Author Topic: Why photography?  (Read 11894 times)

RobOK

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Why photography?
« on: July 08, 2019, 13:36:34 »
I’m fortunate to be at Lake Como, Italy. Life is beautiful.

I confess to not bringing my Nikon D750 or Df, instead the more simple Fuji X100F and even more simple iPhone X.  8)

I have been in a photography slump of late. A big problem is the time it takes to process in s PC or laptop.

Sitting here I am philosophic, thinking about WHY photography? For me.

For sure, it is a creative outlet, which is awesome. But it can also take you out of the moment, so that is another reading I am leaving the camera home more. To be more present with people.

In some ways s camera can make you more present to the world around but you can also get lost in the viewfinder.

I like traveling light this trip. I am contemplating my photography for the months ahead.

I don’t have any specific question but welcome reactions and discussion!

Ciao!
Rob

simato73

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Re: Why photography?
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2019, 16:25:13 »
That's funny, I have travelled recently to very close to where you are now, and have decided not to take a camera.
As you said I decided to live in the moment and enjoyed it, despite or perhaps because the very beautiful surroundings.
I also am in a slump period and cannot be bothered especially editing and filing at the computer.
This is not the first time I have some time off photography; it has happened a few times in previous years and usually it happens during the summer.
I think it is partly due to photographic fatigue, partly due to other things grabbing my attention in the summer, partly because the days are so long and catching sunrises and sunset where I live mean rising very early or going to bed very late.
Simone Tomasi

RobOK

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Re: Why photography?
« Reply #2 on: July 08, 2019, 17:02:42 »
Thanks for sharing!

Part of it also is I have so many thousands of photos that have never seen the light of day. So why take them. I think my photography, mostly self taught, has plateaued. Maybe a workshop is in order.

Airy

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Re: Why photography?
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2019, 20:01:14 »
My slumps occur every winter: photography is about light, and artifical light leaves to be desired.
Since about 2017, I gave up Lightroom (except for indexing & archiving) and do quick edits in Capture NX-D, mostly minor exposure corrections and some re-framing & cropping. Editing is as essential as ever, but the editing means are minimal, as I try to get the shot right. The number of shots also decreased from 30 000 per year to less than 8 000.

These last few years, my trips were preceded by a careful lens selection. Recent choices:
- Tamron 45/1.8, Nikkor 50/2 AI, Nikkor 105/2.5 AI (Northern Portugal)
- Nikkor 24/3.5 PC-E, Zeiss MP 50/2 ZF2, Nikkor 105/2.5 AIS (Iceland)

and then came the tendency "less is more", e.g.
- Zeiss 35/2, Nikkor 105/2.5 AI (Vienna)
- Nikkor 28/2 AI, Voigt 58/1.4 (ditto)
- Voigt 40/2, Nikkor 105/2.5 (Bucarest)
- Nikkor 50/2 and 105/2.5 (Milano)

and ultimately
- Voigt 58/1.4 when I want to travel light.

The lens choice is not innocent. The less I intend to shoot, the lighter I go. More often than none, the Df stays in the bag or hotel room. There is no reason to shoot for shooting sake, as I do not make a living out of shots.

Most of my trips being short business trips, the camera is not an obstacle to liaising with people; it is a way not to travel alone (I've been carrying that Df every second day at least since I bought it, back in 2014). I'm rather shy and not spontaneously addressing strangers. In some cases the gear (or the shooting activity itself) triggered conversations with people hostile (an American brat in Tokyo), or disturbed then interested (two elderly guys in Brussels), nerds (one guy in Düsseldorf)... interesting memories.

Each photographer his zen - in my case, with repeating commuting trips, it is "what's there that I overlooked for six years but will see this time". When I stop commuting, as is now the case (very temporarily so), the next question is "what's there in this lens that makes it unique".

