Why do you do what you do?

[limr]

I've had this question forming in my mind for a couple of weeks and it might finally be ready. It started when I realized that there's yet another "Us vs Them" rift amongst us shutterbugs: Flash vs Natural Light. I know all too well the Film vs Digital debate, and of course there's the Canon vs Nikon feud, the Pro vs Amateur, the Auto vs Manual, the Cut The Head vs Don't Cut The Head, yadda yadda yadda.

I was quite surprised to hear such derogatory comments about "natural light photographers" - they are afraid to learn, they're only pretending to have a preference for natural light because they're too clueless to use a flash, they're snotty about 'flashers'...As someone who tends to shoot with available light, I probably should have been peeved, but I was too curious about it all to even think of being offended.

Instead, I started wondering: why don't I use flash? I can see how it's useful and necessary in some situations, but they all seem to be situations that I don't take pictures of. But why not? Why am I interested in the things I take pictures of? I do notice light and how it falls on a subject, but for some reason, it never occurs to me to manipulate that light.

Anywhooooo, without blathering on for much longer, the whole thing made me want to ask everyone this question: what attracts you to the kind of pictures you like to take? Why portraits? Why birds? Why macro? Why landscapes? (you get the idea)...what makes you interested in those things?

I do NOT want to incite any repeats of the above feuds. I don't want to read things like "I do X because Y pictures are lame" or "Pictures should represent reality/not represent reality". I mean, I do like and take pictures that more reflect reality, but I don't think all pictures should be that way. It's just a preference that dictates how and what I shoot and I would never expect others to feel or do the same. So let's leave the judgments out of this and not should all over each other

So, no picking sides on any debates or picking on styles or types that you are not attracted to. Just stating what you do like about the kinds of pictures you take. Just what you like to shoot and why, and no worrying about anyone else's style or preferences.

Who wants to go first?

 

[Derrel]

I really,really like that "click!" sound. It's what keeps me snapping pics.

 

[Steve5D]

While I shoot damn near everything, my preference is for concert photography.

When I was a kid, I used to dig the photography on the album covers I had; guys like Neal Preston and Henry Diltz. I didn't know who they were back then, but I enjoyed the Hell out of their work. I used to listen to the album while looking at the photographs and thinking about how cool it must've been to shoot a band when they performed this song or that song.

Fast forward more than a few years. I recently left the music industry after 16 years. During that time, I did sales, some artist relations and, yes, some photography. If my luck holds out, I'll be getting picked up as the tour photographer for a very popular band by the end of this year. It's all I really want to do. I've shot magazine covers, DVD covers and CD covers. I've shot some of the biggest acts on the planet on stage, backstage and in their dressing rooms. It's all been a blast, but it's been incomplete.

Give me life on a pirate ship; that tour bus, and I'll be a happy guy...

 

[vintagesnaps]

I can't say I've really thought about why... I usually photograph whatever I see that makes a little lightbulb go on that tells me that's a picture (which I suppose comes from experience and learning what a potential good photo is when you see it).

I'd thought about majoring in journalism before I went into education so that probably led my photography towards what I think of as a somewhat photojournalistic style. I've done sports and events but also always liked art and took as much of that as electives as possible in school - and in more recent years in workshops etc. and I do other crafts. So that's probably what got me more recently into alternative processes.

 

[TheFantasticG]

Easy: I shoot what I find interesting. I find bugs and lightning more interesting than anything else so the vast majority of what I shoot is bugs and lightning. Storms lend themselves to time lapses so I have started to dabble with them the last year or so. I have also gotten a motorcycle a few days ago so I an going to start videoing (vlogging) my rides.

 

[snowbear]

My taste in photography subjects mimics my diverse taste in music - pretty much anything. People/portraits scare me because I don't know enough about lighting (though I am trying to learn.) I probably tend towards architecture, abstracts and a bit of nature more than anything.

 

[amolitor]

I shoot my family, and I shoot still life, these days. The latter uses flash, the former does not unless things are quite dire.

I shoot my family because I love them and want to maintain a record, and to share that record with family members who are not here. I shoot still lifes because I am groping toward something like art, art that I want to have made, and this feels like a road likely to take me further toward that.

 

[Tiller]

I shoot my family because I love them

:shock: :mrgreen:

I shoot a little of everything. I shoot macro, because I like being outside and I love people's expression when I show them something they might never see except on t.v.

