Why do you make photographs?

[Pieter12]

Thinking back about 40 years, I didn't have a darkroom so would go for many months without developing my 4x5 negatives.

I take this to mean that it is the act of photographing, the hiking by myself and trying to open myself to what the scenes in Nature are trying to say, is why I photograph. The final print appears to be secondary, which is kind of weird considering how much effort goes into the making of them.

Also, I don't show anybody but my wife the prints I make, except for one man shows every decade or so in local museums.

Good thing I had a day job.

Unless you or your wife runs the museum, you are showing the prints to someone to get them exhibited.

 

[MurrayMinchin]

Unless you or your wife runs the museum, you are showing the prints to someone to get them exhibited.

Okay, I'll flesh that out a bit.

My wife is the only person who sees my prints as I work on them. Once every decade or so, usually at pivot points in the 'the way I see' I'll have a one man show where other people can see them.

 

[Pieter12]

Okay, I'll flesh that out a bit.

My wife is the only person who sees my prints as I work on them. Once every decade or so, usually at pivot points in the 'the way I see' I'll have a one man show where other people can see them.

Still doesn’t explain how you get such a show if no one else has seen the work. Are you so well-known by the curator that you just get a show on demand when you feel like it? An envious position for sure.

 

[Vaughn]

Getting shows is easy...there is usally a coffee shop in town with a regular display space. Put your name on the list and you have a show. It can be a fun thing to do every once in awhile. It gets one to finish a few pieces (matted and framed up for view).

 

[Pieter12]

Getting shows is easy...there is usally a coffee shop in town with a regular display space. Put your name on the list and you have a show. It can be a fun thing to do every once in awhile. It gets one to finish a few pieces (matted and framed up for view).

I guess I need to sign up at a couple of museums, then.

 

[Vaughn]

 

[Dusty Negative]

I guess I need to sign up at a couple of museums, then.

I recommend starting with the National Portrait Gallery, either UK or US version. From there, you can branch off to coffee shops.

 

[Pieter12]

I recommend starting with the National Portrait Gallery, either UK or US version. From there, you can branch off to coffee shops.

I was thinking of getting one of those little kiosk/coffee cart things to display my work end set up in front of MoMA.

 

[MurrayMinchin]

Still doesn’t explain how you get such a show if no one else has seen the work. Are you so well-known by the curator that you just get a show on demand when you feel like it? An envious position for sure.

I'm a 16 hour drive from both Calgary, Alberta and Vancouver, BC in a small town of less than 10,000 people tucked up under Alaska's panhandle...anyone can get a one man show.

To prove my point further, I haven't uploaded an image here since 2006: https://www.photrio.com/forum/media/users/murrayminchin.4262/

 

[Pieter12]

I'm a 16 hour drive from both Calgary, Alberta and Vancouver, BC in a small town of less than 10,000 people tucked up under Alaska's panhandle...anyone can get a one man show.

To prove my point further, I haven't uploaded an image here since 2006: https://www.photrio.com/forum/media/users/murrayminchin.4262/

I am unsure what your point is.

 

[MurrayMinchin]

I am unsure what your point is.

Sigh...

See post #75 https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/why-do-you-make-photographs.196051/page-3#post-2626696

 

[Pieter12]

Sigh...

See post #75 https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/why-do-you-make-photographs.196051/page-3#post-2626696

So you photograph not to photograph but to get in touch with nature. A valid reason as any.

 

[MurrayMinchin]

So you photograph not to photograph but to get in touch with nature. A valid reason as any.

Maybe it’s a chicken/egg thing...

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

You press the shutter as an unconscious thought and the zen moment is either there or not. It takes many years of practice to achieve this.

Can you point out a couple of your Zen moments on your gallery page?

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Well said. I just graduated from art school with a BFA, am retired, and 70, so I have no pressure to “make it,” financially, in the art world. After having chatted with my fellow students over the last 7 years, I’d say that many of them have a fairly unrealistic notion of what awaits them after graduation. One is loading trucks at FedEx, another works as an office person in a mortuary, and another works in an apiary. The ones who land art-related employment did the art education route and found employment in a school. I do suggest to them, when it comes up in conversation, to take some business classes along with art. Three of the required classes in the art program did directly address the business side of art so there was that.

But that is not to devalue a college education or art education in particular as for many employers the college degree at least shows the individual can complete something, has some sort of work ethic, and is probably trainable.

And, yes, “successful artists as ALSO successful businessmen.“ I’ll point to Jeff Koons.

It might be harder to be a good businessman than a good artist.

 

[Arthurwg]

I photograph to espouse the primordial subconscious, and to visually repudiate the bilateral sense of obfuscation imposed by the paradigm brought forth by onomatopoetic subterfuge and its metaphorical diaspora.

Oh, wait...sorry, I thought this was the
"What is Your 'Artist's Statement' thread"....my bad.

The Return of the Repressed?

 

[AnselMortensen]

The Return of the Repressed?

Maybe...
Maybe not.
It might be more about the zootropic interpolation of the bilateral harbingers of mesozoic refringence...
But I'm not at liberty to discuss it.

 

[MurrayMinchin]

Sculpture teacher at art school whilst holding up a spark plug high above his head for the class to behold, "Pure form following function. A complete distillation of the cosmic is-ness".

 

[Dusty Negative]

Sculpture teacher at art school whilst holding up a spark plug high above his head for the class to behold, "Pure form following function. A complete distillation of the cosmic is-ness".

Now that I think of it, spark plugs are fairly sexy. Having said that, my Omega B8 is also pretty awesomely designed. Much nicer than those blocky Beselers and Dursts. [EXIT ABRUPTLY, STAGE LEFT...]

 

[cliveh]

Can you point out a couple of your Zen moments on your gallery page?

 

[markjwyatt]

Sculpture teacher at art school whilst holding up a spark plug high above his head for the class to behold, "Pure form following function. A complete distillation of the cosmic is-ness".

196?

 

[Dock]

In the early days,1950's, I used to go to three parks near my home and photograph children at play. Those days ended about early 1980's. Even even in parks one must now be careful not to photograph other people that you're not associated with. I do have an 800 mm Catastrophic lens I can use now and still photographic whom ever or what ever I want to photograph, no one the wiser.

 

[Pieter12]

In the early days,1950's, I used to go to three parks near my home and photograph children at play. Those days ended about early 1980's. Even even in parks one must now be careful not to photograph other people that you're not associated with. I do have an 800 mm Catastrophic lens I can use now and still photographic whom ever or what ever I want to photograph, no one the wiser.

Today, lurking with a long telephoto lens in public spaces makes you seem like either a bird-watcher or a pervert.

 

[MurrayMinchin]

196?

1980, so he probably 'came of age' in the 60's.

 

[Dock]

This is an 800mm Catastrophic lens (done with mirrors) is about 2.5 inches long, diameter of about 3 inches, fix f/stop of f/8, Nikon mount, if memory serves? True, it must be tripod mounted or, balanced on a fence post, hood of a car, engine off, etc. But, it's not all that unusual to see a camera mounted on a tripod, even today. And by the way, never used it to photograph children, no longer photographing any thing, any more. In the 60's I was 20 + years old. Just one of several photo items I will be offering up for sale.