Do you shoot a type of photography you never desired to when you started?

[NancyMoranG]

[QUOTE



Are "bad" and "missed shot" a type of photography?[/QUOTE]

Yes, and it's a BIG club, welcome

 

[sm4him]

Back in the day, when I *first* started getting serious about photography (I'd been shooting since I was 11, but this was probably around age 16), I suppose that I imagined myself becoming today's Ansel Adams, or maybe a renown SI photographer. I was mostly into nature stuff and sports.

Flash forward to around 2007-2008. I hadn't done any serious photography in years, just point-and-shoot stuff. But I went on a cruise to the Caribbean--my sister with her new D90, and me with my little Canon point-and-shoot!! The desire was rekindled, in a big way, and again, my main focus was nature stuff--florals, landscapes--and sports. I was getting ready to shoot some pictures of my niece's soccer games, and looking for ways to practice fast AF shots, without being at a sporting event.
Birds!! They're fast! I figured, hey if I can grab a in-focus shot of a bird in flight, then I can certainly do soccer. That was the beginning of a serious, apparently incurable fascination with birdography.
I wonder how many pictures I've taken are of birds that I never even knew existed just a few years ago.

But then another funny thing happened. I got so good at bird photography, that people started asking me to do photo shoots...with PEOPLE. Uh-uh. No way, no how. Not gonna do it. NOT a people person, first of all. Second, if I go out shooting birds out all day and they all turn out crummy, NONE of the birds will care even a little bit! But people?? They will definitely care how the pics turn out! That's WAY too much pressure for me.
Then a best friend asked. A best friend who typically REFUSED to have her picture made. But her kids and grandkids were coming in for Thanksgiving, and she wanted pictures of all of them together for the first time. I still tried to refuse, but she said she wouldn't do it with anybody else, she'd only do it if *I* would do the shoot. So then, I said, fine, but you have to understand that they might all suck.
Took the pictures (I cringe looking at them today, but the family loved them!)--less than a year later, my friend's husband died suddenly in a bizarre boating accident. It hit me really hard--he was a dear friend as well--it especially hit hard when they put one of those pictures from the shoot up on display on his casket. And I just kept thinking, "What if I'd insisted on not doing them?"

So, I decided I'd do them, only for good friends, and only with the understanding that they might all s*ck.

And somewhere along the way, without my even really realizing it...I kinda started to like it.
I am actually starting to do more and more portrait work these days, and find that I actually have the *desire* to get good at it and do it for those who might otherwise never have those types of photos made.

 

[Buckster]

"Do you shoot a type of photography you never desired to when you started?"

After thinking about it for more than a day now, I'd have to say no. The few genres that I didn't have any desire to pursue when I started, I still don't, and haven't. It's only been 46 years though, so that could change! You never know what's around the next proverbial corner!

 

[Vtec44]

I started as a studio fashion photographer, but now I'm strictly a wedding photographer and I don't shoot anything else.

 

[Scatterbrained]

First, a random thought: if studio portraits are "boring" you're simply not doing them right. And if you're asking someone to say "cheese" you need to be smacked.
Beyond that, I would say that "yes" I'm doing a type of photography I never intended when I started. I originally thought I'd be doing a lot of sport/racing photography. My primary hobbies when I picked up photography more seriously were motorcycle and mountain bike racing. I thought I'd love photographing them as well, but I realized I'd much rather be riding than spectating. Now I do mostly studio still lifes, and the obligatory photos of my kiddos.

 

[Mr. Innuendo]

I had no desire to shoot portraits when I started but, hey, it's payin' the bills.

 

[ronlane]

I've been on this journey for about 3.5 years now and I've only ruled out a couple of types of photography that I won't do. (Boudoir and Weddings)

I feel that I am still learning so much that I don't know enough to rule out a type of photography at this time. (Both of those were personal choices that I do not want to do them or even try to do them.)

 

[PJoneil]

B&W is something that I didn't see any point in when I started. For the first twenty years or so I shot almost exclusively colour negative mixed with the occasional Polaroid. I might have bought two rolls of B&W in that time, and one of those got lost in a drawer somewhere before it could be developed. Nowadays I do quite a lot of B&W photography.

I know a lot of people here shoot film. I honestly have never known film other than an old Polaroid or a disposable camera. But since a majority of the people here are still film photographers I think there must be something to it, but do most of y'all develop it yourselves or get it developed somewhere? It is something that y'all make me interested in. I gotta look into this "film" thing, lol.

 

[PJoneil]

Since we live and travel in an RV, I was POSITIVE I would be doing landscape all the time.
If you look at my avatar, I was hooked by birds. That really surprised me.
We are going back out west 2017, and will get my landscapes someday!!

An RV and a camera is one of my dreams, lol!

 

[PJoneil]

I've been on this journey for about 3.5 years now and I've only ruled out a couple of types of photography that I won't do. (Boudoir and Weddings)

I feel that I am still learning so much that I don't know enough to rule out a type of photography at this time. (Both of those were personal choices that I do not want to do them or even try to do them.)