Other reasons for shooting? well, events such as political or social events on the streets. I some cases I demonstrated with other people, and that's the best way to participate, but in most cases I was an interested bystander, in which case photography is a good way to "establish contact". Never experienced any incident.

Then, concert or ballet performance. I am no longer doing a lot. There is, de facto, a certain competition going on here (as pics are welcome ad material), and I am not interested in the petty "A against B" game of photographers trying to get exclusivity. Nowadays I prefer to get called to fill a gap, or to cover an event nobody was primarily interested in. Besides, there is the dangerous slope of subject becoming muses.

Now I am getting older, Madame is lagging behind by quite a few years but following the same path, and the subject is "how to shoot pictures of her that she will like although they are realistic and not photoshopped". Now that's a real challenge, and not the kind that will wear off that easily. Any acceptable pic is a victory. Three pics in a row, it's like climbing the Everest. If I get successful, I'll hold a workshop and invite you all.

Meanwhile, I'm preparing a trip to Brittany, centered on the four historic bishoprics (Vannes, Quimper, St Paul de Léon, Tréguier) that happen to also define, very roughly, the linguistic regions. Wait... hmmm... probably 28/2 (or 28/3.5 PC? or Zeiss 25/2, but I am less at ease when it gets that wide), 50/2 (or 58/1.4?), and Elmar 180/4 which is nearly pocketable: a nice addition to the inventory. But it may just be the 50 or 58, which proved worthy shooting Madame in the past. And using the Df, what else...
Airy Magnien

ColinM

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Re: Why photography?
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2019, 20:14:15 »
it can also take you out of the moment,

I can relate to that.
I used to take a lot of photos at sporting events.
I liked the Zen state I could get in, but at the end of the day, I had very little idea of how the match or race had gone - I had to ask my friends or read the report online!

Quote from: Airy
I do quick edits in Capture NX-D...

Mmmm. Although I don’t mind PP 20-30 shortlisted images I still haven’t learned to love or feel proficient with NX-D.

Moving to the D500 I had to leave Capture NX behind, which I found so much more intuitive & quicker.
By comparison NX-D feels like a barrier between me and getting the job done.

Frank Fremerey

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Re: Why photography?
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2019, 20:43:44 »
I started taking photos daily in 1983 ... it is still not boring.
You are out there. You and your camera. You can shoot or not shoot as you please. Discover the world, Your world. Show it to us. Or we might never see it.

Me: https://youpic.com/photographer/frankfremerey/

Fons Baerken

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Re: Why photography?
« Reply #6 on: July 08, 2019, 22:18:24 »
No point being philosofical about photography, easily to completely refute it and point out it being utterly useless,
only fit for egocentric, unsocial attention seekers and dramaqueens.

 ;D ;D ;D

Better be quiet about it and take care, cheers.

Jacques Pochoy

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Re: Why photography?
« Reply #7 on: July 08, 2019, 23:24:41 »
I'm usually in the same state after shooting more then 3000 pictures for my school in about a week's time (events, jurys, diplomas, etc.)... It gets the fun of taking pictures out of me for a while.
Then, slowly, I get back to the pleasure of shooting my surroundings and people. Like Airy I always carry my camera (nowadays the Df) with me. I do have some problems choosing lenses... The classical AI or AI-s primes or the zooms I use for work (24-120 f/4 VR mostly). I  like getting out and strolling about with two small lenses (28mm f/2.8 and 105mm f/2.5 or 35mm f/2 O.C. and 85mm f/2 AI-s or simply with the 50mm f/1.8 "long nose" ( my 50/2 being sticking a bit at infinity).

