amalgam of these two ways of thinking about this is probably best achieved by making many smaller prints and leaving them unmounted so that you gain the advantages of refining the craft, seeing your improvement grow, (albeit not always steadily), yet still getting to make, eventually, that future image which will have all the advantages of both craft perfection and introspective maturity. - David Lyga

 

[f/16]

Yes every now and then I feel like selling most of my stuff. When G.A.S. gets bad, I start thinking "Why do I have all of this stuff?" What am I going to do with all of this gear?" Some of the lenses I have were bought strictly out of curiosity. Lately, I've evaluated lens choices. I've decided to sell some lenses to fund ones that will fit my needs better or zooms that have a very useful focal length. I got the 18-135 to replace the 18-70 for the Nikon D300. I want to sell the 60 micro to get the 105 micro for the extra working distance. A few inexpensive zooms will be sold to raise cash for the Nikon 28-200D. I'm getting rid of all my Nikon Series E lenses except for the 75-150 and 100 2.8. The 50 1.8D will go soon along with a few other things to pay for a 85 1.8D. When it's all over, I plan on selling about 12 lenses and ending up with 6 or 7 "new" ones. But the ones I want to get always cost more than the ones I plan on selling