What does it mean to you?

[480sparky]

......... But simply, "I do it for joy, just because" doesn't answer the question of WHY this is the activity that brings us joy.........

It brings me joy because there's both a technical side and an artistic side to creating images I like.

 

[limr]

......... But simply, "I do it for joy, just because" doesn't answer the question of WHY this is the activity that brings us joy.........

It brings me joy because there's both a technical side and an artistic side to creating images I like.

I think most of us have pretty much answered the "why." I said I enjoy the challenge of learning how to manipulate this tool so I am able to express myself effectively. This confluence of intellectual and emotional satisfaction creates great joy in me.

 

[table1349]

Why does "WHY" matter? Does the "WHY" make it better, more important, or mean more if you understand the "WHY"?

Perhaps, just perhaps, instead of overthinking virtually everything in this world these days, humanity might be just a little better for itself if it was a bit more accepting of that that is and less a little less "cerebral" about ever little thing.

I have been in love with my wife for the last 39 years, and happily married to her for the last 37. Why do I love her? Hell I don't know, and frankly I don't care "WHY". I do. Thats all I needed to know then, all I need know now and all I need for the future. The is no "because" to it. It just is.

 

[480sparky]

Why do I like the color blue?

Why do I like home-made malts made with home-made ice cream?

Why do I like the purring of a kitten?

Why do I like the smell of impending rain?

Why do I like the cool wet grass under my bare feet in the summer?

Why do I like settling down in the evening even when there's a severe winter storm raging outside?

Why do I like seeing a rainbow in the mist of a waterfall?

Why do I like hearing children giggle and laugh?






Why do I suddenly feel I'm writing an ad for the M4W section of Craigslist?

 

[Fred Berg]

For me, it's about capturing the moment in a snapshot, about taking space and time and compressing them on to a piece of paper typically 10x15 cm in size. I rarely plan a photo as the spontaneity of photography is its raison d'être, and, in my view, this essential ephemeral element is at the very heart of the matter.

 

[ratssass]

....i woke up with a compelling need to spend even more money, that i don't have,on equipment i don't need,to take pictures of people i don't know.

 

[limr]

Why does "WHY" matter? Does the "WHY" make it better, more important, or mean more if you understand the "WHY"?

For me, it does. If it doesn't for you, then what do I care? Do what you want, answer or don't answer, but there is no reason to start scolding peoole who feel or think differently. You don't care about the "why" so why should you give four flying frogs if others do?

Perhaps, just perhaps, instead of overthinking virtually everything in this world these days, humanity might be just a little better for itself if it was a bit more accepting of that that is and less a little less "cerebral" about ever little thing.

Some of us call it simply "thinking." It's a useful skill and quite frankly, I wish more people would engage in it. Your error is assuming that someone who enjoys analyzing is somehow incapable of enjoying simple pleasures, that we "destroy" them with all that damn thinking. However, the two are not mutually exclusive. Don't assume that "cerebral" people can't also be joyful.

I have been in love with my wife for the last 39 years, and happily married to her for the last 37. Why do I love her? Hell I don't know, and frankly I don't care "WHY". I do. Thats all I needed to know then, all I need know now and all I need for the future. The is no "because" to it. It just is.

That's great for you, it really is. But it's one person's experience and doesn't - nor shouldn't - apply to everyone. I've been in my relationship for 10 years and I DO know why I love him, and it enriches the experience for me. I would never suggest that everyone should experience things the same way I do. By the same token, I don't want to be told how I am "supposed" to think or feel.

 

[ratssass]

 

[limr]

You know you are the only one who can get away with posting something like this and still keep all your bits, right?

 

[ratssass]

....thanks,lenny

 

[Fred Berg]

Well, as long as it's not a sausage sandwich...

 

[limr]

 

[rexbobcat]

Like some others have said, I'm not entirely sure at this point why I do it. I started it as a class project in HS. Before then, I was intent on being a marine scientist of some sort. Then I realized that I have some sort of neurotic aversion to getting correct answers in math (f* you physics (jk without you I would die, please forgive me).

So I clung to photography harder and harder until I went to college where I delved deeper into it before I graduated.

Now I'm not quite sure what I want.

 

[Buckster]

I'm also not one to spend much time or thought trying to figure out and understand "why". Nonetheless...

I guess for me it's just always been a part of my personality to make art, solve puzzles, invent, engineer, embrace technology, and learn all I can about everything that catches my interest. It's just who I am. Photography has engaged all those facets of what makes me who I am.

I don't know what percent of that is nurture vs. nature, but I grew up in a family full of painters, sculptors, poets, writers, musicians, photographers, inventors, engineers, puzzle-masters, intellectuals, and the like. Surrounded by people doing all that stuff from birth who encouraged and taught and made the experiences joyful with me and for me, I've found personal joy and fulfillment and satisfaction in doing all that stuff over the course of my entire lifetime.

For about 46 years and counting, photography as a tool for making art has been one of the main things I do that fulfills that side of me, so I continue to do it.