Why do you make photographs?

[Pieter12]

When I was in art school, a professor basically stated the only reason to become an artist is because you have to, you cannot not make art. Essentially, he said if you have any other way to make a living, do that. Of course, he didn't say don't make art, just don't choose it as a career if you can help it.

 

[Mike Lopez]

When I was in art school, a professor basically stated the only reason to become an artist is because you have to, you cannot not make art. Essentially, he said if you have any other way to make a living, do that. Of course, he didn't say don't make art, just don't choose it as a career if you can help it.

Sounds familiar. From the first of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet:

There is only one way: Go within. Search for the cause, find the impetus that bids you write. Put it to this test: Does it stretch out its roots in the deepest place of your heart? Can you avow that you would die if you were forbidden to write? Above all, in the most silent hour of your night, ask yourself this: Must I write? Dig deep into yourself for a true answer. And if it should ring its assent, if you can confidently meet this serious question with a simple, "I must," then build your life upon it. It has become your necessity. Your life, in even the most mundane and least significant hour, must become a sign, a testimony to this urge.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

When I got older, I felt what many people feel and question in mid-life. Does what I do have value? Deeper yet is when I asked does anything I could do have value? What's the point of it all? Or as Ecclesiastes so eloquently wrote is it all just vanity and meaningless? Yet he does define where that meaning can come from and how to approach life regardless A good read of his book might answer many of these questions for you. It has for me but not all the time.

Now let me return to backing up my photos for my family.

 

[Vaughn]

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

I don't know...I was 34 (1988)...working in the wilderness in the summer and volunteering in the university darkroom in the winter. Not that young but still kinda dumb about a lot of things. I had gotten a scholarship to attend the workshop, which was pretty cool. I ended up be a workshop assistant for them for the next seven or eight years...a workshop/yr. (Friends of Photography, Carmel)

Ian -- careful (or carefree) well-documented explorations. Always some risk(s). Carbon printing has been and continues to be an interesting exploration.

The photographic print, the photographic book, and the photographic show (and now online presence) -- all different beasts needing their own kind of care and feeding to be their best. One can express with a show what cannot be expressed by going through a stack of the same prints. And books are an art form in themselves.

 

[VinceInMT]

Sounds familiar. From the first of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet:

There is only one way: Go within. Search for the cause, find the impetus that bids you write. Put it to this test: Does it stretch out its roots in the deepest place of your heart? Can you avow that you would die if you were forbidden to write? Above all, in the most silent hour of your night, ask yourself this: Must I write? Dig deep into yourself for a true answer. And if it should ring its assent, if you can confidently meet this serious question with a simple, "I must," then build your life upon it. It has become your necessity. Your life, in even the most mundane and least significant hour, must become a sign, a testimony to this urge.

Thanks, Mike, that quote arrives are just the right time and does answer lots of questions I've been pondering. I find that the more introspective I am, the more compelled I am to produce work. While loss of access to photography would have a negative impact, as long as I have a pencil and a piece of paper I can still create and scratch that itch.

 

[BradS]

When I was in art school, a professor basically stated the only reason to become an artist is because you have to, you cannot not make art. Essentially, he said if you have any other way to make a living, do that. Of course, he didn't say don't make art, just don't choose it as a career if you can help it.

Interesting. My PhD adviser told me the same thing, in almost the exact words but he was talking about Math.

 

[jtk]

I don't know...I was 34 (1988)...working in the wilderness in the summer and volunteering in the university darkroom in the winter. Not that young but still kinda dumb about a lot of things. I had gotten a scholarship to attend the workshop, which was pretty cool.

Young people, and everybody else, are wise to recognized dumbness and to pursue the "pretty cool."

 

[Mike Lopez]

Thanks, Mike, that quote arrives are just the right time and does answer lots of questions I've been pondering. I find that the more introspective I am, the more compelled I am to produce work. While loss of access to photography would have a negative impact, as long as I have a pencil and a piece of paper I can still create and scratch that itch.

I'm glad to hear that the passage is useful to you. I love it when various art forms collide or when one is bolstered by another, etc.

 

[warden]

This is a photograph
A window to the past
Of your father on the front lawn
With no shirt on
Ready to take the world on
Beneath the West Texas sun
The year that you were born
The year that you are now
His wife behind the camera
His daughter and his baby boy
Got a glimmer in his eye
Seems to say: this is what I'll miss after I die
And this is what I'll miss about being alive
My body
My girls
My boy
The sun


(The whole album is great btw; photography comes up a few times)

 

[hoffy]

Why do you make photographs?

