Who cares?

[JBrunner]

I care about my photos very deeply. They are part of me. I don't care about my photos at all. They are a waste of time. I love my photographs. They suck.

 

[Q.G.]

I think it is good to question what you do frequently.
Ask yourself why the pictures you took deserved to be taken. Why anyone (including you) should even bother to have a look at them. How big a disaster it would have been if the picture had never been taken.

And don't be lazy/easy when doing so. A simple "Oo, it's nice!" doesn't cut it.
Ask yourself why it is "nice". And what the heck "nice" means anyway (a question not answered in terms of aesthetic rules of geometry and/or colour harmony).

And be honest: don't let the fact that they are your pictures mean anything.

When you do that often enough, and consistently honest, you'll find you do not care about any picture very often.

 

[Kvistgaard]

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench. Care about other people's approval and you will be their prisoner.

Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.


Tao Ching

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Two things:

1. My expression reflects my own vision, state of mind, mood, and well being. My art is not about expressing what's in front of the lens, but to put the emotional content of 'me' in the photographs.
To convey this I feel is incredibly difficult, a real challenge. Accepting that challenge and overcoming it, time and again, is my driving force and my inspiration. Therefore my photography is only for me, and I care VERY deeply about it.
2. If somebody else viewing the photograph has a reaction to it, similar or dissimilar to my mine, then that is a wonderful thing. If my photography can be a channel for an emotional charge within someone else, then that is a sweet second source of inspiration.

Some people have had that reaction to my pictures, and some have cared enough about their reaction and relationship with that picture to purchase a copy. To me that is a bonus that helps me sustain the enormous cost of entertaining my passion. In a way I wish more people would buy my work, because I don't even break even with it, but if they don't I will still find a way. Like so many others here, I can NOT NOT do this.

 

[marcmarc]

I also agree the book "Art and Fear" is a fantastic book. Very enlightening.

 

[Christoper]

I believe it was Sir Edmund Hillary that when asked why men climb mountains said: “because they are there.” NONSENSE. Men (and women) that climb mountains do so because men that climb mountains MUST climb mountains.

I make photographs because I must. I hesitate to even attempt an explanation. But here goes…

The most intense memories of my grandfather come when I smell freshly cut alfalfa. He managed a cattle ranch and my cousins and I used to play in the stacks of bailed hay. The smell of alfalfa triggers an intense non verbal emotional response…

Light across a landscape triggers a similar emotional response, almost a memory. The making of a photograph is my rather feeble attempt to communicate that emotional response. It is not the kind of thing that can be described with words. If I had the words to communicate the emotion I would not be dragging 40 pounds of camera equipment through the woods….

As far as what people think about what I do… heck… Sometimes I don’t even like what I do… . I don’t care what other people think… I would like, however, to make them understand what they feel… not the same thing.