Do you find photography therapeutic?

[cliveh]

Yes, 100% including darkroom work. I also believe this is so therapeutic that it could be employed more in therapy to relieve stress. Some years ago I suggested a college course for this very reason and it is an idea worthy of experimentation within therapy for people suffering from stress.

[Felinik]

Exactly... For me it's just a way to shut out the insanity of every day life, exhale, and find a place where I'm bothered by nothing. There is only the picture, and trying to do it justice. That, to me, is soul satisfying.

Yup, and it's totally in line with my new life motto "Happily Ignoring The World (tm)"...

[Hatchetman]

Usually it is, but sometimes I think I need therapy because of it. I often get discouraged by my limited abilities.

[Philip Taylor]

I work for a digital high speed camera manufacturer and spend my days frantically making sure I don't miss the moment..which usually occurs in around 10ms. My job requires connecting cables, dealing with ethernet protocols, software, firmware and dealing with voltages and flickering lights. I love it and I feel I'm the most spoilt person on earth being able to do this, but it's a job and it's frantic.

If I don't shoot with pure analog methods occasionally, I get physically irritated and mentally I can't concentrate in my normal job. This is to the point where a few nights ago I made my own cardboard LF out of a Manfrotto box and trace paper, and used a polaroid back (my 4x5 is being modified ATM) - simply because I "had" to shoot some LF..
To me, this style of photography is absolutely therapeutic and I can't do without it.

[LJSLATER]

Honestly I usually find it frustrating, rarely fulfilling, and exhausting.

I'm not as good, thoughtful, or experienced as I want to be, and I feel selfish and nepotistic whenever I share pictures.



..Yet at the same time, I can't imagine what it would be like being into something else like cars or guns, or whatever it is other people are really into.

Amen. I started photography because I can't play music, or draw or paint. But I still wanted to express myself creatively. I thought photography would be an easy way to do that; all you have to do is find stuff, point the camera at it, and push a button. Nothing could have prepared me for the amount of time and energy demanded to become halfway proficient at this. I can't turn back now though....

[sly]

Photo-therapy! I'd be a basketcase without it.
My work is intensely interpersonal and is often emotionally and physically exhausting. (Rewarding, challenging and fulfilling too, or it would never be worth it.)
Hiking off into the woods by myself, or locking myself into the darkroom, and not having to talk to anybody for hours is an important balance. Slow photography soothes and recharges me. Even if nothing goes right, and I have useless negatives or botched prints at the end of the day, I enjoy myself.
The computer, on the other hand, is the only thing that has made me weep with rage since my ex left the country.

[scheimfluger_77]

Usually it is, but sometimes I think I need therapy because of it. I often get discouraged by my limited abilities.

Actually this can be a good thing. Everything you do and every effort out in the field yields practice and with that confidence and proficiency. It's all up from here.

Steve

[ROL]

Actually, I find therapy to be photographic – but then I always prefer a good negative.

[Mainecoonmaniac]

As long as there's transparency about your positives.

[vpwphoto]

I used to find it therapeutic, but in the past year while carrying a camera, I pause to make an image, then sometimes stop and say, who is it for, will they care, and has it been done?

I can make images of my children and wife, to preserve moments, feelings, or family history, but outside this and paying assignments, I am stagnated and conflicted as to why to create more work that is gazed upon with empty platitudes but no real connection to the hurried viewer or monetary reward through a print sale.