Next time you work hard at getting pictures of landmarks

[limr]

However 'good' my pictures are on some absolute scale, when I do something at the top of my creative arc, that's how it seems to me. Like the picture in my signature, because it seems to me to have so much emotional resonance and depth, it seems to be independent of me.

Well, it's a more challenging thing to express, but I think Lew's use of the words: "independent of me" here does a pretty good job. None of us seem interested in tooting our horns around here; we accept we are learning and growing, etc. But....! Every now and then, when something does turn out beautifully, yes, it seems apart from me. Like, appreciating that it is something that could have come from another artist/photographer who is well regarded, and not from our own creative spark. In that sense, we may come as close as we possibly can to viewing our work objectively (almost impossible to do), on those rare occasions we think, "I really did create that...and it's really something I'd admire no matter who did it!"

It's the occasional picture that makes us look at it and say, "Really? I​ did that? Really?"

 

[amolitor]

Possibly relevant:

I subscribe to a theory that individual pictures are only rarely original in any meaningful way, with certain important exceptions. If you want to do original work you have to think in terms of portfolios.

In some sense one can argue that "all the pictures have been taken" but it is not the case that every picture has been placed beside every other picture for our consideration. This does sort of beg the question of whether one ought to bother shooting original photographs at all, perhaps if you want to do original work you should simply find the pictures you want already taken, and arrange them into a portfolio.

 

[HughGuessWho]

Maybe some take pictures that have already been taken a thousand time;

Because they simply enjoy it.
They are trying to get to the point where they can take such "perfect" pictures.

Why is it a waste of time to do something you love to do, without having a purpose?

 

[Derrel]

Possibly relevant:

I subscribe to a theory that individual pictures are only rarely original in any meaningful way, with certain important exceptions. If you want to do original work you have to think in terms of portfolios.

In some sense one can argue that "all the pictures have been taken" but it is not the case that every picture has been placed beside every other picture for our consideration. This does sort of beg the question of whether one ought to bother shooting original photographs at all, perhaps if you want to do original work you should simply find the pictures you want already taken, and arrange them into a portfolio.

Oh, Andrew that's, well...that's called Pinterest.

 

[amolitor]

Now that would be avant-garde. My show at the Tate is a pinterest page, projected 100 feet high on the side of the building.

 

[terri]

When I see people trying hard to do something that has been done before so many times, like these above, I see that as an ego thing, a competitive thing, 'I can do it.' emphasis on the 'I".

OTOH, I prefer when someone tries to create something new, to find a new way of showing something.
For me, that is like uncovering a new treasure that didn't exist before. Not that I did something but that I found something.

That is how I feel when something I've taken is finalized and good (in my own estimation); the picture is no longer my end product but it exists on its own.

images of Horseshoe Bend - Google Search

Exactly! Look - right here! It's Horseshoe Bend! I got yer Kodachrome, yer HDR, yer fisheye, AND yer overprocessed/oversaturated puke-out version! Step right up, it's all yers for a dollah....

Up next, Antelope Canyon! :sun:

 

[Derrel]

At Horseshoe Bend, one positions his or her camera based on the well-worn, deep, decades-old tripod divots: the "pros" place their tripod feet in the wide-spaced divots, indicating Gitzo or Manfrotto "pro" tripods...the beginners use the closely-spaced divots, which correspond with the Focal and Hy-Tech $39 lightweight tripods. Serious amateurs usually use the Bogen/Manfrotto 3001 or Manfrotto 190XB divots.

 

[terri]

Maybe some take pictures that have already been taken a thousand time;

Because they simply enjoy it.
They are trying to get to the point where they can take such "perfect" pictures.

Why is it a waste of time to do something you love to do, without having a purpose?

But we are in agreement with you. Some quotes from the thread:

When I see people trying hard to do something that has been done before so many times, like these above, I see that as an ego thing, a competitive thing, 'I can do it.' emphasis on the 'I".

Possibly, but if they are really trying their hand at a certain technique over an image they admired, they really might want something they believe to be perfect to compare it to. So I can excuse that aspect of it...though I get this other element, the "I" thing, too. ;-)

Doing something you love to do is the purpose, right? That is never a waste of time. There is a difference.

 

[terri]

At Horseshoe Bend, one positions his or her camera based on the well-worn, deep, decades-old tripod divots: the "pros" place their tripod feet in the wide-spaced divots, indicating Gitzo or Manfrotto "pro" tripods...the beginners use the closely-spaced divots, which correspond with the Focal and Hy-Tech $39 lightweight tripods. Serious amateurs usually use the Bogen/Manfrotto 3001 or Manfrotto 190XB divots.

That is excellent information!!! I was hoping to just see a perspective diagram spray-painted on the rocks; this is so much better.

 

[The_Traveler]

Possibly relevant:

I subscribe to a theory that individual pictures are only rarely original in any meaningful way, with certain important exceptions. If you want to do original work you have to think in terms of portfolios.

In some sense one can argue that "all the pictures have been taken" but it is not the case that every picture has been placed beside every other picture for our consideration. This does sort of beg the question of whether one ought to bother shooting original photographs at all, perhaps if you want to do original work you should simply find the pictures you want already taken, and arrange them into a portfolio.

I don't know about the 'all the pictures have been taken already' idea but certainly individual powerful, complete pictures are certainly rare and portfolios tell a story much more easily.

I feel comfortable making this reference because he is a Internet friend of long standing and he knows how I respect his work; look at Rick Waldroup's latest work. His grouped work, set as a story line, derives its power from many 'little' images, none of which are specifically terrific but which, when grouped make an intense idea.

Sometimes it's just to damn difficult to create or find one single image that synopsizes a story well yet a group of attainable images can be used to create a complex story.

I find these stories harder to do because I am very reactive to the moment as I see it and feel sort of wrong to have a story and look for images to flesh it out.

 

[terri]

Brief hijack: This thread has become annoyingly on-topic. If you want I can move to to Discussions, Lew. Or not.

/hijack

 

[The_Traveler]

At Horseshoe Bend, one positions his or her camera based on the well-worn, deep, decades-old tripod divots: the "pros" place their tripod feet in the wide-spaced divots, indicating Gitzo or Manfrotto "pro" tripods...the beginners use the closely-spaced divots, which correspond with the Focal and Hy-Tech $39 lightweight tripods. Serious amateurs usually use the Bogen/Manfrotto 3001 or Manfrotto 190XB divots.

That is excellent information!!! I was hoping to just see a perspective diagram spray-painted on the rocks; this is so much better.

A great shot, as I see it, would be the bend in the background and teh divots as the center of interest.
That's a comment.

 

[The_Traveler]

Maybe some take pictures that have already been taken a thousand time;

Because they simply enjoy it.
They are trying to get to the point where they can take such "perfect" pictures.

Why is it a waste of time to do something you love to do, without having a purpose?

There's no problem - for others - I march to a different kettle of fish.

 

[The_Traveler]

Brief hijack: This thread has become annoyingly on-topic. If you want I can move to to Discussions, Lew. Or not.

/hijack

Sure, you can move it if you think it would matter in any way.

re:hijacks - I have been obstinately unpleasant to those who jump in and yell, 'me, me, pay attention to me.'

It's rude and disrespectful of those who are actually participating and I don't like it.

Yes, I'm a stuffy, jerk.

 

[terri]

Yes, I'm a stuffy, jerk.

No argument there.

OH, I kid...I kid! :mrgreen:

Ok, here we are in the Discussions forum. 'nuff said.