Jump to content

Why are you a photographer?


Recommended Posts

Why are you a photographer, philosophically speaking, and how did you get into photography? I decided

to give it a try at a classical music concert performed by a friend of mine. They didn't have anybody to take

pictures and he asked me to do it. I had never held a camera in my hands, he set it for 1/125 and told me

to just shoot at whatever I wanted. Well, I had so much fun and I realized that through the camera I could

modify space ad time, I discovered that reality per se did not exist until I created it and I was just on top of

the world feeling completely free for the first time in my life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 133
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I very much like your start.</p>

 

<p>By way of reply, I've very lazily taken this from the middle of

<a target="_blank" href="http://sammysdot.blogspot.com/2007/09/eye-altering.html">

something I wrote earlier</a>:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>When I received my first camera at age eight, it provided a frame, a

discipline, within which the chaotic sensory profusion of my little world

could be stripped down, constrained, reduced to visual elements in an ordered

space and a restricted palette. Suddenly, I could express my wonder at the

hectic psychedelic whirl of light and shade and colour and noise across my

world by fixing on one small fragment of it and saying "There: look: see how

that pigeon's shadow intersects the wood grain of the boardwalk! That's how

life is!" It wasn't the pigeon that mattered, or the boardwalk, or the shadow

or the grain: it was the fact of capturing, for long enough to wonder at it, a

fragment of what life is. Whether that was part of me which the camera brought

out, or an aspect of the camera which I discovered, I don't know and never

will.</p>

<p>I often quote Charlie, the Chinese-Australian photographer who haunts the

pages of Janette Turner hospital's astonishing novel <i>The Last Magician</i><sup>[1]</sup>.

He takes photographs, he says, "so that I can see what I have seen". He has it

exactly right.</p>

</blockquote>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice Felix... I incline to the fact that the camera brought out a part of yourself you didn't

know yet. I think the little world that is the viewfinder "turned on" a part of your sensitive

being that was shut off for a while and that allowed you to modify reality according to your

vision. It's nice to look at the world as is and know that when you look in the viewfinder you

can see it in a totally different light... Cartier-Bresson used to say that photography is a way

to understand, I totally agree with him.

 

Thank you Ellis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good question Antonio,

 

You probably got what should be the best motivation possible, in any kind of "creative" work, whatever the medium : Having Fun ...

 

I started photography very early as my dad is a very good photographer, and we used to look at his slides very regularly when I was a kid. Also coming from a long line of artists, I used to look at images ( photos ( including lots of daguerrotypes from my grand father ), paintings, drawings ... ), but was lucky to also look at how images were produced, and I had drawing lessons from my grand-dad and my father even before I had reading lessons :-)

 

Photography for me was just another way of experimenting, more than anything else, and not having any darkroom, the only creativity I was able to achieve was through the only choice of subject and composition.

 

This is when I was painting myself, that I started again to take photography seriously : but the first motivation wasn't artistical at all : it was really to archive my work and keep a copy of my work. But then very quickly it became also a way to keep track of the process of the work, and photographing the different steps during the creation of a canevas evolved from some archiving work into something which actually started to be more artistical in itself. And then of course quickly, asked people to pose in front of the works, and then took the camera outside of the workshop ...

 

And photography has been a very important of my life for many years. Until it wasn't really challenging enough anymore for me. Or to be more exact until other mediums were much more challenging and rewarding at the time.

 

Now I'm back into photography since half a year, with some crazy rules I did create for myself, mostly because, as Ellis Vener mentioned, the challenge is a really great part of photography.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Same reason as Les.

 

I took a drawing course years back, when I was about in my mid 20's. Seated next to me for the 2 or 3 classes I attended (before I quit) was a 14 year old girl who made my stuff look like the works of a kindergarten student.

 

At that point I decided photography was my medium.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess it reveals my lack of artsy sophistication, but I'm pretty much with Les on this one. Try as she might, my mother who was a highly-trained artist was unable to teach me to draw well, much less to paint. At thirteen, I started developing film in soup bowls on the floor of a closet and was hooked for life. As a teenager with the only Crown Graphic camera, I found that this pimply, scrawny kid could be special because he was the only photographer in school. So, I found photography not to be some personally liberating aesthetic experience, but rather a social bridge.

