Why do you photograph?

[cal_gundert05]

OK, obvious answer: because I like it.:er:

But what's your motivation to take pictures/ who do you take them for? How does this affect what type of pictures you take?

Maybe this is true for all of us, but I've always loved LOOKING at stuff. On car rides (across the country or across town) I always stare out the window. I can never read or do work when I'm in a car or bus or train. And when I'm just walking somewhere, it's with my head craned up at the buildings around me, or looking across the street or at people.

You just experience more of life that way, and you get some interesting stories...like the guy I saw just sitting in his car holding his d**k. Or the guy who was videotaping his driving (to show others what a good driver he is?). Or the old guy who backed away from the green light at an intersection. The wolrd is full of interesting and beautiful things, and you'll miss them if you don't keep your eyes open.

That said, I take pictures for the people who can't or just don't spend the time to see the world immediately around them (and especially my family). I think this intent makes me photograph things in their natural states. I don't stage shots (yes, I frame them, but that's different). Because if I create a shot, then it is not true to nature. As a result, most of my shots are random objects that I come across meandering through town.

Wow, where did that come from? I'm going outside.

 

[EBphotography]

I take pictures because I love taking a normal object and turning it into something pleasing to the eye. I continued to take pictures after I started because I liked how happy people were when they saw my photos, especially my grandmother. In the end it comes down to the satisfaction of seeing a final product.

 

[oldnavy170]

I love taking photos beause it makes the moment last longer. I can keep going back to that photo and remember what it was like on that day. I also enjoy looking for interesting persons, places, or things...to take photos of. Now that is fun to me!!!!!

 

[Rabieshund]

It makes you look cool.



Naah, I agree with oldnavy170. But seriously.. it does make you look cool.

 

[mysteryscribe]

This is going to sound like the height of arrogance but:

I take pictures because I can.

 

[GrfxGuru]

I take pictures mostly for me, because I like doing it and because I want to see if I'm capable of capturing the image in the camera the way I see it at that moment.

However sometimes I take photographs for other people and then I try to capture what it mean't to them at that moment so they can take that with them.

 

[Quok1mb0]

This is going to sound like the height of arrogance but:

I take pictures because I can.

i like that!

 

[GoM]

I dunno, there's something about the duality of it...the immersion factor as well as the requisite distancing. There's also something about being able to hold up your own shot and know you captured that moment in time perfectly. It may sound rather romantic to say so, but sometimes you just know you hit it. And that feeling of self-satisfaction, especially when I go along and out for it and the only real reason I'm doing all fo this is for myself, not monetary or complimentary reasons...I guess that's why I do it. To know I captured a moment in time in a way that sufficiently pleases me, whatever others think.

 

[craig]

My motivation is to constantly advance my art. The current shot has to be better then the last one. I take photos for clients and my self. This affects my photographs (not pictures) on many different levels. My personal work is photographing what I see. Granted some shots are better left to memory. My motto is to always be shooting from all directions. Generally my commercial work gets the same treatment. None the less commercial work can be painful. There are times when my heart is not in it.

 

[Torus34]

I take two types of pictures: 'Kodak' moments in the lives of grandchildren to share with their parents and landscape/still life prints for my walls. [OK, I do have one of my shots as wallpaper on my 'puter.] I do this because I find personal satisfaction in the process.

 

[Luminosity]

I walked by a camera store one day, found myself drawn inside. I discovered a used Minolta camera and bought it, because I always was intruiged by photography and wanted to take it up as a hobby...Yet up until that point, I had never taken the leap.

So that day, I decided to tiptoe in.

A few months went past and the Minolta sat forlornly in my closet, waiting for me to show it some love. So, I picked it up, put some film in it and walked the streets, tentatively shooting...not really knowing what I was doing but doing it anyway and really enjoying it.

From that day forwards, I slowly started to learn how to see again. Not just look at things or walk by things, taking it all for granted...but see everything and feel it's beauty, every direction I turned in. I learnt to see light again and fall inside of it through my lens, to see a strangers face and get aquainted with him or her through my lens until it seemed as if they could be an old friend.....

When I was a child, I used to see the world as wonderous and everything was an amazing mystery. Yet at the same time, I somehow knew it's secrets...because when we are so young, I think we're closer inside this mystery then we'll only ever get again maybe when we're at the other end of our lives.

That's how children and babies see, with unjaded eyes. I'd missed that feeling.

Then, before that day I picked up the Minolta and took my first shot with it, I was merely looking at life as if I was a bird on a windowsill. Seeing the shape of furniture inside but my own reflection in the glass preventing me from seeing everything else properly. Photography opened the window and let me inside the house.

That's why I take photos.

 

[DeepSpring]

I do it because I love taking something people would normally find uninteresting and making it look amazing and fascinating. I do it for myself and other people. I love the feeling you get when you are able to show someone something you have worked hard to create, and then it is even better when they actually like it. I especially love the internet because I am able to show people around the world what I see, how I live, the enviornment I'm in. And then I am able to travel around the world viewing other people pictures.

 

[ShelleySnapz]

My answer mirrors ALL of the above!
Ive always loved photography but until a few years ago I never knew how to get the shot that I saw in magazines! Now Im Taking those shots and selling them! Photography to me is exciting, its a world that I want to share with everyone I meet. I want to be able to show people the beauty of what I see, no matter how ugly the subject is, no matter how broken it is and no matter how small, big, young or old.

 

[mortallis288]

i do it because i suck at drawing and i love doing it

 

[Claff]

I do it because before, I was a guy who wrote stories about sporting events and hung out with the photographers. Always liked what they produced and decided to see if I was capable of that myself. Don't know if I've reached that point but I'd like to think I'm getting there. The desire to get that ultimate shot keeps me bringing the camera to the racetrack.