I got to admit that this question is becoming harder and harder.

I started making photographs (as a teenager) because I though it was fun. But I never had the funds or the encouragement to do much more than Highschool darkroom back then

I continued, because I wanted to document the interesting times in my life. My brother raced motor bikes. I decided to travel - it became a documentary tool

I started again because I had a family (& I bought a digital camera....). Again, this was about documentary, but it started to turn

I expanded, because I could buy all the cool cameras I couldn't afford when I was young (for a fraction of the price). I could setup my own darkroom. I learnt that I liked to see what things looked like in photographs (thanks Garry Winogrand). But I typecast myself into a style (up close automotive and mechanical).... and I become bored.

Now, I am not even sure whether I want to take photos anymore. I know what I want to do (portraits), but as I type this, I am struggling to understand what my actual motivation is... Maybe That should be left to another thread

 

[cliveh]

I don't make photographs, I just release the shutter and let the zen moment do the rest.

 

[Pieter12]

I don't make photographs, I just release the shutter and let the zen moment do the rest.

I would hope the zen moment happens as you release the shutter, not after.

 

[cliveh]

I would hope the zen moment happens as you release the shutter, not after.

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.

 

[Pieter12]

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.

I find I need every bit of my attention focused on the subject when shooting action, be it sports, wildlife or children.

 

[Vaughn]

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.

There can be a stillness in the moment between opening the shutter and closing it.

And occasionally, time enough for a nap.

 

[Pieter12]

And occasionally, time enough for a nap.

For Michael Kenna, a time for a good night's sleep!

 

[Vaughn]

It was a landscape workshop held on the Marin Headlands. I still have his notes for night photography he gave us. They came in useful as starting points for our students at the university years later. He often had multiple cameras (35mm) going, so I do not know how much napping he got! But I have had 30+ minute exposures often enough, and naps in the redwoods are pretty mellow (as was NZ). While photographing in the bush around my in-laws' farm in Australia, I did not even want to sit down. Stinging nettle trees, for gawds sake...

 

[Dusty Negative]

99% of the photographs I take, I do not particularly like. But the 1% warms my cockles for a brief while. And, when that moment passes, I grab the camera and start over.

 

[Dusty Negative]

When I was in art school, a professor basically stated the only reason to become an artist is because you have to, you cannot not make art. Essentially, he said if you have any other way to make a living, do that. Of course, he didn't say don't make art, just don't choose it as a career if you can help it.

Strewth! I'm learning the hard way that trying to earn decent ducats via an artistic path requires an equal, or greater, business acumen. Put another way, it seems to me that successful artists are ALSO successful businessmen. Tough.

 

[VinceInMT]

Strewth! I'm learning the hard way that trying to earn decent ducats via an artistic path requires an equal, or greater, business acumen. Put another way, it seems to me that successful artists are ALSO successful businessmen. Tough.

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.

 

[Pieter12]

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.

I’d hate to hold up Jeff Koons as an example of an artist. But he is successful. Business acumen is not the only, or even major factor for an artist’s success. So much has to do with luck, connections and socializing. Sure, you need to market yourself, but if you aren’t in the “in” crowd you might as well get a job as a barista.

 

[Dusty Negative]

So much has to do with luck, connections and socializing. Sure, you need to market yourself, but if you aren’t in the “in” crowd you might as well get a job as a barista.

Connections and socializing is part of marketing… which is part of business. Says I, at least.

 

[Pieter12]

Connections and socializing is part of marketing… which is part of business. Says I, at least.

A lot of connections are made through one’s social circles, breaking those barriers can depend on personality and the effort involved may take away from the time and energy needed to devote to one’s art. And unfortunately many artists just don’t like to market themselves. That’s why there are galleries and representatives.

 

[VinceInMT]

I’d hate to hold up Jeff Koons as an example of an artist. But he is successful. Business acumen is not the only, or even major factor for an artist’s success. So much has to do with luck, connections and socializing. Sure, you need to market yourself, but if you aren’t in the “in” crowd you might as well get a job as a barista.

Yes, and I picked him on purpose. Whether what he does is “art” is, of course, highly debatable but his business acumen is not. His background as a Wall Street broker probably helped. I might have used Damien Hirst for the same effect.

 

[MurrayMinchin]

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.