 

Later on in life, after acquiring at least a little maturity, making pictures became a way of capturing experiences and sharing them through my own eyes. I worked alone, with no camera clubs or instruction other than what I could read. This went on for many years until I retired ten years ago and had time to devote to transforming a "now and then" thing to a "much of the time" thing, participating in shows, getting work hung in galleries and starting to sell prints for surprisingly decent prices.

 

Curiously, I still don't feel especially sophisticated, since my experience doesn't border on the mystical as do so many I've read of here. And, as when I was a kid, I've found that photography has given me entry to a community -- this time one of artists, rather than schoolchildren. While I enjoy the creative satisfaction of making pretty pictures, I have no delusions about revealing my soul through them or plumbing the depths of anything sublime. They're just pretty pictures, but that's enough for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To Less, Bob and Dick,

 

Beeing somebody who is able to draw, and have a little bit of experience in both fields, and, looking at your photos, you all already discovered that : achieveing good photography really is as difficult as to achieve a good drawing or canevas : there is much to learn all the time, to improve, to experiment, and I would even think it is even more difficult to get a "style" while doing photography, today.

 

I can understand that the very first motivation for going into photography could be the frustration of not beeing able to produce a good drawing in the early stages of drawing, and that it could be a bit more rewarding with the first photographies, but I believe, that in photography, there is a step, coming pretty soon, when a photographer realises that there is so much work to do to achieve what she/he wants to express.

 

What everybody here is speaking about, appart from the motivation to get into photogrpahy, is the hard work, and the the rewarding parts fo it.

 

And Dick, as you speak about "sophistication", I completely agree with you here : One of the main problems of artists today is that they all need to make others as wel as themsleves think they are very clever, that their work is very intellectual, but that is only because there is no substance in their work, no production of any feeling.

 

And that is why people don't go to contemporary art galleries anymore : they/we can't feel anything looking at contemporary art, in the very big majority of exhibition.

 

And that's why you can "sell prints for surprisingly decent prices." : you make people feel somthing, and I don;t believe there is a better achievment for an artist.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When i was 4 years old and very hyper active, my great grandmother would try to quiten me down by getting her family bible (which weight about 20 lbs.). It was choked full of family photgraphs. I loved looking at all the photographs (especially the ones of the oldest relatives. It kept me occupied for hours with any worry of me bothering her. i just loved the old B&W photo's anf the B&W fiber prints that were hand tinted. At the age of 17 I joined the army and the firt purchase I ever bought was a Ricoh KR5 camera and later a Minolta SRT 101. They were built like tank. I got my darkroom license and studio license in Kitzingen, Germany. I learned everything from a 87 year old Photo Meister. He taught me to understand light. He later taught me how to use large format (8x10 and 11x14 cameras). He taught me hot to manipulate negatives and how to use the grading system for printing. At 20 I got married. Had an extremely beautiful wife. So now I had a model to photograph. We travel a lot all over Germany and Austria. At the age of 25 We had a son. Now I was getting the experience photgraphing babies. But now I was shooting weddings for free. I was shooting postcards for the travel agencies. I specialized in night photography using a 4x5 camera. At the age of 27 my wife died of luekemia. My son was only 2 years old. So all I had left was my son and my passion for photography. I have been shooting now for over 30 years. My son is now a med school Student. Its funny thought. Out of all these years of shiiting. There isn't 20 photographs of me in existance. None of the whole family. It was always me behing the camera. That was where I had the most joy. Now I've re married. We have a son, but still no photographer (just hoped). And I still don't have a family portrait. Maybe one day. I've made many transitions. But digital to me has been the best. (getting out of the dark room). I hope to never lose the passion.<div>00OEfH-41410484.thumb.jpg.3fd4cf4f0cfd51164523271f80735c28.jpg</div>
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"LIFE" magazine did it for me. Every week, while growing up in the 1960s, I waited anxiously for the latest issue of "Life" to come in the mail. I studied every issue for hours. When I graduated high school in 1969, I wanted to be a photojournalist. "Life" was king and Larry Burrows was my idol. Seeing his photographs of a war in Viet Nam influenced my attitude then, and now. Unfortunately he did not survive the war, and "Life" didn't survive the changing times.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dan,

 

Wow. Amazing story. Love the photo of your son, which shows why you always have to be ready with the camera.

