What is your Philosophy of Photography?

[colormesilly]

I'm doing a college paper for my Philosophy class and I wanted to ask others, what their philosophy of photography is. If you have one.

Thanks to any replies. Also you can leave your name (first or last, or last initial) in case I happen to use your quote, so I can properly credit you.

 

[Rob]

My photography is my philosophy - love knowledge and improve myself.

Rob

 

[JRuzich]

I don't quite understand your question. Do you mean philosophy of all Photography? Or my own personal photography? Once you clarify i can write on both for pages.
Jeremy*

 

[colormesilly]

*********
phi·los·o·phy

Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline.
Investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods.
A system of thought based on or involving such inquiry: the philosophy of Hume.
The critical analysis of fundamental assumptions or beliefs.
The disciplines presented in university curriculums of science and the liberal arts, except medicine, law, and theology.
The discipline comprising logic, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, and epistemology.
A set of ideas or beliefs relating to a particular field or activity; an underlying theory: an original philosophy of advertising.
A system of values by which one lives: has an unusual philosophy of life.
*********

Pretty much what is your belief or idea or what photography is, is to you, is to others, what it is used for, why it is used.
I want to know why you photograph things, a hobby? But I'd like for you to elaborate.... ex. you like to photograph things b/c it calms and relaxes. It could be many things.

 

[keller]

I like photography because it lets me make pretty pictures, and people can see them and go "Wow, that was amazing", and possibly "From this day forth I shall be your patron, here's a $100K cheque" (ok, the last bit was just fantasy )

 

[Jeff Canes]

I have thought about this before and have never can up with a really good answer. Other that it’s fun, I like pretty pictures and I not in the pictures if I taking them. Maybe it’s time to give it more thought.

JRuziich IMO P of P is deferent for each person.

 

[panzershreck]

i like images alltogether because they reveal something you wouldn't have seen otherwise - a feeling, a mood, a place at a certain time, a person in a certain way, light in a certain pattern, etc. it's psychologically stimulating, but in an abstract way

and i like abstract things

 

[mal]

If you haven't already, you should read 'On Photography' by Susan Sontag. I think that'd really help you.

 

[ThomThomsk]

Pretty much what is your belief or idea or what photography is, is to you, is to others, what it is used for, why it is used.
I want to know why you photograph things, a hobby? But I'd like for you to elaborate.... ex. you like to photograph things b/c it calms and relaxes. It could be many things.

It is one of the few things that allows be to be creative, in spite of my lack of many creative skills. I can't draw or paint, I don't play an instrument, but I want to be able to make something - photographs - which may be the only thing, the only artifact that can be attributed to me, that marks the fact that I passed this way. Something that my family can point to and say, yes, Thomsk made that.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

Pretty much what is your belief or idea or what photography is, is to you, is to others, what it is used for, why it is used.

What you are asking for here is a definition of Photography.
I have been working on that one for some 20 years and it is forming the basis of my PhD submission.
I think you should ask people to supply something a little less ambitious.

 

[303villain]

I am in Thom's boat. But for me, its kind of an outlet, sometimes I have an idea that I want to convey, and that is my medium to get my thought across. I shoot tons of pictures that nobody sees(yet, until i have my own website/portfolio) and they all convey some though, story, or idea. Sometimes i carry this over to what i shoot for fun, sometimes i just shoot for aesthetics or seeing something new/neat/different/odd whatever. From what I have noticed though, with alot of photography(especially conceptual kinds) you can tell more about the photographer by looking at a picture than you can about the subject or the content of the image...

 

[LaFoto]

To me it sometimes depends on where I am.
While at home, it offers me a chance to be creative. I am no good at painting or drawing, but I like beauty, I like the sight of beautiful things, and I think often their beauty can be much enhanced by putting them into the frame given by a picture. You thus exclude anything distracting in the peripheral vision (or even more), you can exclude distracting backgrounds, and all in all you can create your picture. I like that, it is fun.

When travelling, I also like my photos to tell the story of my journey. I imagine a running travel journal along with the pictures and imagine them to be the illustration to it. Of late, though, I have also tried to be creative and not only form pictures of what I see, but to go deeper into things (it is always and again the beauty in things that I am after), and sometimes you have to frame them so they form abstracts, sometimes so that a nice light situation comes out and so on.

 

[LilmaK]

Photography is there to "freeze" time. Every time you view a pic, you should be taken back to that specific time and place.

 

[ksmattfish]

I always liked what Garry Winogrand said.

I have a burning desire to see what things look like photographed by me.

 

[Torus34]

A philosophy of photography . . .

Are you requesting an epistemological analysis of the photographic image as it relates to the 'real' world?

Or perhaps you are interested in the philosophical aspects of a specific photographic image?

You'll have to clarify a bit using, if possible the specific language of philosophy.