The questions are: why photograph and/or print, and why show it to others (or not)?
That, when one really thinks about it, is a highly personal question, perhaps one that requires more introspection than is comfortable and is too revealing if answered honestly.
In order to put together an answer, I thought about it not just in the context of photography but along with all my other hobbies, interests, and passions and why I engage in them and whether I “show” or share their output with others. I’ve definitely come across some parallels and, the reasons for each have changed over time.
Regardless of the activity, I think back to what attracted me in the first place and it varies. For photography, it was the “magic” of what takes place in the darkroom that I saw when, in the very early 70s, I accompanied a friend and watch him makes some prints. That spurred me to acquire equipment, read some books, and start learning about photographers. When I saw images (in books) of Adams, Weston, Cunningham, etc. I wanted to “do what they do” and tried to emulate their style both in subject matter and technique. At the time, I was serving in the army, mostly overseas, and I had little else to devote my “free time” to other than this and I let it consume me.
When I became a civilian I needed a job and sort of fell into one at a medium-sized color photofinishing lab, working my way through most of the positions until I was the quality control guy. This place was a horrible place to work, the pay was extremely low, but it was a graveyard shift, which I preferred, and it scratched my photo-technical itch. In the meantime, I pursued my own photography, becoming more experimental and abstract, never showing my work except to a few friends. I also never entertained the thought of, outside this temporary foray in photofinishing, pursuing photography as anything other than a hobby as my career aspirations lay elsewhere.
Over the years since, the passion has ebbed and flowed in competition with my other interests but got back fully back on track after I retired 11 years ago and decided to pursue a BFA, primarily to change and improve my drawing abilities. This opened my eyes to the world of art and changed the way I think about my own work in not just drawing, but photography and painting as well. Anticipating korak’s question as to what that change was, I tend to think more thematically about work I want to do rather than on individual imagery. Instead of looking for images that will make a nice print on their own, I look images that fit into a theme or issue that I’ve assigned myself. I usually have quite a few of these in my head at one time.
That’s a long winded answer to korak’s first question and hardly required much introspection, but to answer the second part, why to show work to others (or not), does have me dig a bit deeper. As I mentioned, I never used to show my work but having gone through “art school” I had to do so and became comfortable with it. A parallel that helps me understand is my playing musical instruments (I do piano, guitar, and uke), something I’ve done since I was 7 but NEVER do so front of others. The reasons include fear of rejection, the belief that I’m not “good enough,” and carrying around a bit of “imposter syndrome.” It was the same with my photography and my drawings. Getting over that with my visual arts now gives me the clue that I might try it next with music. I will fully admit that there is an ego boost when my photography/drawings are put up in a show and I see people enjoy them, but I try to keep my hat size the same.
As an aside, I have a solo show of drawings that runs all summer at the nearby university gallery. The theme is ”Abandonment” and it started with a photograph. I was never happy with the image even though I shot and reshot it several times and just decided to draw it instead. While doing so I went with that theme and created 6 more drawings, all using my photographs from over 40 years as references. That first drawing/photo I posted in the gallery
here last November.