I've been raised in photography by my parents (both) and my grand-parents (on both sides) and I've taught my children to develop film and print via the enlarger, they each have a camera and the eldest gets my old camera when I get a new one  :o

In my eyes, taking a picture is a bit like writing a Haïku i.e. framing a thought or a piece of a disappearing world ! The mundane pictures of my grand-parents as those of my parents, have today the quality of a time machine getting back to WWI and the pre WWII ease of life ! I take more often pictures of streets then street pictures  8) . Same goes for the portraits... Many of my family and friends have died and the portraits I have of them keep them frozen in time for me as for others. To be able to make a portrait of someone you barely know is another way to discover the quality of those strangers, as if you spent a whole week-end chatting with them  ;)

Photography is also a way to feel the time passing by in a frenzied world. When you get older, time seems to speed up, there is more behind you then in front, so, finding a way to fulfill every instant, every play of light or draft of wind, is finding's a path to happiness  :)
“A photograph is a moral decision taken in one eighth of a second. ” ― Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet.

rosko

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Re: Why photography?
« Reply #8 on: July 08, 2019, 23:25:50 »
As long as I can remember, I always have a camera with me when travelling.
Except once : when I travelled to Australia (Melbourne, Victoria) in 2008. I planned to buy a D300 there, but I didn't, cause more expensive than Europe, so no picture taken.
I eventually bought my D300 in London after the trip... ::)

My passion for photography is not recent : I was 12 years old, sometime in the early sixties...
That is what we call in France ''le feu sacré'' ;D

So, to answer your question, the subject of this thread :
Why photography ?
Photography because it allows you to shape and transmit your feelings, immortalize events and anything you liked/loved.
If you are talented enough, you can elevate/raise this hobby as an art.
Francis Devrainne

Seapy

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Re: Why photography?
« Reply #9 on: July 09, 2019, 00:47:29 »
Because my sketching and painting were (still are) rubbish.  My grandmother, paternal was quite gifted but my attempts were dismal.  At about 8 years old I bought a Zenith camera from Boots the Chemists with some birthday money.

This and its successors have enabled me to record life's moments and my interest, achievements and much more silly and serious.  My interest ebbs and flows, as it does in all my activities.  I think that is natural, a consequence of dealing with what life throws at us and circumstances.

Digital has enabled me to be much more prolific, wasteful even, by recording more exposures than are strictly needed but I would rather cull and store than regret missing the moment.  On the other hand some events and moments are better kept as private memories, of which I have multitudes.
Robert C. P.
South Cumbria, UK

RobOK

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Re: Why photography?
« Reply #10 on: July 09, 2019, 07:53:35 »
Thank you all for sharing authentically... for me too it is Capturing Moments in Time. On more rare occasions do I feel like I am creating, and that is cool and sometimes frustrating.

I took up photography in earnest when my now 13 y.o. Was born and I have a lot of memories captured including just basic moments.

I am feeling re-energized!

RobOK

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Re: Why photography?
« Reply #11 on: July 10, 2019, 11:28:09 »
Scenes from Como!

Luc

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Re: Why photography?
« Reply #12 on: July 10, 2019, 22:17:44 »
Hi Rob, last week I was at (Lake) Ohrid (Northern-Macedonia) for a leisure holiday. I left all my new gear at home and took only my 2011 Fuji X100, 28mm converter and a few batteries with me. I shot in Jpeg and afterwards did minimal processing in Lightroom. There's a time for simplicity and just enjoying life as it is.

RobOK

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Re: Why photography?
« Reply #13 on: July 10, 2019, 22:57:22 »
Hi Rob, last week I was at (Lake) Ohrid (Northern-Macedonia) for a leisure holiday. I left all my new gear at home and took only my 2011 Fuji X100, 28mm converter and a few batteries with me. I shot in Jpeg and afterwards did minimal processing in Lightroom. There's a time for simplicity and just enjoying life as it is.

+100!

PeterN

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Re: Why photography?
« Reply #14 on: July 11, 2019, 11:28:13 »
To me photography is a way to enjoy a moment more intense. I observe better when I have my camera with me.
By freezing the moment I can look back to it as many times as I want to.
Due to my deteriorating eyesight I see things in a photo that I can't see in reality.
When I travel, I try to travel as light as possible.
And it is fun to do!
Peter