"What's the whole point of taking pictures?"

AndyCapp said:
I went to see your Flickr. You take beautiful pictures, which I highly appreciate. You've got it, the "je ne sais pas quoi." I like the way you use pastel colors, and how you selectively enhance and brighten the main points.
I am jealous of artists, as I am only a romantic who can read manuals. Artistry is something people are born with. It is like the musical ear; it cannot be taught. Some people run fast or jump very high; those are talents, too.
I am happy that you finally let your artist out. Courage!
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Thank you Andy, I appreciate it very much. I am glad you like my photography. I feel that images communicate a feeling to the viewer and that is what I really strive for.

Yes, I do think artistry is something born with some people. My wife for example has no real inclination or even interest in art, nor can I say was my previous wife. As I said I have always had it. While I think you are right that it probably cannot really be taught (even by the best art schools) I suspect it can be nurtured in those who are already so inclined. I was lucky in that respect - at a very young age I lived near a small country town but outside it. This meant I had myself for company much of the time and to keep myself occupied I drew and painted. And it was encouraged by my parents. But I doubt I would have done so had I not been born with that urge - none of the rest of my family had that urge. I was actually adopted into that family and only later in life reunited with my birth family and neither did any of them show much interest in art except one sister who also is driven to create.
 
peterm1 said:
Yes, I do think artistry is something born with some people. My wife for example has no real inclination or even interest in art, nor can I say was my previous wife. As I said I have always had it. While I think you are right that it probably cannot really be taught (even by the best art schools) I suspect it can be nurtured in those who are already so inclined. I was lucky in that respect - at a very young age I lived near a small country town but outside it. This meant I had myself for company much of the time and to keep myself occupied I drew and painted. And it was encouraged by my parents. But I doubt I would have done so had I not been born with that urge - none of the rest of my family had that urge. I was actually adopted into that family and only later in life reunited with my birth family and neither did any of them show much interest in art except one sister who also is driven to create.
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Stephen King used an appropriate metaphor. When we're born, we are given a knife, which we sharpen over time. Some are given huge knives, and we call them geniuses. Stephen King has always said he doesn't have a lot of writing talent per se, but has done a lot of sharpening.
 
Archiver said:
Stephen King used an appropriate metaphor. When we're born, we are given a knife, which we sharpen over time. Some are given huge knives, and we call them geniuses. Stephen King has always said he doesn't have a lot of writing talent per se, but has done a lot of sharpening.
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Yes I agree. I have done a hell of a lot of "sharpening" too. :)
 
boojum said:
Edison characterized invention as 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. This can apply elsewhere.
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I have an acquaintance at a non-photographic website who is now retired an prepping himself a deep dive into a self-taught math and physics education. I have a cursory knowledge of a lot of topics because I’m a curious f*cker and read damn near anything I can but honestly there are only two I’d say I really have a deep understanding of - military topics, especially on the history side, thanks to having been an NCO who hung out with way too many staff officers - and photography because I’ve been working hard at it since 1984. That’s the kind of deep dive he's looking at. Nothing wrong with it but like above, knife sharpening; perspiration; whatever metaphor you prefer.

I just prefer to have a camera in my hand every time I go out the door. That does wonders for me.
 
wlewisiii said:
I just prefer to have a camera in my hand every time I go out the door. That does wonders for me.
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Thorsten Overgard, the YT pro photographer's motto is "Always wear a camera." He has a point. We can't take a photo with the camera back home on the shelf. And having it at hand makes it a more natural thing to have and we become more at ease with it. And using it makes us, hopefully, better. I always quote the Jesuit motto of learning, "Repititio, repititio, repitito." The Jesuits are a pretty savvy bunch and often teach so their advice might just be valuable. ;o)
 