Yeah, boudoir takes a special person I think. It is awesome but I don't think I can look at a beautiful lady in hardly nothing and concentrate, just saying. I also done a very few small weddings for good friends of mine as a gift and it is way too stressful for me, imo. There is a really amazing wedding photographer: Vtec44 I have found on here so far and kudos to him, lol. I like to keep my photography where I still have more fun than worry! Plus he has some really nice gear and skills.

 

[PJoneil]

Back in the day, when I *first* started getting serious about photography (I'd been shooting since I was 11, but this was probably around age 16), I suppose that I imagined myself becoming today's Ansel Adams, or maybe a renown SI photographer. I was mostly into nature stuff and sports.

Flash forward to around 2007-2008. I hadn't done any serious photography in years, just point-and-shoot stuff. But I went on a cruise to the Caribbean--my sister with her new D90, and me with my little Canon point-and-shoot!! The desire was rekindled, in a big way, and again, my main focus was nature stuff--florals, landscapes--and sports. I was getting ready to shoot some pictures of my niece's soccer games, and looking for ways to practice fast AF shots, without being at a sporting event.
Birds!! They're fast! I figured, hey if I can grab a in-focus shot of a bird in flight, then I can certainly do soccer. That was the beginning of a serious, apparently incurable fascination with birdography.
I wonder how many pictures I've taken are of birds that I never even knew existed just a few years ago.

But then another funny thing happened. I got so good at bird photography, that people started asking me to do photo shoots...with PEOPLE. Uh-uh. No way, no how. Not gonna do it. NOT a people person, first of all. Second, if I go out shooting birds out all day and they all turn out crummy, NONE of the birds will care even a little bit! But people?? They will definitely care how the pics turn out! That's WAY too much pressure for me.
Then a best friend asked. A best friend who typically REFUSED to have her picture made. But her kids and grandkids were coming in for Thanksgiving, and she wanted pictures of all of them together for the first time. I still tried to refuse, but she said she wouldn't do it with anybody else, she'd only do it if *I* would do the shoot. So then, I said, fine, but you have to understand that they might all suck.
Took the pictures (I cringe looking at them today, but the family loved them!)--less than a year later, my friend's husband died suddenly in a bizarre boating accident. It hit me really hard--he was a dear friend as well--it especially hit hard when they put one of those pictures from the shoot up on display on his casket. And I just kept thinking, "What if I'd insisted on not doing them?"

So, I decided I'd do them, only for good friends, and only with the understanding that they might all s*ck.

And somewhere along the way, without my even really realizing it...I kinda started to like it.
I am actually starting to do more and more portrait work these days, and find that I actually have the *desire* to get good at it and do it for those who might otherwise never have those types of photos made.

Awesome post and you are right the picture you didn't wanna do made a family at least one beautiful memory! I know what you mean though about being self conscious about your photography sometimes, but I think that is what helps make a great photographer, always strive for better images. I have done shoots for people that looking back I don't care for, but they loved them and I learned from them. So I guess that's what counts.

 

[Brundo]

Most definitely. When I started I strictly wanted to photograph wildlife and landscapes. And I was dead set against portraits. Eventually I was asked to do a senior photo shoot for a friend. I decided to give it a shot. Whereupon I decided portraiture isn't all that bad. However I still prefer to do candid portraiture over posed portraiture. I now find myself walking around town photographing the people and culture of Fort Collins. I have also experimented with still-lifes (never thought i'd go there. Still don't like it), arcitecture (meh), and macro (I love doing macro work).

 

[Fred Berg]

B&W is something that I didn't see any point in when I started. For the first twenty years or so I shot almost exclusively colour negative mixed with the occasional Polaroid. I might have bought two rolls of B&W in that time, and one of those got lost in a drawer somewhere before it could be developed. Nowadays I do quite a lot of B&W photography.

I know a lot of people here shoot film. I honestly have never known film other than an old Polaroid or a disposable camera. But since a majority of the people here are still film photographers I think there must be something to it, but do most of y'all develop it yourselves or get it developed somewhere? It is something that y'all make me interested in. I gotta look into this "film" thing, lol.

I wasn't talking about film, per se. It just happens that was the medium available when I was starting, and I saw no point in B&W then. These days I shoot B&W using both digital and film; as well as colour using both. I develop my own B&W negative film (and scan the negatives) but send the very small amount of colour negative film that I still shoot to a large, run-of-the-mill lab: I don't use specialist labs. The instant film I prefer is of the integral type, so it takes care of itself.

For me, there is some difference between film and digital in the characteristic look of the resulting photographs, which is hardly noticeable sometimes and very obvious at other times. I like both.

 

[MRnats]

I started out wanting to do food photography. Wife and I love to cook and wanted to take pics of our creations to hang around the house. The pics of her came out better than the food and I started using her as a model to practice portraits on. That's what I like doing now.

 

[BananaRepublic]

Ya the style known as bad ones