If you cannot make great photo's in and around your house......

[Ko.Fe.]

Why it is big deal, challenge or problem to take pictures inside?
It doesn't matter if you are registered on this property or not. Makes no difference at all.
It is actually much more easy at home. You could do it all and you could pull it all and photograph it.

Or is it same "problem" as - I live in small town and here is nothing to photograph?

 

[Theo Sulphate]

One thing I've noticed about places is that visitors easily find things to photograph that natives ignore. As a visitor, local friends or relatives were puzzled why I'd photograph what they saw every day. To me the subject was interesting; they couldn't see it. This is why I've deliberately chosen to photograph things that I consider too common or too familiar in my own environs. That, plus I consider myself an unofficial archivist/historian.

As I wrote here years ago, I've had the attitude that I should be able to make five photographs anywhere. To experiment, I went into a small meeting room at work and found a way to make five photos that weren't crap.

... I live in an ugly and somewhat dangerous area. If you pull out a camera around here, you might get shot by a paranoid whacko who thinks your with a secret government surveillance service, or mugged by a drug addict. Beyond that, the architecture is at best an eyesore (mostly concrete or brick strip malls).
...

That type of environment intrigues me. I'd use a Minox.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Many years ago I read a quote from a famous photographer, saying (something like): "if you cannot make great photo's in and around your house, you cannot make great photo's anywhere".

Does anyone recognise this quote and if so, would you happen to know who said this, and on which occasion?

I personally fully agree with it and over the past years I more and more focussed on making photo's in and around my house, resulting in an exhibition in a local art gallery and my first book "Droomplek" ("Dreamplace") presented December 1.

This quote / wisdom / has been on my mind for decades so I would really like to know who said this.

Ron
www.ronmoelijker.nl

Ruth Bernhard instructed her students to limit themselves to 30ft from their beds.

 

[removed account4]

Why it is big deal, challenge or problem to take pictures inside?
It doesn't matter if you are registered on this property or not. Makes no difference at all.
It is actually much more easy at home. You could do it all and you could pull it all and photograph it.

Or is it same "problem" as - I live in small town and here is nothing to photograph?

Ko.Fe
i think the problem is that there are so many people who love photography and are "invested" in their whole photo-thing
that they for whatever reasons believe you need to travel far and wide to notice and see interesting things to photograph.
for me i find it overwhelming to go somewhere exotic to photograph there is a lot ot take in .. and i have to somehow detach myself
from the situation maybe close my eyes ... ? i think it is the hardest thing in the world to photograph your immediate surroundings
because again you have to detach yourself from what you see every moment of your day and actually SEE it ...

Ruth Bernhard instructed her students to limit themselves to 30ft from their beds.

brilliant stuff !

 

[Wayne]

Nobody ever said that, because many years ago everyone knew how to use apostrophes.

 

[BrianShaw]

Nobody ever said that, because many years ago everyone knew how to use apostrophes.

LOL

Or to translate into 21st century English:
Nobody ever said that, because many year’s ago everyone knew how to use apostrophe’s.

 

[Sirius Glass]

One thing I've noticed about places is that visitors easily find things to photograph that natives ignore. As a visitor, local friends or relatives were puzzled why I'd photograph what they saw every day. To me the subject was interesting; they couldn't see it. This is why I've deliberately chosen to photograph things that I consider too common or too familiar in my own environs. That, plus I consider myself an unofficial archivist/historian.

As I wrote here years ago, I've had the attitude that I should be able to make five photographs anywhere. To experiment, I went into a small meeting room at work and found a way to make five photos that weren't crap.



That type of environment intrigues me. I'd use a Minox.

When I travel and have the luxury of time, whether it is a popular tourist infected area of a quite remote place, I ask the locals where the secret special places that no one knows about are. They are usually so pleased that I asked, they will sometimes draw maps or even take me there. Always worth the excursion.

 

[Ron789]

Thanks for all your comments! I'll be interviewed by a newspaper tomorrow on my book introduction and current exhibition in a local modern art gallery so I may quote this statement but without referring to a specific source.
Most people seem to agree with it while some feel they need a more interesting / appealing subject than their home and direct surroundings. Personally, I make my best photo's close by. I travel a lot to many interesting places but I hardly make photo's while traveling and when I do, most of them turn out boring.... just a registration of a nice subject, no added value. I stopped carrying lots of camera gear with me like I did in the past; when I do take a camera with me it's something really small and simple that fits in my pocket but I tend to hardly use it.

 

[Vaughn]

My backyard...

Platinum/palladium print

PS -- it should really be view at actual size (2 1/4" sq image.)