Tony Rowlett
(K=1575) - Comment Date 8/1/2001
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Wu hoo!! :-)
For me, the question is "Why do I always hang around forums like these?"
If little else at times, it is because every once in a while a post such as your is made with marked enthusiasm and great humility. Thanks!
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Pete Andrews
(K=835) - Comment Date 8/2/2001
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Why do I take pictures? Because I have to, in the compulsive sense. I get withdrawal symptoms if I haven't made a picture for a few days.
Why I'm compelled to take pictures is a wider question that I can't answer simply. Probably 50% because a subject attracts me, and/or I want to say something about a subject. 25% might be because there's some 'magic moment' of lighting, mood, viewpoint or whatever that I think deserves to be captured 'forever'. The rest is an assortment of experimentation, pure record, personal visual note-taking, newsworthy event, and the general sort of mundane snapshot that everybody takes. Occassionally, I find a rare visual pun, and those are the most rewarding.
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Jeff Polaski
(K=231) - Comment Date 8/2/2001
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Tony, I've wanted to take pictures for as long as I remember. I still have the 127 film Baby Brownie I used as an 11 year old. Why, I don't know. I've just come to accept that I'm happy when I'm involved with photography, and unhappy when I'm not.
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Brian
(K=351) - Comment Date 8/2/2001
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I like to see lower-case text in questions like this. What I see suddenly speaks to me, and it says, "This guy doesn't appreciate typography."
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Steven Hupp
(K=288) - Comment Date 8/3/2001
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Dave Berry says there's a fine line between hobby and mental illness. I'm not sure which side of that line I'm on.
Several reasons: I enjoy the process. When I'm out shooting, time stops. I get to be alone for a long time (depending on what I'm shooting, of course). When I'm shooting, I'm thinking very hard and not using any words. I appreciate that, since I use words at work all day.
I also get interested in the subject, and I tend to concentrate on a few things. And there's a great feeling of accomplishment when something turns out well.
I have mixed feelings when other folks like my pictures. I appreciate the praise, but I usually can see about six faults in the picture for every good thing someone mentions.
Good question. Thanks for asking.
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Ebenezer Philpot
(K=19) - Comment Date 8/9/2001
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I'm not sure. I know it isn't a biological function, but it's like when I gotta go - I gotta go.
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steve
(K=816) - Comment Date 8/14/2001
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"I DO IT BECAUSE SOMETIMES I SEE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL I'D LIKE TO SEE AGAIN. IN OTHER WORDS, WHAT I SEE SUDDENLY SPEAKS TO ME. HOW ABOUT YOU?"
Do you limit yourself only to things that are "beautiful"? Do you ever photograph things that are ugly but interesting? What about things that are mundane but funny? "Beautiful" seems a little self limiting...
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Tom Meyer
(K=3514) - Comment Date 8/14/2001
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Ah but isn't that a wonderful choice to make. And the nice thing about life is that it always changes... just wait til the current girlfriend dumps you, or your house burns down, then you'll have the compunction to photograph something other than beauty (in the traditional sense, which raises the absurd question "What is beautiful to you?"). I've seen more than one "beautiful" photo of charred stuff a photographer dug out of the ruins of their life.
Perhaps this fellow "yahoo" thinks Mexican Hairless Chiuauas (sp?) are beautiful, or Persian Cats. I don't, but so what. I've been told that some folks don't think pregnant women are beautiful...how can that be?
I generally photograph things I'd like to see in a photograph, sometimes I do it to make myself wake up, sometimes to make someone happy, sometimes to make some money. It's really nice when I make a photograph that does all those things. I have photos that have done none of those things, and I like them very much... t
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James Luckett
(K=90) - Comment Date 8/18/2001
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"Dave Berry says there's a fine line between hobby and mental illness."
i think the mental illness angle is the definate tack to take. i make photographs to exert my identity into the world, into discourse, a public realm. and in this space, who i am is my photographs. so i try and make images that are about the issues and subjects that i think are important. loneliness and memory. finding the line between singular, familiar snapshots, and jawdropping, exploitive photography. and then tug as hard as i can.
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Justin Case
(K=171) - Comment Date 9/16/2001
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It is not biology. I mean not hardwiring. NIH took a normal child from its nursing mother. Reloacated the babe in the stock room of Adorama for the first six months of its life among caring surrogates who spend all day on the phone answering questions about C vs N. Returned the child to a family of visually taste impaird adults who only love Norman Rockwell. The kid now shoots for National Geographic. Name is yours truly,Seymour Hare
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