What kind of photographer do you consider yourself?

[Aggie]

over the hill student

[lee]

I wanna be a journeyman photographer. That is what I am working toward.

lee\c

[Cheryl Jacobs]

The easy answer is that I am a people photographer. Not one to settle for brevity and clarity, I think I'll ramble on about this for awhile.

It's not really 'people' that I like to photograph. It's a combination of soul, depth, and mood. Those three things. I'm not interested in documenting how people look, even if the light is beautiful.

My personal work, and most of my portraits, tends to look a lot like my memories do -- the dark tones, diffusion, and what I hope is a bit of mystery. I like to make images represent more than the subject as an individual, and that trigger an emotion or a memory in the viewer.

I'm awfully tired, though. I'll reread this in the morning and see if it's accurate.

- CJ

[papagene]

AHHHH... ERRRRR... UMMMM...
I have a tendency to switch from landscape to still life work. I grew up in a small town so I love being outdoors with my camera. I also have a semi-warped mind so my still lifes can be of the odd ball variety (most of them are 11x14's so I haven't got them scanned yet) - wait 'til you see my clowns!!
I shoot almost entirely in B&W, 4x5 and MF.
What type of photographer am I? I guess because I am trying to express myself visually through photography, I am an artist type of photographer.

[Graeme Hird]

I'm like you Robert - a landscape photographer who prefers to work with colour materials.

Oh, I take a lot of other photos, especially of the horses at the local racing club, but they aren't real photos; they're just record shots. The real ones are my landscapes shot with the LF camera ....

Cheers,

[Ed Sukach]

I wonder how many "kinds" there are..?

My answer: "Fine Art".

Now, for a long, convoluted, esoteric discussion of just what "Fine Art Photography" means to each of us...

[Mongo]

My first inclination was to answer your question with "A lousy one." But reading through the thread, I'll give a little more info on myself.

I do mostly landscape and architectural photography, with the occasional still life and abstract thrown in. I photograph to express my artistic side, and I'm most attracted to the flora, fauna, and architecture of my home (southwestern Pennsylvania). I do mostly B&W work because I love the process and the challenge of looking at the world as a series of tones and shapes, but with autumn approaching (like a freight train judging by the trees around here) I'll be doing a lot of color work for a few weeks.

I have done a little bit of model photography for some friends...people who make their living based (at least in part) on their physical appearance.

But here's the thing: I'm never truly satisfied with my work. The people who've seen my work really seem to appreciate it. I've had a few people try to talk me into doing a show. I've had offers to delivery my work to gallery owners. The people who see my work seem to believe that I'm talented. I've had offers to find models who want portfolio work given to me by those for whom I've done such work. But I just don't think I'm good enough yet.

And so I come to the real answer to your question: I'm on a journey to be a better photographer. I'll never be a commercial photographer, I'll never be published, and I'll never have a gallery show. I'll never sell a thing that I shoot (although I've given plenty of photographs as gifts). Instead, I'll be out in the world shooting the things that interest me in an attempt to grow and flourish. Photography for me is about expressing my artistic capabilities in a way that I enjoy. I photograph because I enjoy everything about photography. I love looking at the world to find the things that I will photograph. I love examining light. I love the process of setting up a shot so it's "just right" (to me). I love pulling a developed roll or sheet of film out and holding it up to the light. I love collecting a set of my prints into a folio. But most of all, I love growing as a photographer. I love the progress that I make, and the feeling of satisfaction that comes from knowing I can do things now that I couldn't do previously.

If photography was "just a hobby", it'd be too expensive and time consuming for me. Instead, it's a way of growing personally...and that (to me at least) is priceless.

[jim kirk jr.]

I strive to take images of the invisible,unseen,un-noticed and overlooked in nature,a landscape-whatever captures my eye.In the end,each day I hope to be a better photographer than the day before.

Jim

[dr bob]

I don't know. I'm still working on that.

[TPPhotog]

At heart I'm the kind that loves to shoot most things as long as it's in Black and White!