Why do you make photographs?

[markjwyatt]

Having a photography show has been a long time goal. COVID furnished the time, isolation and extra money to make the prints. But after recently returning to the part of the country in the U.S. where I grew up, that desire disappeared into thin air.

Just happy to be back where I belong and fit in? That's a guess though, it's hopeless trying to figure out where inspiration comes from, or why it leaves.

It got me wondering why others here make photographs?

I just get a lot of satisfaction out of it. I am sure there is a metaphysical aspect to it, capturing light and all that, but I just like capturing those interesting little moments in time that I know will never be the same any time else.

 

[Helge]

Love.
Love makes me do it.

“Every photograph is a battle of form versus content. The good ones are on the border of failure.”

- Garry Winogrand

You have to love and understand graphical design. Painting, drawing, layout, ornament, films, prints, art history, architecture etc.
And you have to have some kind of affinity and fondness of and towards your subject.

Combining those two is great photography, whether it’s “insane” surreal machinations or basic beach family photos.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Someone has to support film companies, photo finishers, camera stores and KEH. That is my job, is it yours too?

 

[VinceInMT]

Because I can't draw or paint.

Everyone can draw and paint.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I do for many of the same reasons already stated. I like the process (of film). I like to document things. And since I do draw and paint, I like to get images that I might use as reference for another piece of work.

I can get more philosophical and cerebral if I include my drawings and paintings and answer "Why do I make pictures in any medium?" It's because I have to. I have thoughts and images that rattle around in my mind, sometimes for years, and in order to deal with them I have to create the image. Sometimes it is done in photography, sometimes in drawing. As I have written elsewhere, on occasion I'll make the photograph and mess it for some time in the darkroom and never really get to the level of satisfaction I want. (Barthes "punctum.") I'll go out and reshoot it and go back into the darkroom, still not satisfied. It ends up getting filed in the "Unfinished Ideas" drawer. Many of these end up becoming drawings or paintings that I am quite satisfied with.

I find that if I try to reshoot or recreate a photo, it often lacks something. Probably the spontaneous, subconscious urge that drove me to take it in the first place. Unless, of course there is an obvious error or oversight when shooting or processing the original.

I read somewhere that the painter starts with a blank canvas and only adds the best that makes up the picture. A photographer has to start with a completed and complex canvas and subtract the things to make it better, often a much harder task.

 

[markjwyatt]

Everyone can draw and paint.

...well?

 

[markjwyatt]

I read somewhere that the painter starts with a blank canvas and only adds the best that makes up the picture. A photographer has to start with a completed and complex canvas and subtract the things to make it better, often a much harder task.

I usually start by eliminating the color- B&W mostly. I like color, but I see it everyday. B&W transforms the world and makes you see it differently.

 

[AnselMortensen]

I take photos because I am terrible at cave painting.

The security guards at Carlsbad Caverns told me so.

 

[markjwyatt]

I take photos because I am terrible at cave painting.

The security guards at Carlsbad Caverns told me so.

Did you take their picture? Or try to paint them?

 

[VinceInMT]

...well?

It’s a simple matter of pencil/pen/brush to paper.

 

[Daniela]

Everyone can draw and paint.

Amen!
Everyone can draw and paint, but we're brainwashed to think that we're not good enough and we don't have the right to make lines unless we're able to produce a masterpiece. ! Grab a pencil and doodle, if it makes you happy. Grab a brush and use color, if you feel like it. If you have the desire to draw and paint, do it. That impulse is valid and meaningful.

 

[guangong]

Besides cameras, I always carry a small sketchbook and fountain pen along with cameras. Both photos and drawings are serendipitous.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I can't really explain it other than I have to. If I'm not taking photos and making prints, I draw. If I don't have a creative outlet, I'd probably go all Edward Scissorhands with all the bushes in my yard...and the neighbours'! Photography gets me out of the house, too!

 

[VinceInMT]

Amen!
Everyone can draw and paint, but we're brainwashed to think that we're not good enough and we don't have the right to make lines unless we're able to produce a masterpiece. ! Grab a pencil and doodle, if it makes you happy. Grab a brush and use color, if you feel like it. If you have the desire to draw and paint, do it. That impulse is valid and meaningful.

Most all of us did draw as children but many/most quit at some point, usually when we become too self-critical of our work. When, years later, asking someone if they draw will usually yield a response like “If I do it looks like a 7-year old did it.” When was the last time you did a drawing? “When I was seven.” I contend that drawing is no different from many other pursuits and is a matter of practice. I wonder how many of us would have continued in photography had we applied the same self-criticism when we started?

I have always liked to draw but like others, slacked off for years, returning to it in high school, doing some sketches and lots of drawings of mechanical assemblies. (I later did training as a mechanical drafter(pre-computer times) and did that for a living.) I became serious about photography in the early 70s and was fascinated with how images were made up of these particles of grain. That influenced the “mark marking” in drawing and for quite a few years I applied graphite to paper, building images by constructing a “grain structure.” Courser papers where like shooting grainy films.

In my most recent drawings I’ve been doing stippling with ink, building images a dot at a time. It’s sort of like how a screened half tone image is built. The one on my drawing table right now, that I’m almost done with, has, I am guessing, over a million dots on it so far and I’ve easily got over 60 hours into it. And, to keep this with photography, I am working from a reference image I photographed about 30-years ago. It was one of those images that seemed like a good one at the time. I printed it, toned it, said “meh,” and then it went into a box. I remembered it when I came up with the theme for my current set of drawings. I am really happy with it at this point.

