Several years ago I showed a number of my photographs at a local art show. I had an 11x14 print of a local church/meeting hall. An elderly lady came up to me at the show and said, "You know. I drive by Norway Center every day. I have never seen it like that. I guess I never really looked at it closely. I'll stop and look at it, really look at it, on my way home."
Isn't one part of photography to cause others to stop and think, to see things the way you see them?
...
But... let me play psychotherapist here for a sec .... Some time back in our past, each of us took a picture and showed it to someone and based on that response became enthused in photography. All of us were so emotionally vulnerable at some time in the past that an encouraging or discouraging comment could influence further photographic pursuits...
And somewhere is the world's worst psychotherapist...
My enthusiasm for photography was not the result of someone's praise. It happened long before I ever had a camera. I was amazed at the process and I continue to be.
The two times I can ever remember actually being influenced by anyone's reaction to my photographs had to do with technical issues of the medium and not my vision. If an audience has ever had any influence on me, it has influenced who I choose to have as an audience. It has not influenced my photography.
I have weathered a lot of criticism as well as accolades and neither has ever made me attempt to change how I see and photograph.
We don't all fit in that little box you are trying to construct.
If an audience has ever had any influence on me, it has influenced who I choose to have as an audience.
Yeah, that's why I don't show my photos to my mom anymore.
I shoot for the viewer only in that I'll choose a place or general subject that I think someone else might like to see. But how I end up actually portraying that subject is just how I like it, not with anyone else in mind. That applies mostly to flowers, waterfalls, serene farm scenes and the like.
The possible exception to this is when I take my camera into the woods with me. Then, it's really just for me - to see if I can capture on film the feeling of being in the woods (without the bugs). If others like what I shoot in the woods, then that'd be great, but I don't tend to show those as much.
To take photographs with the viewer totally in mind go into WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY otherwise be true to yourself and be grateful that someone likes your work enough to buy. Once you pander to the masses your integrity is gone.
Since I'm reading all of this MW material, some of the comments call forth some of what I'm reading and also some recall from 40 years ago. I really hope I'm not getting tedious. If enough people tell me to shut up, I might.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuzanneR
In fact, there are plenty of pictures I make, that are better kept private!
MW made a distinction between public images and private images. Private images were not for showing; perhaps they reveal too much, let people into parts of one's self which really ought not be visited. Public images are uncommon; those are the ones that are appreciated by lots of people (and frequently bought).
And then there were all the others. These are the ones we show.
[/quote]
Quote:
Originally Posted by catem
As photographers we are always standing outside ourselves, to a greater or lesser degree whenever we choose to take a photograph. Even if the subject matter is personal and more deeply connected to ourselves emotionally, we have to develop that ability to stand back - I see it sometimes as a kind of cold streak of necessity within work that is personally very important to me.
In the print viewing exercises and also when shooting, the method was/is to induce an open and relaxed state. In both, it is important to be aware of one's self simultaneously with the awareness of the print viewed or the image presenting.
This standing outside of self is very important to me, also. Actually, it is not only while operating a camera, but it becomes more pronounced then that at any other time.
Hmm, some of you imply that satisfying yourself is all that matters, but.... when I was a wee lad my athletics teacher told the boys that if we satisfy ourselves too much then we'll go blind
Joe, I don't think I put anybody in a box; I simply made the general observation that the feedback of others is why some (many?) of us felt encouraged enough to stay with photography in the first place. I haven't sold any prints, so my artistic integrity is firmly intact, per definition.
On the other hand, hmm, if I did sell some prints, then I could probably afford to get into that meditative state that some describe. Okay, enough kidding ....
My thinking is that in order to attain that meditative state that some have described, one must learn how to tune out the external or pre-programmed influences. And step one must thus be to identify what those influences are. Of course, everyone is influenced by different things in different degrees... but nevertheless there must be strategies involving introspection that people use in order to identify the influences and learn to manage them.
If you really want to make photographs that bend viewers minds then you need visual propaganda techniques.
The advertising industry is an almost limitless source book of methods that work; and profitably too.
__________________ Photography, the word itself, invented and defined by its author Sir John.F.W.Herschel, 14 March 1839 at the Royal Society, Somerset House, London. Quote "...Photography or the application of the Chemical rays of light to the purpose of pictorial representation,..". unquote.
I'll stick my neck out and offer the notion that folks take pictures for different reasons.
There might be a dozen reasons folks take pictures,
and another dozen ways they do it,
not to mention the myriad subjects.
AND essential to all this,
that a photograph may be intensely personal;
the photographer withdrawn, or shy. One might make pictures to remember a place or a time,
to understand something they've seen, or to show their pictures to a large number of people.
Or, as I do, usually only make pictures to share with an individual.
Some, have a clear understanding of where the boundary exists between the taking and the showing.
And on and on. The wonder of photography, to me, is that it gives a craft to anybody who wants to make an image
for ANY reason. And please themself in the process.
d
Last edited by df cardwell; 07-21-2008 at 10:16 PM.
.... Some time back in our past, each of us took a picture and showed it to someone and based on that response became enthused in photography. All of us were so emotionally vulnerable at some time in the past that an encouraging or discouraging comment could influence further photographic pursuits...
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