Why do you shoot what you shoot?

[LightDancer]

No matter what I try in the meantime, I always return to macro work. I like the abstraction of it, and find myself looking at color, texture and form, rather than what the actual item is. I like to express an image that is new to others. If I can surprise, if I can show something that another person might have missed, then I am happy. I've been a painter most of my life, and my photography tends to mirror my painterly expression. Abstract, and hopefully able to generate a feeling in the viewer.

 

[rocdoc]

I shoot it for the same reason Mallory climbed the Everest: because it's there. Luckily in our hobby one can safely hope for a better fate than his.

"Mallory"???

Hey jbylake. Thanks for the quote, but... I think I missed the joke. Why the question marks/wink?
On a different note, this is a cool thread idea, I like following it, keep them coming.

 

[KaraM]

When I got my first Instamatic -- when I was 9 or 10 years old -- I took mostly landscapes and family snapshots. When I inherited my father's Canon Pellix, I focused on landscapes and still lifes because trying to convince people to let me photograph them without "posing" was too much for me to handle as a shy child. I am still very interested in taking portraits, but more along the lines of "photojournalism" than "studio" or even "lifestyle". I really love portraits like this. I have decided to take on a 365 project to help me figure out where my interests really are.

 

[JLEphoto]

I am an avid nature photographer and it is for artistic expression and the documenation of a world that changes rapidly. That beautiful landscape you take today might be covered with houses tomorrow. I like the idea of putting on paper the artistry of God...it helps me focus and understand my place in the world (if only just a little).

 

[trm6346]

glamour

 

[flightless_beaker]

I shoot for the most part nature. The reason I'm in it right now is because of my situation. I want to break in professionally and I'd love to do band and concert photography mostly (though of course I'd dabble in other disciplines). I shot a documentary on video once at a ska concert in philly and I loved it. I want to do that with 7D. However, I'm a far way away from doing concerts and some of my own portraits. I have only one good lens for my 7D. I have a film camera but don't have means to develop and print other than have a lab put them on cd which in my experience is too low of resolution for good editing. I'm saving up for good lenses and also fast lenses so I can do more concert photography.

 

[Gabriel]

I haven't participated much in this thread after posting it because I've been working on finals for school, but I've been keeping up with it and reading it every night there are new posts. There are some great replies here - I can see I'm in good company on this site.

Keep 'em coming. I've gotta go work on my last final for the year, but I'll be reading :mrgreen:

 

[mikesphoto]

Weddings! Crazy right??? I must say....I love them. I say on my site that I enjoy documenting people as they participate in life. This is so true for weddings. I see the good, the bad, and everything in between.

People fascinate me. So I love to be in the think of it at weddings. There are so many tiny moments that make up the day. I really consider it a privilege to see so many little moments that no one else is able to witness.

 

[markbecken09]

Hey,
I don't know what the other pros shoot, but I know Ken Rockwell shoots a D40.I shoot a T1i and I'm a combat photographer for the Space Shuttle Atlantis. I would show you some of my pictures, but they're highly classified.

Thanks.

 

[ScottsdaleImages]

Driving Force: Creating great images... Seeing the look on the clients face when they love the image I have created for them.

I love to shoot women, creating sexy, sensual images. That is my passion, my stress release. I can never get enough of this type, I have 5 shoots scheduled this week!

However, I also enjoy shooting weddings, I figure it's better to shoot a wedding than not shoot at all. And I have found that I can create some rather good images.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Fascination with the insanity of war so that's what I started with. Didn't think I would do it for more than a few years but it laster for 12. With civil disturbances thrown into the mix for a little variety.

The bodies did get to me though and I quit. When I did I went into art but to pay the bills I ended up doing a lot of commercial work. From wedding/portraiture to editorial to stock. Spent 5 years shooting nothing but stock and articles for which I did the writing too. Articles were a quick, easy to sell form of documentary photography. Plus it was a great way to travel and meet all kinds of crazy people and write it all off my taxes.

With the money saved up from all this work and the income from the stock, I was finally able to do just art. Because some of the images in my head were too darn hard to create with photography, I eventually went into painting.

Back into photography for the last year trying to figure out the digital thing...

 

[Imagine That]

i am a Photographer, specializing in Weddings but also portraits and landscapes! i absolutely love shooting a wedding though. i get to meet people on the happiest day of their lives, there are always laughs, tears, excitement and i have fantastic fun capturing it all. you can also get creative with each different location that you have so you can never get stuck in a rut, its always something new! How can you possibly get bored of that?

We are Wedding Photographers Birmingham - Imagine That Studios

 

[Brieff]

I take mostly self-portraits. But that's just because no one wants to model for me ;D I think that I'll do studio photography when I'm professional.. Or some fashion magazine stuff would be great too. In Finland it's just so hard to get money with photography... Studio would probably be the only way to earn enough money...

I've taken some photos of nature and musicians also, but I don't go to conserts frequently and it feels like everyone can take photos of nature... + nobody's gonna buy them... + it would mean travelling. And I just feel like it would be too hard. Wedding photography sounds interesting also, but I've heard it's really difficult and challenging and I'm not sure if it's possible to do it for living..

I don't know. I just want to photograph and there has to be some way to pay the bills with it.. I'd love to do some art but who's gonna buy it ? ;D Maybe if I was REALLY GOOD and lived somewhere else, then mabe..

 

[Nikkor]

This sounds really cliche, but I love it.
I love what I do. School stresses me out more now than ever, and with all the chaos in life, photography has always been the one thing to help me keep my sanity. Even if it's not the greatest picture, just shooing it lets out my angst and frustration. My favorite pictures to do are babies. Mainly because every day for the first year, babies change so much. Their faces, their little rolled arms and legs, their facial expressions, etc. They just astound me. It makes me miss those days of not worrying about a single thing, back when life was easy. In photography I feel like I can capture happy moments and keep them to dwell on, like I said, its cliche and kind of hippie, but photography to me is just ultimate zen.

 

[jtee]

I shoot Aviation and Birds primarily because it is difficult,challenging, fun and rewarding when you get good images and above all its fun. If I get to sell an image or have something published its an extra added bonus :thumbup: