bjorke said:
I hardly find "why" an inappropriate question, and in fact it's posed as the topic of this thread. Do you like Jock Sturges for his platinum printing, for the clarity of his sight, or because young girls are beautiful? All might be valid answers, and may or may not be contrary to one another.
In fact I find "why" a far more interesting question than "what."
I do too. My real quest in life, and photography is one facet of it - is "knowing" my companion wo/man; What their motivations are, what their differences are, the "building blocks" of their originality, their passions and their humanity.
For better or worse (and it *is* "better") I've realized that I had to start with my self.
I am struck with one phenomemon - *Sometimes*, after "experiencing" (I would write "being exposed to" ... but that could be confusing and would be incomplete) the work, and then meeting the photographer/artist, there is a certain amount of familiarity ... I seem to be able to recognize, at some level, someone I have never met, solely by my relationship and involvement with their work.
That doesn't happen ALL the time, but occasionally, and when it does, it is a wonderful thing.
We can learn a LOT about photography through formal or semi-formal education: exposure, film grain structure, contrast, developing and processing -- and composition... ad infinitum.
Very possibly the more important subject, and one that directly relates to the performance of art, would be, "How to Recognize and `Feel' the Emotion and Passion of the Artist Creating the Work - Including Oneself as the Artist".
How many times has that been offered in a Adult Education course?
The photograph reveals more of the photographer than the nude model reveals of her/himself.