Is exposure to and study of good photography a bad thing?

[robbins.photo]

So agree that all of us have "our photography interests". We really should respect what others think about it. Actually it's my firs time right there but so intrested about that forum.

Sure, well except for those folks who take pictures at a zoo. Those guys should be killed. Or at the very least shunned. Lol

actually, you been missed. Where ya been? Yes, it was noticed you were gone. I didn't put up any missing persons posters on poles but i was kinda wondering what happend to you.

I've been missed? Well I guess once you get that rifle scope calibrated.. lol.

A while back I was involved in a car accident, laid me up for a while and I wasn't really able to go out and shoot as a result. Then real life got in the way again, things got pretty crazy at work, and well I just didn't have any free time to speak of until just recently.

 

[bribrius]

So agree that all of us have "our photography interests". We really should respect what others think about it. Actually it's my firs time right there but so intrested about that forum.

Sure, well except for those folks who take pictures at a zoo. Those guys should be killed. Or at the very least shunned. Lol

actually, you been missed. Where ya been? Yes, it was noticed you were gone. I didn't put up any missing persons posters on poles but i was kinda wondering what happend to you.

I've been missed? Well I guess once you get that rifle scope calibrated.. lol.

A while back I was involved in a car accident, laid me up for a while and I wasn't really able to go out and shoot as a result. Then real life got in the way again, things got pretty crazy at work, and well I just didn't have any free time to speak of until just recently.

well hopefully things are going better for you now. CHEERS!

 

[robbins.photo]

well hopefully things are going better for you now. CHEERS!

Yup, no worries. You know what they say, "That which doesn't kill you raises your insurance rates".

 

[bribrius]

You have missed the point.

Good possibility. My wife often tells me i am detached and rather dense. But i miss the point with that too.

 

[bribrius]

At this point (for me at least) the majority of what i shoot all looks alike. Another person, another building, another tree, another flower, another park bench, another bridge, another farm house......
They are all the same i don't even separate them anymore. Like mass production, just another..........Flip through them, all look the same to me now. Just "another"
Not very often i run into something that isn't just "another" that really attracts my attention. Even if the light is good, i see a good shot. It is just "another".
I am always looking for something different that interests me. In between, i just don't worry about it. I am fairly certain i could take better waterfall or river pics at this point. But i have so many i took already i just don't have the care to bother. "another" river pic. Amongst the thousand i already shot... so what........ i snap it with a point and shoot or whatever now and and just walk away. No interest. If i have dslr with me i dont even bother to change lenses half the time even if i know i should.
what has kept me interested, is falling back on the old manual lenses and cameras and going back to film more. I like the variety of yanking out a different old lense and old camera just for something different. And point and shoots, i seem to be falling back on 4,8,16 mp point and shoots more lately. Just for something different and mix it up a little. Most of the above doesn't help the final image at all, could actually deteriorate it depending on what i am shooting. But it keeps me interested with some variety and some challenge. Had the dslr out the other day, i shot in jpeg "basic". About the lowest quality you can get. Just like i put my older lenses on it sometimes. It has become more about keeping interest in swapping things around than about image quality in most cases. In fact sometimes i am purposely deteriorating the image quality just to achieve a older or different look to the photo. And well, it is more fun....

 

[stardust]

A while ago I tried to join into a gaming group, they were a fun friendly group of players of a decent number and a whole spread of ages. However despite their friendly nature I didn't stick it out with the group and there was a reason for that - they were too good and a touch too focused on the competitive side.

It made me start to think if this isn't perhaps a problem with photography in todays world, especially online. Certainly being around peers who have superior skill can inspire; it can push a person to improve to reach that similar standard. Indeed I would not be one to disagree that exposure to superior works is a beneficial thing and that without it one can end up setting a lower standard than ones full potential.


However I wonder if many of us have gotten too much of this. That we are bombarded by such a volume of quality, of inspiration and of skill that we end up losing focus and that former motivation starts to dwindle away. I feel that many times we lack that contemporary grouping, those who are of a similar skill and experience set of our own. A grouping within which we can rise to the fore within our own niche, where we can see measured improvement in our own work against others and also see their measured changes as well.

Instead we are left still struggling to grasp the slippery rope and pull ourselves up to our peers level so that they might become our contemporaries. That we might "rub shoulders" with them and feel a part of that system; socially contributing and being acknowledged.


Now many might say to this that it doesn't matter, that you shoot for you and you alone. But I don't think that is always true, we do shoot for ourselves (unless we are paid or have other motives); but I think that being social creatures we also like to share and feel that we contribute to the group(s) we are within as well. That we have something to offer, something that makes us stand out, even if just a little.

Thus I put forward the view that we are too bombarded with quality; that we have too much inspiration and not enough building of contemporary networks. We don't have learning buddies; we don't have a class; we don't have a grouping - heck even in tutorials or classes the skill range can be very vast.

I find that at times the same. One example are articles that overload.
'The 7 (10, 15) best ways to........'.
At times it would be great to just look at 1 item, thing, in depth.

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