If you could never share your images

sleist

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Would you still be into photography?
Would what/how you shoot change in any way?

No social media.
You could print, but could not show the images to anyone.
Photography was just about you, your camera, and the world around you.

How many of you would be as interested in photography if it was just for you?
No "likes" to boost the ego, pat you on the back, or tell you your images were "good".
No way to know if you were doing it "right".

Would you care about having the "best" equipment?

If no one else ever saw your images, what would be your reasons for making them?

Why do you post images in a photo forum?
Why do you care what anyone thinks?
If we only take the pictures other people like, won't all our pictures end up the same?

Vivian Maier left behind boxes of undeveloped rolls of film when she died.

If a tree fell in the woods ...
 
Heavens yes, I have thousands of images I will never share with anyone but my family, and others that will never be shared with them even.
They are for me alone.

If we only take the pictures other people like, won't all our pictures end up the same?
I have taken a few pictures that others liked, but that was never the intention, it was to please me and capture a memory that will never fade for me.
A couple of quotes that sort of sum it all up for me:
Hugh MacLeod in Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity:

"Art suffers the moment other people start paying for it."

Oscar Wilde in The Soul of Man Under Socialism:

Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.
 
Heavens yes, I have thousands of images I will never share with anyone but my family, and others that will never be shared with them even.
They are for me alone

Not really the question. Your example implies that some pictures would still be shared.
We all have photos we don't share for one reason or another. I'm saying share nothing with anyone ever.
 
The answer to the question is a resounding YES! :)
As long as I can go back and look at them myself, if not, then I am not sure if I would or not, it's a maybe at that point. I would at first, but might quit soon after.
 
Would you still be into photography?
Would what/how you shoot change in any way?

No social media.
You could print, but could not show the images to anyone.
Photography was just about you, your camera, and the world around you.

How many of you would be as interested in photography if it was just for you?
No "likes" to boost the ego, pat you on the back, or tell you your images were "good".
No way to know if you were doing it "right".

Yes. I don't think I would change anything about the way I shoot, since I already shoot to please myself.

Would you care about having the "best" equipment?

If "best" means the equipment that allows me to create the images that I want to create, then yes, I would care about it as much as I do now.

If no one else ever saw your images, what would be your reasons for making them?

The same reasons I write things that I never show to anyone: self-expression. To get ideas or emotions out of my head and into a tangible, less ephemeral form so I can process them better.

Why do you post images in a photo forum?
Why do you care what anyone thinks?

Because despite my better judgment, I accept that humans are social creatures and we sometimes need to be seen and heard, just to remind ourselves that we exist.

If we only take the pictures other people like, won't all our pictures end up the same?

Not necessarily. Not everyone likes the same thing :) I believe we'd certainly end up with less variety, however.

Vivian Maier left behind boxes of undeveloped rolls of film when she died.

Yeah, but she was kind of a nutter, though, innit?

If a tree fell in the woods ...

It would still be a tree :)
 
I have a couple hundred thousand images I've never shared....just shot, and developed, and stored, either as negatives, or slides, or digital files. I just like the click! sound. Even if the internet blew up tomorrow, I'd still be shooting images. I got tired of routinely sharing pictures on-line a couple of years ago. After having shared 10,000 images and receiving a few million page view counts, sharing pics just doesn't matter any more.
 
I would still be shooting the same pictures with the same equipment. Everything I shoot is just for me.
 
Would you still be into photography?
yes... because I feel like I have to do and need to do photography. The same is with writing.

Would what/how you shoot change in any way?
I think it would. I think I would have milder criteria for some technical stuff in editing

No social media.
You could print, but could not show the images to anyone.
Photography was just about you, your camera, and the world around you.
I'd be ok with that. I waited a few years to start to share my photographs outside of tpf.

How many of you would be as interested in photography if it was just for you?
No "likes" to boost the ego, pat you on the back, or tell you your images were "good".
it would be different, but not something that would make me quit

No way to know if you were doing it "right".
that's the biggest problem in this whole story. I don't care that much about ego boost, that's just a small percent of what sharing my images mean to me. The biggest minus here is that I would struggle with some issues much longer than I would if someone told me precisely what am I doing wrong.

Would you care about having the "best" equipment?
probably, but I don't hurry now, and wouldn't hurry then

If no one else ever saw your images, what would be your reasons for making them?
I just have to let out something that's inside me. Have to produce/make/say/create something. Yesterday was about finishing a photo, this morning was about writing something.

Why do you post images in a photo forum?
to learn something new, to get some validation for things I'm doing right and to hear what I'm doing wrong from people that sound logically

Why do you care what anyone thinks?
I don't care what anyone thinks. I care what some think because they help me grow and relax

If we only take the pictures other people like, won't all our pictures end up the same?
they would end up extremely, extremely boring

Vivian Maier left behind boxes of undeveloped rolls of film when she died.
why not?

If a tree fell in the woods ..
hm... tough... It's a theme for conversation over a coffee, tee or a walk

I'm interested to hear what you have to say on all of this
 
I think a lot of people would do more if there was no chance of anyone ever seeing the pictures.
There would be no pressure to follow any silly guidelines that people have made up over the years. Thirds, ground subject, etc.
 
Yes, of course.

Photography is visual poetry. My connection to the things outside of me. I love it for this reason.
 
I'd still shoot and I doubt it would change what I shoot.
The only difference would be that learning how to overcome some deficiencies would take longer.

In short I'd shoot but suck even more.
 
I don't shoot for other people any more. I shoot for me. Why the hell would I quite?
 
Well since I mostly shoot portraits, it would be hard to convince clients to pose if they don't get the photos. Same as the stuff I shoot with models for trade. If they didn't get any photos in exchange I would probably have to pay for their time, which would be a financial impact and certainly diminish the number of shoots I could do. I would certainly still shoot, but it would then have to switch to shooting mundane objects (which is what I first started shooting and still enjoy so I would keep doing it) and perhaps wildlife, although as much as I admire some people photos in this category, it's never been a passion so probably only a few of these a year.

So yes it would change, unless there was ways of getting people to pose for free somehow.

I shoot and share, but not because I want likes for the sake of my ego (Although yes it is nice to know people like your stuff) but more for the like of the particular person I shot. If they love the photo, it could be the only "like" and I would be fine with that. And I've shot plenty for people that they wanted just for themselves and it didn't bother me not to share with everyone.
 
Well, I started before there was an internet. I did start printing but not right away. Now, if you took away the internet and being able to share photos would I have a serious temper tantrum. Probably would as I have learned a lot in the process. So, yes, other peoples opinion is important to me but but not so much it would stop me. I would probably just harm more people than I do now.
 

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