I shoot portraits (not very well yet) because I do like manipulating light, and the options it gives me. I still have a long long way to go with portraits though.

I shoot landscapes because landscapes are awesome, and once again, I like being outside.

 

[astroNikon]

My initial foray into photography was for astronomy purposes. Back in my college days when we started to restore our school's observatory I always saw the pictures and everything of the planets and stars. Even though I see them in books and all I wanted to see them for myself and take pictures of them myself. Of course I bought my recent dSLR and all of a sudden I'm taking pictures of everything else too. And I realized I need a much bigger telescope, but it's still fun

I think people's own interpretation of "artistic" is why they may choose natural lighting or flash lighting. People read different things from a photograph, and interpret it differently.

For me, Taking "pictures" is the key to capturing the moment for you (and your family, etc) to remember. Yeah, my P&S or phone pictures aren't the greatest, but they capture an image that me and my family remember. After that capturing it artistically tells a story to other people.

I have memories in my head of seeing my kids grow, too bad I can't pull that out of my head in a photograph.

 

[sm4him]

Wow, so nothing complicated, huh? I mean, this is really a "what makes you who you are" kind of question. Some people love to hike and be outdoors; others love the opera and classical music. Some thrive on city living, others prefer the country. Why? The answer to that question is what biographies are made of. Very LONG biographies...

So, why do I do what I do?
Well, it all started when I was three years old, the youngest of five siblings, living in a little southern town in a home built my grandfather.... :lmao:

Seriously, when I shoot for pleasure, I shoot what makes my heart sing--and that tends to be the beauty of nature, whether it's birds or other wildlife, macros, abstracts, landscapes...those are the things that tend to make me stop and just marvel at the beauty all around us, the things that make my heart sing.
I also take photos of my family (I don't SHOOT them, though sometimes I *could* choke them!) because I love them, and seeing photos of them stirs up those emotions for them in my heart.

I'm also doing some portraiture work right now, for slightly different reasons. First, I want to know how to do it--and that really is about the fact that I love knowledge. I *like* knowing how to do things, I like being really good and knowledgeable about anything I choose to do, so I tend to really dig into it and learn things others might not.
The second reason I'm doing portraits is because I love and care about the people who have asked me to do them. I don't necessarily WANT an album full of photos of their kid for myself, but I want to be helpful to them because they matter to me.

Finally, I take pictures of buses, bus drivers, and passengers, because it's part of my job and I really, really like NOT living under a bridge, so I like to keep my employer happy.

 

[Newtricks]

I shoot what I see, some or most of my photographs are not technically correct, that's okay because I put on film (recently digital) what I see, the way I see it, there is no fill flash in real life. Birds (hummingbirds in particular), fascinate me, I spent the better part of two years chasing them with a 200mm f/4 lens on a Minolta X-700 full manual camera, my wife thought I was nuts, to date the best photos I have of these birds are on film. I have flash equipment, I have studio lighting equipment, 1K (1000 watt) baby lights with Fresnel's, barn-doors, gel frames and single/double scrims, all the Lee/Rosco gels and diffusion one could dream of, Century stands, fingers, dots, flags, cutters, single and double scrims and china silk. Backings made from Black and neutral grey duvetyne and I could get chroma blue or green if I really wanted. Yet I prefer to shoot using available light, no flash, no reflector, take the photo as seen with my eyes. Forty year of taking photographs and twenty years working as a motion picture studio grip have put me in a frame of mind where I don't care so much about what folks say is the way to do it. I understand the norm... it is not the way I see the world. My goal at this point in my life, is simply to record what I see, the way I see it.

Be well,

Anthony

 

[The Barbarian]

Never saw the issue between flash and available light. For me, "available light" is "whatever light is available." Includes flash if I need it, but I rarely do.

 

[annamaria]

I am an amateur and a noob. Why do I enjoy taking photos? As one of the members said, for the sheer pleasure of hearing the clicking sounds, smiles. I take photos of almost anything, except portraits I don't know anything about that yet and I don't have the equipment. I really enjoy photographing animals, landscapes, people street photography. cyclists, motorcyclists, architecture especially historical and old barns etc. when I see something that I really like I get excited and a happy emotional feeling. I just love it and enjoy it so very much. I hope to post some pics for you all to critique as soon as I get the chance. Love these forums!

 

[Braineack]

Lately I've been shooting my wife's ebay items:

 

[runnah]

I do it for the "likes".