boojum said:
Thorsten Overgard, the YT pro photographer's motto is "Always wear a camera." He has a point. We can't take a photo with the camera back home on the shelf. And having it at hand makes it a more natural thing to have and we become more at ease with it. And using it makes us, hopefully, better. I always quote the Jesuit motto of learning, "Repititio, repititio, repitito." The Jesuits are a pretty savvy bunch and often teach so their advice might just be valuable. ;o)
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I agree. But I also find that it is not just a matter having a camera with me as I cannot always previsualize a scene and determine if it will make a good photo when captured. But interestingly I find that I can quite easily see a potential photo when I look through the finder at the scene. In fact it both helps me find an image hidden in the clutter of the everyday world and it helps me compose said image for a final shot. (It's that kind of thing you sometimes see movie Directors doing (or supposedly doing,) in films about Directors making movies especially in the old days - that of bringing their hands up to frame a potential scene to work out how it will look when shot. These days everything is story boarded and mapped out and more often they will be shooting digitally so they have it on screen so I am guessing it's a rare thing. So I have to keep reminding myself - don't just wander about with a camera in my hands, make sure I bring it up to my eye regularly. But we can learn from this- cutting out what you do not want in the image is often half the battle of taking a good shot. I find when I do spend a lot of time looking through the finder at potential scenes, I will see 10 times the number of potential photos I see when I am just wandering about and looking with my eyes. And of course it also allows me to reject scenes too - often because there is something discordant in the background that I do not want in a photo as it will be distracting.
 
boojum said:
Thorsten Overgard, the YT pro photographer's motto is "Always wear a camera." He has a point. We can't take a photo with the camera back home on the shelf. And having it at hand makes it a more natural thing to have and we become more at ease with it. And using it makes us, hopefully, better. I always quote the Jesuit motto of learning, "Repititio, repititio, repitito." The Jesuits are a pretty savvy bunch and often teach so their advice might just be valuable. ;o)
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A few months after I got my first digital camera, I started to take it everywhere I went, and have never looked back. Carrying a camera everywhere has been one of the best decisions of my life.
 
Archiver said:
A few months after I got my first digital camera, I started to take it everywhere I went, and have never looked back. Carrying a camera everywhere has been one of the best decisions of my life.
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I think there are some even bigger benefits to digital cameras for someone who is interested in the artistic aspects. The first is that the marginal cost of taking a photo is effectively nearly zero. This means you can shoot more, practice more and experiment more. The second benefit (for me at least) has been that it has freed me up to do my own post processing. I do not need to rely on commercial film labs. Alternatively, I do not need a spare room in my house to act as a darkroom. It has lowered the financial bar to experimentation. This has further freed me to experiment and try different styles and approaches to image making because I am not limited to what comes out of the camera. In other words, I suppose I now think of myself (for better or worse) as an image maker - not a photographer.
So do as you are doing - carry your camera everywhere but also look as did into the other ways it frees you to become and artist.
 
Archiver said:
A few months after I got my first digital camera, I started to take it everywhere I went, and have never looked back. Carrying a camera everywhere has been one of the best decisions of my life.
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This is so lame but my phone takes a pretty good photo and under conditions that had a Sony A7M III choking. Does that mean that Samsung, even a cheap one, has better AI for SOOC pics? Seems so. The next decade will be a wrestling match in a mud wallow for the image creating companies. We may not even know the survivors. Phones are getting better. They do not yet equal cameras, but they sure are convenient.
 
boojum said:
This is so lame but my phone takes a pretty good photo and under conditions that had a Sony A7M III choking. Does that mean that Samsung, even a cheap one, has better AI for SOOC pics? Seems so. The next decade will be a wrestling match in a mud wallow for the image creating companies. We may not even know the survivors. Phones are getting better. They do not yet equal cameras, but they sure are convenient.
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Yesterday, I was at the annual ANZAC Day AFL football match between Essendon and Collingwood. This is a historically significant match which is held on the 25th of April to honour the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who fought to take Gallipoli on that date in WW1, and the Australian and NZ soldiers who have served since. ANZAC Day services are always very moving.

I had my Samsung smartphone and Panasonic LX10, and found myself using the Samsung more for a number of reasons. The Samsung had much longer zoom range, the video capabilities were about as good as the LX10 in those conditions, and I was able to quickly send photos to family. It even has a very handy 18mm equivalent field of view at the widest end, perfect for expansive images. Stabilization was incredible. With the Samsung, I was able to take photos of the jets flying over the stadium and zoom in on the trumpet player on the field. A Panasonic travel zoom with one inch sensor and 25-360mm zoom would have been great, but the convenience of the smartphone really held up.

In ten years time, there will be smartphones which outdo almost all compact cameras today, so camera companies will slim their lines even more, and concentrate on niche use products like the Fuji X100, Leica Q and interchangeable lens bodies.

By the way: the football match ended in a draw, the only ANZAC Day draw since the very first ANZAC day match in 1995. The whole audience was stunned. I, however, kept taking photos.
 
I like pictures. When I have a new book, I first look if there are any pictures in it.
I've always had that habit, even as a child.

And I started taking photographs as a toddler, with a box camera. Unfortunately, the results have been lost.
 
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