 

Myself, I grew up wanting to be a comic book artist. Even got accpeted to Joe Kubert's school of cartooning and graphic arts when I was sixteen, but I turned it down. My father was a closet artist and only drew for me, but he was also the family historian with the camera and 8mm film (windup)camera. He gave me a Hanimex Nova 1B when I was thirteen and I caught the bug for awhile. I still have that camera and it still works. I left photography and art for music and a planned entrance into becoming a recording engineer. didn't happen. Now I'm a graphic designer by day, videographer and mixer for a live band on the weekends. Always kept a point and shoot, but in 2006 I decided to move up to a DSLR and really learn to control light. Different than lighting for video, but similar in some respects. Anyone can take a snapshot, but to really capture a moment takes work. Being involved with PN has been a fabulous learning experience and I look forward to seeing new artists every day on the site.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's funny because a lot of people see photography as an "easier" art form that sort of

replaces painting, considered either more difficult or kind of "higher" and more artistic.

Photography is just a whole different matter, it doesn't have anything to do with our

hands, it has to do with our visual and emotional feelings and it consists in "absorbing"

light (reality) directly onto a film through a mechanical equipment. Photography and

painting are very different forms of art and ways of expressing our being. We can be the

most sensitive subjects and still not be able of either paint or take photographs. If I don't

know how to paint it doesn't mean that I can be able to express myself through

photography. I chose photography because that's what I'm interested in, not because I

don't know how to paint.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>I've gotten more from this one than from the rest of  the threads in

this forum to date put together. Thank you, one and all: Antonio for kicking it

off, and everyone else for the replies.</p>

<p>As for drawing ... if you stick at it, and don't let that able fourteen year

old in the next seat frighten you, it <i>does</i> get better. I learnt enough

drawing to pass out of my final show. But, that doesn't mean that it becomes

what you want (or, more to the point, need) to do. I agree with Antonio and

Laurent-Paul: each medium is different, and photography isn't an easy option. On

the other hand, I'm very glad that I had all that drawing practice ... for one

thing, it taught to me to look very closely, which benefited my photography.</p>

<p>I also identify with Dick ... I, too, found my place in teenage society

through my camera. And nowadays, when I'm awkward or ill at ease, where someone

else might occupy their hands with a cigarette or a drink or a pack of cards

mine are holding a camera or a pen.</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am a photographer for two reasons:

 

1) to document all of my "non-photographic art"

and

2) to examine the underpinnings of artistic representation and to compare the mechanical versus human approach to exploration of an idea. I really believe that photography is one of many tools that I have at my disposal to capture a concept and put it into motion for the viewer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. I enjoy taking photographs.

 

2. I enjoy playing around with photographs on my PC. (Perhaps my photographs don't always benefit from it, but I do...)

 

3. It's something creative/fun to do when I'm not being an engineer during working hours.

 

4. It's pretty simple stuff, on a technical level, and therefore quite relaxing.

 

5. Since the advent of reasonably-priced digital cameras, it can be a very, very cheap hobby (after an initial investment). I like cheap.

 

6. I don't like horses.

 

7. Horses don't like me.

 

8. Memories are handy things.

 

9. I get to annoy/embarrass my travel companions by stopping to take pictures of dirty drains and stuff...

 

10. I'm taking a bit of a break from drawing. (Can well over 10 years can be considered "a bit of break"...?) I will go back to drawing someday, though. I feel have some unfinished business down that road, which abruptly stopped here:

 

http://koti.welho.com/pwilkins/ink/index.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My grade school had a collection of Keystone stereo views of enchanting faraway places and history. How can I do this myself I then wondered. One can. Got two old Kodak box cameras and strapped them together. It worked. Everybody in my crowd was doing some photography for the high school rag. It was so popular. Later, in college, I found that I could use tubes of paint, sable brushes,linseed oil, canvas, Was a fairly decent sketch artist draftsman. It was I guess too late for that avenue alone and the realization it could be blown up, entailed the alchemism of chemistry. Well,it was reinforcing in a way that painting and drawing could not fulfill for my romantic imagination and need to mix cocktails of chemicals. I may still nourish that old spark. Like to think so,Tony. It was for me something I could grow with from simple to really elaborate.I came in as movies were experimenting with new screen processes also. Color was getting commonplace in the journals. I was entranced and inspired I recall.

 

My faily had a lot of professional musicians if that helped. My mother played piano.. Feedback from family and friends was gratifying. I got a verbal reward for doing it which counts when one is a teen. That is my little story. Goes a long way back,good grief.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...