 

[logan2z]

In my most recent drawings I’ve been doing stippling with ink, building images a dot at a time. It’s sort of like how a screened half tone image is built. The one on my drawing table right now, that I’m almost done with, has, I am guessing, over a million dots on it so far and I’ve easily got over 60 hours into it.

Would love to see it when it's done.

 

[VinceInMT]

Would love to see it when it's done.

I think it’s about done. Here it is with my 8x10 reference photo. I will now let it percolate for a few days and possibly tweak it a bit if I decide that it needs some.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Because I enjoy it. And every once in awhile I feel I get it right. There's always that to look forward to.

In reality I haven't been taking photos 'cause of my vision deteriorating. Recently had surgery and can see well again. It's time to get back to work.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I think it’s about done. Here it is with my 8x10 reference photo. I will now let it percolate for a few days and possibly tweak it a bit if I decide that it needs some.

View attachment 324827

Nice work.

 

[gone]

Even though a gallery show is not on my mind anymore, I still take photos, make prints, etc. It's amazing how differently I operate w/ a camera at the ready. You look at things very differently. Tempted to say we see vs look, but that's an over used chestnut. It puts me in the moment instead being of up in my head w/ thoughts.

Another odd thing about this: when I get a new camera/lens/film that needs to be tested, I usually go out and walk, and it takes maybe an hr or so to shoot a roll of film. I take shots I usually wouldn't even consider taking. Yet some of those shots have become some of my best photos, better than the ones I thought would be great, and made a real effort to nail over the course of many days, or even a week.

Maybe intuition trumps experience and skill? You got me.

 

[jtk]

Sometimes I see something that rings a bell and sometimes I take the steps necessary for a photo. It's not a photo until I've printed it.

 

[MattKing]

Sometimes I see something that rings a bell and sometimes I take the steps necessary for a photo. It's not a photo until I've printed it.

I'm not quite as definite as this, but I have a lot of agreement with jtk on this. I would, however state that:
1) your photography isn't complete until it is presented; and
2) the most valuable - by far - mode of presentation is to print it; but
3) the other very valuable mode of presentation is to optically project it.

 

[Pieter12]

3) the other very valuable mode of presentation is to optically project it.

The downside to projection is it is temporary in most cases and depends on a rather restricted set of viewing conditions--dimmed or darkened room, decent projector and lens, and a good, bright, clean screen. Otherwise the image suffers greatly. Rear-screen or backlit large format transparencies fare a bit better, but still not ideal.

 

[Vaughn]

When I had some work critiqued by Michael Kenna, he asked, "Why do you photograph?" Without much thought I quickly said, "Because I have to." We left it at that. He did not seem to know how to answer that and I was in a bit of a shock from what I had said. It was a new interesting bit of truth.

Three decades or so later, the answer is the same, a little bit more understood, perhaps, a little more refined, perhaps, but still can be classified as one of those wonderful mysteries of life. But it involves a desire to see/understand more intently/intensly, a desire to share what I have learned/experienced, and some desire to educate, since I have been involved with photography mixed with education since I began to photograph in the late 70s. And of course there is the Ego. Wherever ego I go.

I do not know if I should admire or pity those who KNOW why they do things. Is it a gift or an illusion? Probably just the way they are and the more power to them. I like the exploration...finding the answers is secondary.

 

[jtk]

When I had some work critiqued by Michael Kenna, he asked, "Why do you photograph?" Without much thought I quickly said, "Because I have to." We left it at that. He did not seem to know how to answer that and I was in a bit of a shock from what I had said. It was a new interesting bit of truth.

Three decades or so later, the answer is the same, a little bit more understood, perhaps, a little more refined, perhaps, but still can be classified as one of those wonderful mysteries of life. But it involves a desire to see/understand more intently/intensly, a desire to share what I have learned/experienced, and some desire to educate, since I have been involved with photography mixed with education since I began to photograph in the late 70s. And of course there is the Ego. Wherever ego I go.

I do not know if I should admire or pity those who KNOW why they do things. Is it a gift or an illusion? Probably just the way they are and the more power to them. I like the exploration...finding the answers is secondary.

Vaughn,

I think that was your most valuable post on Photrio and far more insightful than anybody's blather about "art."

I'm sure Kenna Learned something from you....despite his fame.

 

[Ian Grant]

I do not know if I should admire or pity those who KNOW why they do things. Is it a gift or an illusion? Probably just the way they are and the more power to them. I like the exploration...finding the answers is secondary.

You raise a good point, my father had zero artistic interests, he'd freely admit he was tone deaf, and he would constantly say he didn't understand what and why my images meant. He was an engineer and commanded a tank regiment in WWII.

You make the point to explore, and many of use do, but then we need to take stock of the progression of the explorations, see if there's a meaningful direction. It's then how you interpret and proceed that makes the real difference. In time you learn the skills to pull more coherent work together, you make mistakes, or realise you've compromised too much.

Earlier in the thread I said I photographed to tell a story. I'd had numerous gallery exhibitions and curated a dozen at an Arts centre, but usually only a couple of dozen images, max 30. Then I had a major exhibition in a large art gallery, 62 images, my father had seen many of the images individually, however when he saw them as a whole, and how they were sequenced he suddenly said now I understand. I should add he could articulate why as well.

But it's important that we aren't simplistic, stories must have multiple levels, be open to different interpretations.

Ian