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

[bribrius]

like this. I basically was screwing off, about the only time i shoot this sort of thing anymore. What good is this photo? NONE. I have piles of such photos. All worthless.

 

[bribrius]

just my opinion though. To each their own. I know i did more good shooting the track team as some of the photos went to the parents. Who of course love having photos of their kids. Much more valuable than shooting still lifes or something to me... None are ever going to be iconic images. That is mostly chance.

 

[Designer]

What good is this photo? NONE. I have piles of such photos. All worthless.

Not so!

The fence and shadow could be a very nice composition if composed with having a good composition in mind.

 

[bribrius]

What good is this photo? NONE. I have piles of such photos. All worthless.

Not so!

The fence and shadow could be a very nice composition if composed with having a good composition in mind.

still just another fence and shadow....... hence my mentality. Who cares. I have piles of such photos. No value. Not trying to be negative. But my mindset has pretty much gone the other way. Finding things worthy of shooting. I rack up tons of shutter counts on worthless subjects already.

 

[Designer]

I understand you think such shots are "worthless", but sometimes they can be wonderful (depending on the composition, etc.).

 

[Forkie]

wrong imo.
it takes both.
you can do a great job capturing a worthless subject and end up with a worthless photo. This is where phototgraphers get a little to "stuck up" on their skills. They think because the perfectly captured a park bench in means the photo has some merit when it really is worthless.

I disagree. With some skill, some care, and some context, a park bench can be quite evocative. Just because a subject appears to be inane, it doesn't mean it's worthless.

What good is this photo? NONE. I have piles of such photos. All worthless.

Not so!

The fence and shadow could be a very nice composition if composed with having a good composition in mind.

still just another fence and shadow....... hence my mentality. Who cares. I have piles of such photos. No value. Not trying to be negative. But my mindset has pretty much gone the other way. Finding things worthy of shooting. I rack up tons of shutter counts on worthless subjects already.

That begs the question, why on earth do you continue to shoot worthless subjects, then, if you're simply adding to an already huge pile of worthlessness?

Do you seek out worthless objects? Have you considered that if you pay attention to how you shoot a worthless object, you can actually make it worth something?

 

[bribrius]

wrong imo.
it takes both.
you can do a great job capturing a worthless subject and end up with a worthless photo. This is where phototgraphers get a little to "stuck up" on their skills. They think because the perfectly captured a park bench in means the photo has some merit when it really is worthless.

I disagree. With some skill, some care, and some context, a park bench can be quite evocative. Just because a subject appears to be inane, it doesn't mean it's worthless.

What good is this photo? NONE. I have piles of such photos. All worthless.

Not so!

The fence and shadow could be a very nice composition if composed with having a good composition in mind.

still just another fence and shadow....... hence my mentality. Who cares. I have piles of such photos. No value. Not trying to be negative. But my mindset has pretty much gone the other way. Finding things worthy of shooting. I rack up tons of shutter counts on worthless subjects already.

That begs the question, why on earth do you continue to shoot worthless subjects, then, if you're simply adding to an already huge pile of worthlessness?

Do you seek out worthless objects? Have you considered that if you pay attention to how you shoot a worthless object you can make it worth something?

i like to shoot. And purely to keep up on camera skills. And it gives me something to do.

 

[Forkie]

wrong imo.
it takes both.
you can do a great job capturing a worthless subject and end up with a worthless photo. This is where phototgraphers get a little to "stuck up" on their skills. They think because the perfectly captured a park bench in means the photo has some merit when it really is worthless.

I disagree. With some skill, some care, and some context, a park bench can be quite evocative. Just because a subject appears to be inane, it doesn't mean it's worthless.

What good is this photo? NONE. I have piles of such photos. All worthless.

Not so!

The fence and shadow could be a very nice composition if composed with having a good composition in mind.

still just another fence and shadow....... hence my mentality. Who cares. I have piles of such photos. No value. Not trying to be negative. But my mindset has pretty much gone the other way. Finding things worthy of shooting. I rack up tons of shutter counts on worthless subjects already.

That begs the question, why on earth do you continue to shoot worthless subjects, then, if you're simply adding to an already huge pile of worthlessness?

Do you seek out worthless objects? Have you considered that if you pay attention to how you shoot a worthless object you can make it worth something?

i like to shoot. And purely to keep up on camera skills. And it gives me something to do.

Shooting worthless objects without composition, thereby retaining their worthlessness will do nothing but maintain the status quo in your camera skills.

How about: you've got the camera skills down. Try combining those camera skills with artistic vision and make that fence and shadow worth something? That is where the skill is. That is what we are all striving to do; to make the worthless worthy.

 

[bribrius]

wrong imo.
it takes both.
you can do a great job capturing a worthless subject and end up with a worthless photo. This is where phototgraphers get a little to "stuck up" on their skills. They think because the perfectly captured a park bench in means the photo has some merit when it really is worthless.

I disagree. With some skill, some care, and some context, a park bench can be quite evocative. Just because a subject appears to be inane, it doesn't mean it's worthless.

What good is this photo? NONE. I have piles of such photos. All worthless.

Not so!

