why photograph nature?

<p>hi all,<br>

a question posed recently for me to look at was as stated above "why photograph nature?".<br>

at first, i thought it would be a relatively easy thing to answer. <br>

wrong! <br>

as soon as i really began to think about it, i realised it is a very deep and tricky question to answer.<br>

my own reasons for shooting nature is an over all love of the natural world.<br>

at times i have photographed destruction of nature as well which much less enthuses me but i feel compelled to record its demise. there is another reason, obviously connected to the 1st.<br>

and so it goes.<br>

i went on a search on the net and actually came up with very little in terms of this question.<br>

maybe it seems to basic.. i think its a good question to post on a site such as this. <br>

i would love to hear your thoughts.<br>

thanks!<br>

Tim <br>

ps no category for this one in the drop down! </p>

<p>Tim, I am not much of a nature photographer (that is: recently haven't done it nearly as much as I like to). But the question behind your question is a good fundamental one: why make photos at all?<br>

There are many, many good reasons to make photos. Record for posterity, documentary reasons, recording a love for a subject - as you mention. But also memories of locations, events, persons. Or just a love for photography - photos for the sake of being nice photos. To create art. For professional reasons - from advertisement work to weddings and so on. In short: there is not going to be one answer.</p>

<p>For myself, I love being in nature as it relaxes me a lot. And I love making photos. I have no specific goal with these photos beyond trying to make good, compelling photos. More and more I am interested in documentary work, and try to define projects for myself (to have series of photos, rather than individual photos) - something like the 'destruction of a nature site' could work well for me, and keep me inspired and going.</p>

<p>Anyone who's gazed out on a beautiful sunset, or a magnificent mountain range, has been humbled with a sense of awe in their own nothingness. It's like standing in the presense of God. Trying to capture that moment of spirituality for yourself and others is a wondrous experience. Often though, you lose that sense of awe by being busy with photography as you revert to things of the flesh and ego.</p>

cuz it's cool . . .

<p>I photograph nature (albeit in a limited fashion) because it is there. By this I mean, I can walk out my back door and have a ton of different subject available to me, even in suburbia. Short drives put me into state parts and county wildlife areas. The subjects are both static and dynamic, come with their own clothes (which change every month) and I don't have to pay them or have them sign a release. ;)</p>

<p>I have to agree with Alan. Sometimes, I know that no shot I take can possibly do the scene justice, and I'm compelled to just stand there and look, listen, breathe, and absorb as much as I can for the memory.</p>

<p>And then, take the shot, anyway...</p>

<p>Thanks Rob, . . . now I know why I prefer nature/wildlife photography!<br>

You hit the nail squarely on the head!</p>

<p>This is no stranger than why take photos at all? Can be hard to answer too because ultimately we are all dead and life has no discernable purpose. Now on to something more cheery...</p>

<p>Because shooting a scene of nature always is different from what you see with your eyes. There is more to photography than registering what you already saw at a glance with your two eyes. The framing, cutting out what lies beyond your image; the choice of DOF changing completely or just marginally, changes what you saw and can radically change the scene that lies before you; shooting in black and white is even a more radical choice highlighting contrast and light and, obviously, eliminating the color effects on nature, etc etc.</p>

<p>For me shooting nature is therefore totally different from just being there and admiring with all my senses what I see and feel. Painting or drawing it, or composing music inspired by nature (Mahler for example) is all different from nature itself as seen and felt by us.<br>

Thats why I shoot nature, when I have the occasion, being a big city animal, first of all.</p>

<p>Why not?</p>

<p>I am serious.</p>

<p>without getting into the why shoot photos at all thing, I mainly shoot nature because thats where I spend a lot of time, thats where I'm comfortable, and thats what interests me. so when I got into photography, naturally, I shot nature.</p>

<p>Why not ?<br>

Either you don't see what others see and don't grasp at all what people shooting nature are talking about, or, what you try to express through photography, is not easily expressed by nature scenes.<br>

Some great photographers never seem to have been shooting nature shots, Cartier-Bresson or Marc Riboud, both from Magnum, for example, others shifted throughout life between nature and many others scenes, Stieglitz, for example.<br>

Demand driven professional photography might push you in one or another direction. For amateurs like me, we are free to let our inspirations direct us.</p>

<p>Again a double ! ! Sorry.</p>

<p>I like Alan Klein's response too. For me, it's a spiritual experience. It's almost a form of meditation. I remember stopping my car in the Mojave Desert and stepping out in the middle of nowhere and feeling a great sense of belonging, being a part of nature, not just an observer, not just a cog in a wheel as I most often feel at work in the city. There's no way to capture the entire experience and bring it home with you, but at least you can capture the visual part of it. And, yes, it's also nice that you don't have to ask Mother Nature for permission to take her picture.</p>

<p>Photography allows you to freeze a moment in time. Life doesn't allow that, it moves you on. So with a photograph you have the chance to contemplate something which normally is a fleeting experience in amongst many others. It allows you to look closely and in detail and see things you would miss in life.</p>

