Do you get emotional while photographing?

Senor Hound

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I don't mean like you break down into tears, but if you're taking a photograph that has a certain mood, do you find yourself feeling that mood while setting it up? I took a photo of a somewhat lonely scene, and found I started feeling lonely also. Yet, when I take a photo of a bright, vivid scene, I feel happy.

Sometimes I sing sad songs in my head while I'm setting up a more dismal photo, while other times I'll see cheerful things while photographing vibrant things like flowers.

Does anyone else do this? I've never really stopped to think whether its a good thing or bad thing (I don't think its either), but I just get into what I think my subject should be feeling. Its not a torrent of emotion, but just a slight mood change according to my scenery.

Anyway, does anyone else do this, or am I the only one (freak!)

Senor Hound
 
I was shooting a parade that features sports groups from young kids to elderly people. The first contingent were kids with disabilities, mostly Downs Syndrome, and they carried the big banner announcing the parade. The crowd on the sidewalk went wild with cheering and clapping and the kids were strutting. I had tears running down my face as I took pictures.

I took pictures of a mother and her newborn baby who doctors had said would live only a week or two. It was very emotional. The good news is the doctors were wrong. The baby is almost a year old and doing well.

The kicker is that I'm described as a hard, unemotional person because I don't tear up when people whine.
 
I never get emotional while shooting. I have shot all kinds of news events and so on, but I never get emotional.

Now, later, while I am going through the photos and I have time to reflect back on what I shot- that is when I may get emotional, but never while I am shooting.
 
I do not get emotional when shooting. I do however become the situation around me. Street photography, my mind is constantly moving. Shooting at the beach I feel the power of the sun and surf. Shooting at a family picnic, I get so absorbed in being with family and friends. Shooting at a local forest, I get quiet, slow down, become more peaceful.
 
I don't get all emotional, no... but I do feel a lot of pleasure from the whole process... pretty much no matter what I am shooting.
 
I haven't really been in a situation that I actually photographed something that brought out emotion. The closest thing I came to it was when my next door neighbor's house caught fire. I was in the middle of the entire thing, trying to get the fire under control and help a mentally challenged woman down from the stairs, all the while smoke was billowing from the house. It wasn't until the fire department came that I even thought about grabbing my camera but I was too shaken up by the whole experience to do so.
 

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