Why do we take photographs?

[fimgirl]

Just been watching a thread on another forum that ran for months with some very healthy and interesting comments. But no conclusion.

But it got me thinking. Just why do we take photographs?

Prior to retirement it was a means of putting food on the table but here I am, many years post-retirement, still shooting. But why? After much thought and deliberation I can only conclude that for me I go with the Gary Winogrand view.........loosely (quote) "I take a photograph because I want to see what it looks like photographed" (end of quote)....and again for me I also want to see what I can do in post processing to convey what I saw.

I was happy with that, until I started to question........then what? At this point I was reminded of another quote " the difference between a pro and an amateur is that a pro seeks payment, an amateur seeks applause".

Is that it? Is that what photography is all about? Payment or "likes".

What's your thoughts?

[Costas2008]

Because we have a camera?

Don't want to be sarcastic, but looking at my photographs in my computer and the numerous albums I have, keep wondering, why on earth, I took all these pictures, and why I keep them.

Considering that I scarcely look at them.

So, now you asked the question that is my conclusion.

[guzzi850m2]

Good question.

I am just sorting out my photos taken digital since 2007 and about 99% of them are crap and I have deleted app 25% so far.

BUT even some of the crap ones of my kids are priceless to me and I keep them backed-up on 4 different hard drives.

Now I have started with Lightroom 5.3 so I try to make them better, nice hobby and I just spend 25K baht on a Olympus Stylus1 and try to think a bit before shooting, he-he.

Next thing will most likely be an A3 photo printer.

[MJP]

Photographs are taken to justify the vast, seemingly infinite expense of all this gear. The more taken, the lower the unit cost, the lesser the feeling of "why have I blown all this cash on this stuff, oh why, oh why".

[Goshawk]

i take photographs because i really suck at drawing/painting....but would still like some means to be able to accurately record the world, and the things in it, around me.

Marvellous invention, the camera...

[Ace of Pop]

.So the Family can take your best Camera

[neverdie]

For someone as simple as me, photographs merely assist me with memories, where as my wife enjoys the artistic pleasure of the process.

I waste numerous hours every month scanning through pictures as a form of entertainment and enjoyment.

Every so often, one gets printed and framed and the photos inside the digital frame get reloaded and the enjoyment goes on.

Some people love art in the form of paintings/sculpture etc, others prefer it in photographic format, I am of the later group as natures beauty is something that always captures my attention and IMO nothing captures this more accurately than a camera or rather a good photographer. I also enjoy watching the process of all this being captured by others, as oppose to cocking it up myself, it's very technical and interesting and there's an endless scape of things to photograph.

My wife rarely displays her work online and the only things that tend to make it online in the form of social media tend to come from her iPhone more than anything.

The wife tends to enjoy the process of attempting to gain certain 'shots' the hours spent hiking and seeking that particular shot out, the missing of the shot and the re attempt at same the following, day, week or month later. I met a fellow just yesterday, an avid landscape photographer who had returned to the same spot every day for 6 weeks in an attempt to capture a certain shot, each time his process hindered by changing weather and conditions.........he was far from frustrated, rather more bemused by the process. He was shooting wi a Niks D800e for pleasure and commuting 80 something kms each way for the shot which he intends to print for his living room wall (if he ever gets it). lol. Good for him.

[sunshine51]

I must agree with Goshawks answer but I can draw aka sketch fairly well given time.

Ahhh...that time thing creeps up. Cosmological disorder depending on ones POV

I guess. But it takes me a fair bit of time, or to be more precise, the passage of it,

to sketch out a neat scene that I may be viewing with just pencil & paper. When

the last of my family passed away back in 1978 I inherited some very old family

heirlooms; two of which were original expedition field logbooks when my great

grandfather explored northern Burma for Queen Victoria. The plates (hand drawn

pen & ink pictures) are simply stunning...depicting wildlife and general scenes to

include all the flora & fauna the artist saw and recorded for posterity. I first saw

these books as a kid and the plates inspired me to try and draw with the same

amount of detail. I'm still trying and more than 55 years have past since I opened

the pages of that first old book. Since I could never match the content quality of

those plates as a kid I began to muck around with an old Box Brownie & some

Kodak B&W when I was around 10 years old. Box brownies have long since

given way to D800's & D700's and a plethora of other cameras throughout my

career as a photographer and I'm still trying to capture scenes as my great grand

dad's expedition artist did so long ago...but in a bit more modern & time friendly

manner.

As for payment or "likes"/applause...well...Money is an evil commodity. Never seems

to be enough to go around, especially these days. However it is a needed commodity

and if I don't make any money with my chosen profession I can't buy food. If I can't

buy food I can't eat. If I can't eat then I die. So far so good in the eating department.

As for "likes"/applause...well...I was once assigned to cover a fairly large cremation

ceremony in Nepal at a certain location popular with cremations. It was a rather

difficult assignment to say the least: how to portray the stark reality in a manner in

which the reading public won't blow brekfast, lunch or dinner (or all) when they read

the journal I was shooting for. One pic was included by the photo editor that I thought

should have been omitted...it wasn't my call though. The pic showed this leg from

knee to foot, on fire, falling to the ground covered with burning logs, coals etc...etc.

..as the cremation pyre belched huge flames above. The leg was frozen in freefall,

sharp as a razor and one could easily see the ferocity of the cremation fire...all in

"living colour"....

