Photographs and emotions: I was going through some drawers of old photos, some more than 50 years old. I came across some I took during the Viet Nam war and was suddenly overcome with...

buckwheat Loc: Clarkdale, AZ and Belen NM

I was going through some drawers of old photos, some more than 50 years old. I came across some I took during the Viet Nam war and was suddenly overcome with a flood of incredibly intense emotions! Joy, Sorrow, Guilt, Amusement, Longing and more!
This is the reason we do what we do!

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

I go through the same thing when looking at old family photo's and also amazed at how good those photo's look taken with an old film camera.

Robinhood1940 Loc: Tennessee

Like memories in the Attic.

Dick Z. Loc: Downers Grove IL

buckwheat wrote:

I was going through some drawers of old photos, some more than 50 years old. I came across some I took during the Viet Nam war and was suddenly overcome with a flood of incredibly intense emotions! Joy, Sorrow, Guilt, Amusement, Longing and more!
This is the reason we do what we do!

I know how you feel, I do the same.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

buckwheat wrote:

I was going through some drawers of old photos, some more than 50 years old. I came across some I took during the Viet Nam war and was suddenly overcome with a flood of incredibly intense emotions! Joy, Sorrow, Guilt, Amusement, Longing and more!
This is the reason we do what we do!

Buck, certainly we photograhed for many reasons.
What reactions we get to our own photographs can certainly be a reason to shoot. But when we are gone, those emotions get buried with us.
If our shots are powerful enough to bring out those same emotions in others then our photographs will live on without us.
If not, then our photographs and hard drives will simply become part of the landfill landscape.
Like the song says, "except for a small circle of friends, nobody will care"!! ;-)
SS

Dick Z. Loc: Downers Grove IL

SharpShooter wrote:

Buck, certainly we photograhed for many reasons. ... (show quote)

Amen.... :-(

buckwheat Loc: Clarkdale, AZ and Belen NM

On one hand I agree. But when I look at the albums my parents left behind, (from the 30's) I am mostly amused, and somewhat amazed that the photos have survived. I don't have the same or the depth of emotions that my parent's had with the same photos. Photos are the capture of a moment of time, and no matter how poignant for us they will never bring the same emotions.
Someone earlier posted fifty photographers and their photos, one of which was the little girl running who had gotten napalmed. An intense photo for sure, but we can never feel the same intensity unless we shared that moment.

SharpShooter wrote:

Buck, certainly we photograhed for many reasons. ... (show quote)

Jcmarino

Absolutely! Recently my 93 yr old mum-in-law passed away and the funeral home asked for about 100 photos to make into a video to be played at her visitation. We hunted through her photos and we were amazed at the emotions, blessings, history lessons etc. that we felt and learned. There was one taken in 1899 of my husbands grandmother who looked just like my daughter! I now take portraits with a whole new outlook, thinking this photo may be used several generations from now.

PaulG Loc: Western Australia

Snap shots of time, aren't they. When you revisit them they really do tug at the heart strings especially if a reasonable amount of time has elapsed. Really brings home that sense of our own mortality.

jkm757 Loc: San Diego, Ca.

buckwheat wrote:

I was going through some drawers of old photos, some more than 50 years old. I came across some I took during the Viet Nam war and was suddenly overcome with a flood of incredibly intense emotions! Joy, Sorrow, Guilt, Amusement, Longing and more!
This is the reason we do what we do!

Buckwheat, no matter the reason we take the photo, there's no denying the emotions the evoke when we look at them years later. Music can have the same affect.

hettmoe Loc: Rural ND

Hey Buckwheat,
Many of us take photos for ourselves (the way we see and want to remember the world), and if other people enjoy an emotional attachment to them...Even though their emotions cannot be exactly the same as ours....That's just frosting on the cake as far as I'm concerned. As you were.

LPigott Loc: Monterey Peninsula, CA

Enjoyed this conversation. You might like the netflix film, "Finding Vivian Maier," about a prolific street photographer whose works were discovered and appreciated posthumously. I believe it received the 2014 Oscar for documentary. Totally enjoyable experience ...