<p>And its fun.</p><div></div>

<p>I got into photography because of a love of being off the pavement in some kind of natural environment and wanted to remember what I saw, and share it with those who might care. Nothing has changed in that over the 4 or 5 decades except I've learned how hard it is to capture "what I see" and so I'm still experimenting every time. </p>

<p>If you want to photograph nature you may make a emotional connection to the scene you see in front of you. And you may want to bring that image to the attention of others, so sharing your excitement.<br>

It helps to understand what kicked in when famous photographers did their work. Google William Henry Jackson. Rather than Ansel Adams, who was more interested in majestic grandeur, WHJ captures a scene and makes a connection with the elements of the image...people, railways etc.<br>

One can also gain an insight into other landscape photographers in the days before digital. There are many. Galen Rowell is one. Another way to make your connection is to read some of John Muir, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau. These eminent people attempted to answer your question through essays and books. Google again. Read RWE's essay, "Nature" and be inspired.<br>

John Muir was known as the protector of Yosemite and he even took Teddy Roosevelt into Josemite Valley, camping for three says in the majesty of the Sierras. TR said later that those three days changed his life. So what can you do?</p>

<p>Easy...forget photography for a while and go off one weekend to places famous for the scenery and absorb a connection...That we are just a small part of nature as a whole. Do this weekend after weekend and it will dawn upon you why you want to record what impacts you visually, to the extent that you just have to tell your friends and share the images.</p>

<p>I don't believe landscape photography should be over-technical with lots of post processing, but rather it should try to record what you see and to share with others. But that's just me.</p>

<p>Our lives are so very brief. I want to experience this world as completely, as consciously, and as intensely as I can, and photography helps me to do that.</p>

<p>Well said Stephen. I cannot elaborate on the topic beyond what you just said. We live in a complicated world and being out in nature is one of the only true ways to escape that complexity and intensity that we all feel on a daily basis as the world continues to close in around us. To me, photographing nature is a soothing mental exercise. Enough said.</p>

<p>I like all of the above responses. Almost all of them resonate with me. </p>

<p>However, let me interject a caution: One issue not to get bogged down in is the question of why should I take pix of some famous natural area, when I can go to Google Images and find a zillion images of the same spot taken by other folks. IMHO, there are many excellent reasons to take your own images, even of famous places.</p>

<p>Tom M</p>

<p>You can go to www.food.com and find a lot of recepies.<br>

Until you have cooked one, you have no experience with it, and can't discuss it.</p>

 

<p>Wow~ Thank you thank you thank you! <br>

what a great response. i had a gut feeling this was a good place for such a question. <br>

just to be clear, i myself am never in need of a reason to be in and take photos in nature. <br>

my job and life have me there everyday. <br>

I find it interesting when other photographers i know tell me they dont like it. not inspired by it.<br>

horses for courses.<br>

i love taking shots of so many things,natural, non, etc its difficult to define the feeling but we all know the feeing of getting the shot. <br>

thank you again for your input.<br>

Tim</p>

 

<p>I shoot nature for the tranquility of scenes. Also trees, animals, and birds.<br>

Got a 28mm P.C. Nikkor just to straighten the trees.<br>

Great to look at in mid-winter and plan next year.<br>

Best regards,<br>

/Clay</p>

 

<p>I used to think that those who don't enjoy photographing aspects of the natural world were missing something very profound. While that would be true for me, I now realize my former thinking was very shortsighted. I can imagine folks who have a passion for photographing the essence of people through portraits, street photography, photographs of people in other cultures, and the like. I can also imagine people who photograph to embody concepts and emotions or to say something in a way that hasn't been said before, regardless of the subject. They simply have a different primary orientation toward the world we live in.....which is neither good nor bad, but just different from my orientation to the natural world. It has taken me a few years to understand this, but that was due only to a limitation in my imagination and understanding in the past. But my reasons for photographing the natural world have remain unchanged, and in addition I can put my passion in a broader context of photographic pursuits, and that can only be good.</p>

<p>Nature photography can allow the viewer to see details that they may miss in real life, or with just the naked eye. For example, in photographs we can see incredible feather and eye detail in an "ordinary" house finch or chickadee that's not visible to the naked eye, or even looking with powerful scopes and binoculars. The combination of frozen action with minute details is compelling for many viewers.</p>

<p>I love simply watching chickadees as they flit about and keep busy, constantly seeking energy for their tiny bodies, but I see things in the image below that I don't see by simply standing and watching. I see the subtle colors that seem to blend together when viewed live. I see feather details that I just can see as he's moving. I see details of his feet and claws grasp the food he's trying to crack open. Even as I shot the image I couldn't see these details and they only emerged as I did the Raw conversion and brought the colors to natural levels.</p>

<p><a title="Black-capped chickadee digs into a nut or dried olive.. by dcstep, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8523/8465986801_1e0cba87a5_c.jpg" alt="Black-capped chickadee digs into a nut or dried olive.." width="800" height="534" /></a></p>