A
AndyCapp
Guest
I was asked this question. I became curious. What answers do you have? Mine, I know.
You are right; there are many answers. I wanted to hear yours.For me: To move the viewer of the photograph. I want to capture an authentic emotional moment. But let's face it, there are as many answers as there are uses of photography. My answer would mean nothing to a photographer preparing production stills or to an architectural photographer capturing the specific use of a motif on a building of a certain period. With the ubiquitous cell phone (and the incremental zero cost of a happy snap in the world of digital) users make pictures of things they want to remember or can't remember replacing an older use of pencil and paper (wi-fi passwords, serial numbers on equipment, my wife's fender bender for the insurance company, the fuse numbers on an electrical panel, the price of a pound of pasta, the color of competing hot tub designs and so on).
I appreciate your genuine personal answer. I hear you.It lets me express my meager, at best, artistic side because I can. And every once in a blue moon I get a shot that others say is good and that makes it worth my time.
Why don't you want to collect stamps or insects instead? What is it with taking pictures? Did you ever think about that?I take pictures because I want to...end of story. It isn't any more complicated than that.
I used to think of myself as a potential writer. Now that I have been versed in some modern writing I do understand that I do not have it. It is exactly as you said: Structuring some creative writing is an uphill battle. Being observant and verbal is not good enough. You have to build a dynamic construction where everything you put on the paper must be relevant to the plot. My head is not up to that.I'm a people-watcher, I like the sense of connection I get from being around other people going about their lives. So that's a reason for me to do street and documentary-type photography. I've settled mostly upon that and landscape - these genres interest me the most. But it's also, on a deeper level, a creative outlet for me. As a person with a noncreative job, I need to feel a sense of artistic accomplishment even if it receives few accolades and is mostly for myself.
On the other hand, I have always had a strong desire to be a writer, and I have observed that photography, by satisfying the itch to create, sidetracks me from accomplishing much writing. Picking up a camera and going out in search of an interesting shot is always an easier proposition than sitting down and structuring some kind of creative writing.
My head is not really up to that either, but I usually chalk that up to laziness. A great book to read on creativity is called The War of Art, where the author describes something called "resistance" which is a somewhat nebulous (a little bit woo-woo) force or impulse to give up on creative endeavors once we get going, where pushing through the resistance might result in greater success. I've even gotten to the point where I titled my last started (and as yet uncompleted) story idea "Trunk Novel" and I do think that if I stuck it out a few times I could gain most of what I'm lacking.I used to think of myself as a potential writer. Now that I have been versed in some modern writing I do understand that I do not have it. It is exactly as you said: Structuring some creative writing is an uphill battle. Being observant and verbal is not good enough. You have to build a dynamic construction where everything you put on the paper must be relevant to the plot. My head is not up to that.
So you take a photo. Sounds like a sort of a cop out, doesn't it? Who cares if you don't.
What if the answer is not verbal, but emotional?Lately I’ve been asking myself that very question and so far don’t have a satisfactory answer. Honestly, It’s been a bit of an existential crisis for me. Yes, I know I think too much.
John
I like that way of looking at it. Thank you.What if the answer is not verbal, but emotional?
Twain could turn a phrase like few others... yet I don't like much of his fiction. There's a lesson to be learned there, I guess: we don't all agree on which stories need to be told."In summary, it's not that we don't have what it takes"
Peope tell me stories that need to be told. I am an observer and a commentator, not a story teller, sorry.
Recently, I have been reading Mark Twain. He had it!