How long before you felt you "understood" photography

[deanimator]

It´s only part of the story, but I am thankful that I was able to assist the local newspaper photographer for three months when I left school aged 16.

He had a simple yet clear way of working and mostly by example, totally demystified the technical issues for me...suddenly I understood how it happened.

The why, the deep stuff...came much later...err, is still coming in fact, but I think he put me on the right road.

So...if you are young, new to photography and want to "understand", try working for a real photographer...even just for a while.

 

[JimmyJaceyMom]

I will let you know when it happens.

ditto!

 

[Hertz van Rental]

When did you start thinking your pictures were worthy of printing in a magazine or selling to others?

That thought never entered my head.
When I left College I started by assisting working photographers and it was just assumed by everyone, including me, that I would sooner or later start getting my own commissions, build up a client base until I had enough and start up as a photographer in my own right. That was how everyone else did it because that was how the system worked and I didn't see myself as being any different. If you worked hard and didn't screw up you eventually became a photographer.
In fact, being published wasn't the prime concern - getting paid lots of money was* :lmao:




*Actually, seeing your work in print was rather depressing. Nine times out of ten it had been butchered and 'edited' by the AD until it was unrecognisable. The normal lament was '****! Look what the idiots have done. Why do I bother?' and then you looked at the cheque and found the answer.

 

[Bear]

There is art you do for yourself and then there is art you do for those who do not know art.

 

[deanimator]

There is something paradoxical, unfathomable, about photography which allows one to capture permanently the transient form. Time is therefore fixed...stopped is not a good enough word for this. Our lives are transformed into mirrors which stare back at us, unblinking. It never goes away again. I began to understand something different about photography when I noticed its relationship to death.

Nothing else is able to do this....video, painting, music, are all doing something else. Maybe only poetry is similar to photography.

 

[jstuedle]

Long ago I shot weddings and babies. I was shooting for someone else. I hated it and left photography for a while. I now shoot for me, this is when I am most happy. That is not to say I don't learn each day I shoot or study, I do. I also believe when I stop learning, or stop having fun, I quit.

 

[mysteryscribe]

I'm execting to understand the major points in about another year or two.

 

[PhotoPhoenix]

it took me about a year to completely understand it all.

 

[jstuedle]

I'm execting to understand the major points in about another year or two.

Having read your experience profile in other posts, this post said it all. Do we ever get to the point where we feel we are "there", know it all? I would think if I felt that way, I would really need to back up and start over. As I said in another post, when I stop learning something each day, I quit.

 

[deanimator]

it took me about a year to completely understand it all.

So you will be able to explain to us what Wilhelm Flusser had to say...
Maybe Roland Barthes too...
And where Susan Sontag went wrong in her analyses...

 

[mysteryscribe]

So you will be able to explain to us what Wilhelm Flusser had to say...
Maybe Roland Barthes too...
And where Susan Sontag went wrong in her analyses...

Or just hold up your end in a conversation with our own Hertz Van Rental... By the way Ryder Van Rental is the choice of terrorists two to one....

 

[deanimator]

:cheers:

 

[nomade]

Not a pro and not an artist, at least can't call myself any of that, just an amateur who finds the energy and passion for photography. I've my good, my bads, my averages, my neutrals, but I donno what does it mean to "understand photography"?? How far is that?? A quick answer is not yet.

All I know is I had something to begin with, and it's growing, slowly maybe, but it is, you never know when the breakpoint is gonna be, but I know am not there yet. Probably I am not even close to "understanding".

 

[deanimator]

The three very intelligent people I referred to above did not claim to understand photography...I don´t expect any of us are going to do better.
Perhaps we just need to continue to ask questions...
Photography is a very zen-like form, and looking for help within such thinking is a good start.

Apart from Zen, I often suggest some other activities which I believe make a big difference: One is to study music...listen to its shape and form, and the other is a passionate interest in cooking. If this is you, then you will know what I mean. If it is not you, then you cannot force it.
Things also come when they are ready.

 

[elsaspet]

I haven't read one response as I didn't want to be influenced.

I feel like I'm empowered a little more every day. I study others and realize how far I have yet to come.

One thing I'm sure about, to be well paid and happy, anyways, is to just totally get into and love what you are doing. Be adventurous, and don't take too much stock in the neigh sayers.
Follow your heart, and if you see the beauty, other folks will too.
Try to make each photo even more beautiful than the last.
Hugs!