What makes you so passionate about the photography you do, or want to do?

[DiskoJoe]

I think the word passion is over-used by people when they talk about photography, but how they feel about it is what's most important to them personally. I have gone through years where I really just enjoyed going out with a camera and shooting flowers and birds. I have been working as a photographer for over 40 years, it is all I have ever done. It is a job, and like jobs comes with all the pressures and stresses of the work, some days not so much fun.

It has also allowed me to travel the world paid for by someone else, I've seen things and been to places that most people would only dream of, I have been able to create memories for other people... people I have never met and likely never will... they will never know who I am, or where the photo came from. Inspite of all the garbage, threats of violence, guns pointed in my face, dealing with idiots, and the new wunderkids chasing my spot on the food chain, it is the best job in the world. No passion, just always wanted to be the best I could be and make a difference with photographs on other people lives.

If you were paying a photographer a bunch of money to take your photo's, wouldn't you want to hire someone that not only knew what they were doing, but loved it? When your passionate about something or someone you go above and beyond just the normal, you put everything that you have into it.

I put everything I have into every photo assignment I've ever shot. My clients know that when they hire me they never have to worry about the quality of the images that they get. I am hired because I am very good at what I do with a camera and the respect that I show my clients. I don't believe that you have to be passionate about something to be great at it.

This proves that you are VERY passionate. You cant short change your customers and you cant give them less then your best. You say one thing but you definitely show another. You can continue to act jaded and snarky but we know the real truth.

 

[Imajize]

I love seascape photography (especially a huge wave crashing against a big bluff). The rumble, the sea mist, the cool air. Trying to capture that in a camera is poetry.

 

[Tarayn]

That moment when you see the shot you just took for the first time and it makes you say "Holy ****!".

That could go either way.

 

[imagemaker46]

If you were paying a photographer a bunch of money to take your photo's, wouldn't you want to hire someone that not only knew what they were doing, but loved it? When your passionate about something or someone you go above and beyond just the normal, you put everything that you have into it.

I put everything I have into every photo assignment I've ever shot. My clients know that when they hire me they never have to worry about the quality of the images that they get. I am hired because I am very good at what I do with a camera and the respect that I show my clients. I don't believe that you have to be passionate about something to be great at it.

This proves that you are VERY passionate. You cant short change your customers and you cant give them less then your best. You say one thing but you definitely show another. You can continue to act jaded and snarky but we know the real truth.

Funny, my wife said the same thing.

 

[Tarayn]

I put everything I have into every photo assignment I've ever shot. My clients know that when they hire me they never have to worry about the quality of the images that they get. I am hired because I am very good at what I do with a camera and the respect that I show my clients. I don't believe that you have to be passionate about something to be great at it.

This proves that you are VERY passionate. You cant short change your customers and you cant give them less then your best. You say one thing but you definitely show another. You can continue to act jaded and snarky but we know the real truth.

Funny, my wife said the same thing.

see don't try to fight it, embrace it.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Wow, I really liked your thread idea and I was going to respond just for that.

But then I saw the responses and some of them are so nice I just had to respond... until, that is, I saw YOUR responses to the responses and then I absolutely, really had to respond. Are you married? If not, can I marry you?

 

[c.cloudwalker]

It's nice to see someone nice with a brain, lol.

Nice looking and just plain nice, btw.

 

[rexbobcat]

I think the word passion is over-used by people when they talk about photography, but how they feel about it is what's most important to them personally. I have gone through years where I really just enjoyed going out with a camera and shooting flowers and birds. I have been working as a photographer for over 40 years, it is all I have ever done. It is a job, and like jobs comes with all the pressures and stresses of the work, some days not so much fun.

It has also allowed me to travel the world paid for by someone else, I've seen things and been to places that most people would only dream of, I have been able to create memories for other people... people I have never met and likely never will... they will never know who I am, or where the photo came from. Inspite of all the garbage, threats of violence, guns pointed in my face, dealing with idiots, and the new wunderkids chasing my spot on the food chain, it is the best job in the world. No passion, just always wanted to be the best I could be and make a difference with photographs on other people lives.

If you were paying a photographer a bunch of money to take your photo's, wouldn't you want to hire someone that not only knew what they were doing, but loved it? When your passionate about something or someone you go above and beyond just the normal, you put everything that you have into it.

I put everything I have into every photo assignment I've ever shot. My clients know that when they hire me they never have to worry about the quality of the images that they get. I am hired because I am very good at what I do with a camera and the respect that I show my clients. I don't believe that you have to be passionate about something to be great at it.

Why would you want to show your clients good work if you don't give a damn...
It just doesn't add up. Why do people think it's cool to be like "I don't really care, I'm just that good at it." The only people I know who walk around with that mentality are hipsters, and most of what they do is take photos with their phone and smoke hand-rolled cigarettes.

I'm passionate, partly because I want to show up the dickweeds who are beyond proud of their work that they're just narcissistic and annoying, and I also LOVE the creative escapism of photography. I'm a big video game fan, because it's like a drug. It lets your mind wander for just a little while. Photography is like that for me, except that it's even better, because it's something I created.

 

[slackercruster]

OP, I don't know? I guess I like capturing a moment in time. Photography forces you to see!

When I devleopd and printed my first BW negs 40 years ago it was like magic.

 

[Tarayn]

If you were paying a photographer a bunch of money to take your photo's, wouldn't you want to hire someone that not only knew what they were doing, but loved it? When your passionate about something or someone you go above and beyond just the normal, you put everything that you have into it.

I put everything I have into every photo assignment I've ever shot. My clients know that when they hire me they never have to worry about the quality of the images that they get. I am hired because I am very good at what I do with a camera and the respect that I show my clients. I don't believe that you have to be passionate about something to be great at it.

Why would you want to show your clients good work if you don't give a damn...
It just doesn't add up. Why do people think it's cool to be like "I don't really care, I'm just that good at it." The only people I know who walk around with that mentality are hipsters, and most of what they do is take photos with their phone and smoke hand-rolled cigarettes.

I'm passionate, partly because I want to show up the dickweeds who are beyond proud of their work that they're just narcissistic and annoying, and I also LOVE the creative escapism of photography. I'm a big video game fan, because it's like a drug. It lets your mind wander for just a little while. Photography is like that for me, except that it's even better, because it's something I created.

I have to admit I have my little phases with video games too, like playing Mario etc for a straight month, but your right though at the end of the day all you are left with is a high score or a video game high, but with photos you can get lost and create a beautiful photo to last many years and even inspire people and so much more.

 

[Tarayn]

Wow, I really liked your thread idea and I was going to respond just for that.

But then I saw the responses and some of them are so nice I just had to respond... until, that is, I saw YOUR responses to the responses and then I absolutely, really had to respond. Are you married? If not, can I marry you?

sorry me and my D90 have been exclusive for 2years now.

 

[Tarayn]

It's nice to see someone nice with a brain, lol.

Nice looking and just plain nice, btw.

Thanks, and just so you know you never answered my thread...

 

[Robin Usagani]

I am just passionate even though I am entirely a self-taught shooter who has no education and no training in any of the visual arts.

 

[Fred Berg]

The world at large is the raw material, and my viewfinder is the filter: what's captured by my retinas is God's creation, what I capture on film is mine. Deciding what not to include in my world that God thought good enough for general consumption is the thing that drives me.

 

[AndySplash]

Good question OP. I can't quite put my finger on it to give you a definitive answer but it gets me out in the fresh air and I now appreciate the local wildlife out here in the forest where I live which is something I never used to do I never used to go for walks but it is now something I do pretty much daily and always with a camera in my hand