The fence and shadow could be a very nice composition if composed with having a good composition in mind.

still just another fence and shadow....... hence my mentality. Who cares. I have piles of such photos. No value. Not trying to be negative. But my mindset has pretty much gone the other way. Finding things worthy of shooting. I rack up tons of shutter counts on worthless subjects already.

That begs the question, why on earth do you continue to shoot worthless subjects, then, if you're simply adding to an already huge pile of worthlessness?

Do you seek out worthless objects? Have you considered that if you pay attention to how you shoot a worthless object you can make it worth something?

i like to shoot. And purely to keep up on camera skills. And it gives me something to do.

Shooting worthless objects without composition, thereby retaining their worthlessness will do nothing but maintain the status quo in your camera skills.

How about: you've got the camera skills down. Try combining those camera skills with artistic vision and make that fence and shadow worth something? That is where the skill is. That is what we are all striving to do; to make the worthless worthy.

That is what i have been trying to STOP doing. Put lipstick on a pig it was still a pig. I went through a mass deletion spree a while back.. "what is the point of this image? None." delete. delete. delete. delete. delete.
Didn't matter how well it was executed. Looked at it. ahh... no value.
delete.......
Just did it again last week. wiped out 3 thousand photos.

 

[bribrius]

i took some more over the last few days, i'll crop, edit maybe (maybe not) and delete.

 

[Designer]

Trying to keep the topic in harmony with the OP:

.. 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.

There are exceptions.

 

[Designer]

bribrius; I am curious as to why you show anybody anything. I mean if, as you say, the main reason you make photographs is to be more familiar with your camera, why show your photographs?

In your Thread of Many Photographs (my title, you can't have it) there are scads of photographs of the mundane. (Way too many for me to comment on other than to reiterate that there are lots of them.)

See them here: untitled Photography Forum

 

[Forkie]

wrong imo.
it takes both.
you can do a great job capturing a worthless subject and end up with a worthless photo. This is where phototgraphers get a little to "stuck up" on their skills. They think because the perfectly captured a park bench in means the photo has some merit when it really is worthless.

I disagree. With some skill, some care, and some context, a park bench can be quite evocative. Just because a subject appears to be inane, it doesn't mean it's worthless.

What good is this photo? NONE. I have piles of such photos. All worthless.

Not so!

The fence and shadow could be a very nice composition if composed with having a good composition in mind.

still just another fence and shadow....... hence my mentality. Who cares. I have piles of such photos. No value. Not trying to be negative. But my mindset has pretty much gone the other way. Finding things worthy of shooting. I rack up tons of shutter counts on worthless subjects already.

That begs the question, why on earth do you continue to shoot worthless subjects, then, if you're simply adding to an already huge pile of worthlessness?

Do you seek out worthless objects? Have you considered that if you pay attention to how you shoot a worthless object you can make it worth something?

i like to shoot. And purely to keep up on camera skills. And it gives me something to do.

Shooting worthless objects without composition, thereby retaining their worthlessness will do nothing but maintain the status quo in your camera skills.

How about: you've got the camera skills down. Try combining those camera skills with artistic vision and make that fence and shadow worth something? That is where the skill is. That is what we are all striving to do; to make the worthless worthy.

That is what i have been trying to STOP doing. Put lipstick on a pig it was still a pig. I went through a mass deletion spree a while back.. "what is the point of this image? None." delete. delete. delete. delete. delete.
Didn't matter how well it was executed. Looked at it. ahh... no value.
delete.......
Just did it again last week. wiped out 3 thousand photos.

Then, I don't see the point in your endeavours. Shooting a "worthless" object and actively shooting it mundanely makes not only the subject worthless, the photo worthless, but that act itself utterly worthless. You seem to be wasting an awful lot of your time!

I'm not sure I can understand any of your previous points after that. It is the very definition of pointless other than as a way to occupy your fingers, because it certainly won't improve your camera skills.

 

[Buckster]

I once knew a guy with a camera (GWAC) who couldn't intentionally recognize, set up, and compose a shot to save his life. He basically just pointed his camera at anything and everything, willy-nilly, and fired away, shot after shot after shot - thousands per day sometimes, without a clue. Later, he'd go through them, hoping to find one worth a spit. And just like the blind squirrel, sure enough, he'd stumble across one by accident every once in a while. The rest of the junk (and there was tons of it) he'd just delete.

He just wasn't a "photographer", and never would be. He was just a GWAC who had a twitchy shutter finger, and knew how to focus (usually let the AF do it for him) and how to get a decent exposure (usually AE and a ton of bracketing), and that was the best he could do.

He did get pretty good at making excuses for it though too, I guess. They sounded a lot like Bri's, tbh.

 

[bribrius]

bribrius; I am curious as to why you show anybody anything. I mean if, as you say, the main reason you make photographs is to be more familiar with your camera, why show your photographs?

In your Thread of Many Photographs (my title, you can't have it) there are scads of photographs of the mundane. (Way too many for me to comment on other than to reiterate that there are lots of them.)

See them here: untitled Photography Forum

Camera(s). suppose i just support photography and the arts in general. It is fun. And i shoot about everything. You can pretty much tell what mood i am in, how much i care at the moment just by seeing my photos. Clearly, most could have been done better. Clearly, most of them i was just having fun. Most of those are deleted at this point.