Some months later on a flight to another assignment the passenger sitting across

the aisle from me was reading the magazine and gasped when he saw that burning

leg in freefall uttering a few explicatives I cannot put here. Turning to me he asked

how can somebody print this? I don't remember my reply but the feller asking the

question was very neatly dressed and named Roger Daltrey...

But to get to the real "jist" of the question..."Why do we take photographs"

I reckon I still enjoy those "Kodak Moments" made ever so popular in many periodicals

such a long time ago and love adding my definition of those moments for all to see.

Silly or deadly serious, makes no difference...I love capturing that particular instant

in time.

And if I can get paid for it...well hell...where's the best cheeseburger in town!

Edited July 15, 2014 by sunshine51

[Rob8891]

I spent my working life teaching kids aspects of the world they (occasionally) inhabited: I took photos and incorporated them into teaching materials. I was always fascinated by the world around me and in far off places. I also used to take photographs with a view to making small at least a bit of money (a quasi-paying hobby, not my main income)...I took landscape photos and printed greeting cards to sell in the local shops - not on the Arthur Dixon scale...just a few thousand cards and photos each year, mostly sold locally (although various Highland Gatherings were usually a good shout). Now I am retired, I find myself in one of those far off places and my fascination with my environment has taken on an almost childlike enjoyment of the sights and sounds. I cannot draw and regularly disappoint myself with my attempts at video, so I use the camera to record what I see.

For me, part of taking photographs is to try to extend my very limited artistic skill in capturing the moment, and part is the more scientific battle I have with the equipment in trying to get the best from whatever the camera has to offer, by tinkering with settings.....(and so back to the childlike approach...)

What do I now do with the hundreds and thousands of photos I take now? I sit and enjoy them...replaying special moments in my mind, or when sitting reminiscing with friends. I spend quite a bit of time setting photos to recorded music to create slide shows, and I also sit and critique the photos, considering how I might have done things better/differently..... and also, I send quite a few 'home' to my kids, so that they know what the old feller is up to in S E Asia.

.........usually all of the latter part entails considerable quantities of red wine to enhance the thoought processes, I am an amateur, and not a very good one at that, but I enjoy myself, so for gawd's sake don't think I get serious about it all...

[Kan Win]

Costas2008, on 14 Jul 2014 - 18:18, said:

Because we have a camera?

Don't want to be sarcastic, but looking at my photographs in my computer and the numerous albums I have, keep wondering, why on earth, I took all these pictures, and why I keep them.

Considering that I scarcely look at them.

So, now you asked the question that is my conclusion.

Your post it's all Greek to me.

Please post your photos and lets see what you have then.

Your best photos of course

Win

[MJP]

I do it to record fond memories of how I live . . .

[neverdie]

^. Liar liar Mr M,

That's not your garden.

[MJP]

^. Liar liar Mr M,

That's not your garden.

You should have seen the last place!

[sunshine51]

"M"...so you're actually telling us you live in a porta loo???!!!

[MJP]

"M"...so you're actually telling us you live in a porta loo???!!!

Sometimes, for years on end actually.

[Rob8891]

"M"...so you're actually telling us you live in a porta loo???!!!

Sometimes, for years on end actually.

Man, you gotta get out more., Have you thought of changing your diet?

Edited July 16, 2014 by Rob8891

[ETatBKK]

photography in the art form is a kind of visual communication - I take the photo and I convince my perspective my message with others. sometimes even though the 'other' is not necessary an existent audience.

some photos ( good and bad ) I share, some I keep, some I never think I showing to anyone; and I love them all.

memory is another obvious benefit - recently I found some family photos in the junk, a great flow of memory !

memory but in the future - taking photo connects me to my young age, and it also challenges me to the technology of today. the image sensor today is just a shutter in the past, the memory card is another form of carrier, and photoshop, lightroom or else just the chemical emulsion on the film, that varies the characteristic of the image quality.

[Dancealot]

Since I started, I have seen things I have never seen before in my life. Photo's taught me to slow down, stand still and take a better look at life.

Photo's allow me to observe my world more closely. They amaze me like a discovering child feels and I love it.

[MJP]

We talked about this remember DAL? You learn to see. You see things in everyday life you never saw before. Doing this metaphorically opens your eyes. Of course it also helps if your eyes are also open and thankfully due to viewfinder dioptre adjustment you don't need 20/20 vision.

[rhythmworx]

^^^ So true that, lately I notice things like shadows, curves, colours, contrasts and textures etc...that would not have registered in the same way in my mind before I started taking photos.

I'm just waiting for that implant where I no longer need to carry a camera with me.

[MJP]

^^^ So true that, lately I notice things like shadows, curves, colours, contrasts and textures etc...that would not have registered in the same way in my mind before I started taking photos.

I'm just waiting for that implant where I no longer need to carry a camera with me.

I'm having my dodgy eye removed and replaced with a GoPro.

[sunshine51]

^^^ What!...More pix of inside the porta-loo???!!!

Please "M"...do get out more often & spare us!

[fimgirl]

^^^ So true that, lately I notice things like shadows, curves, colours, contrasts and textures etc...that would not have registered in the same way in my mind before I started taking photos.

I'm just waiting for that implant where I no longer need to carry a camera with me.

I'm having my dodgy eye removed and replaced with a GoPro.

Good idea

[MJP]

^^I think it's a great idea. I can film myself typing nonsense on here and then . . . post it on here!!!

[klauskunkel]

It makes me happy