These pics are just like mine: I see lots of pics on UHH that are just like mine, stories that are struggling to be told. I don't point my camera at the sky and snap a shot when a...

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I see lots of pics on UHH that are just like mine, stories that are struggling to be told. I don't point my camera at the sky and snap a shot when a flock of birds flies over but I feel that most of my shots are like that. Sometimes I get doodoo on the lens.

SS319

I can write my name in print or cursive, and I can cut a piece of wood in two with a saw. I am neither a writer, nor a cabinet maker. I can take a picture, but that doesn't make me a photographer.

In the same way that a writer evokes images and emotions in their readers, and a cabinet maker can craft that perfect kitchen, a photographer is one that creates a story from a picture and uses it to create images in the mind and emotions in the heart. When you take a picture, do you ask yourself "what am I trying to say?" and "who is my audience?"If you do not have an answer for those questions, then why did you take the picture? Because it was there? Because I can? IDontKno....

tbpmusic Loc: LaPorte, Indiana

gvarner wrote:

I see lots of pics on UHH that are just like mine, stories that are struggling to be told. I don't point my camera at the sky and snap a shot when a flock of birds flies over but I feel that most of my shots are like that. Sometimes I get doodoo on the lens.

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger - when I was still "crankin' film", I was happy to get one or two good shots per roll.
Now that I'm digital, the majority of my shots just get deleted.......but like they say, even blind hog finds an acorn once in a while.
My photographic mentor, the late great Bob Ashe of Denver, was the best photographer I ever knew - he tossed the majority of his shots as well.

Doddy Loc: Barnard Castle-England

Yeh..If anything going to go break on my camera..it will be the delete button!

David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA

To be honest, most of my photos are shot to record where I was at the time and serve to invoke memories when I look at them later. I am not trying in most cases for high art or telling a story. I post my pictures on a web site where others can look at them, not because I think they're great, but because perhaps others might be encouraged to also visit those places. Once in a while, I do manage to luck into a pretty nice photo, and I'm always pleased when that happens.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

SS319 wrote:

I can take a picture, but that doesn't make me a photographer.

Doesn't it, though? Doesn't it?

Funny you should say that. That's my reply when people see the big (compared to a cell phone) D750, and they ask, "Are you a photographer?" "Well, I take pictures."

ligneus

When you take a picture, do you ask yourself "what am I trying to say?" and "who is my audience?"

Nope, never occurs to me. 'S just me and the camera and the subject. Actually, 'me and the camera' are mostly forgotten too. Maybe a bit like reading, you don't think about the book itself, do you?

Plieku69 Loc: The Gopher State, south end

SS319 wrote:

I can write my name in print or cursive, and I can... (show quote)

I can agree 110 percent.

Most pictures are work related and that too is an on going learning process. But the fun aspect is when I take the camera outdoors. Sometimes I even manage to take a picture I can post on UHH. But most are just for me and my enjoyment. And the learning never stops.
Ken

cdayton

I too can easily relate. I use 3 Nikons - D300, P900, D5200 - it only takes 2 clicks to delete on the D5200 so I'm using it more and more.

OzyNik

I am like David in Dallas.

It's the pure fun of capturing images and I see it as a record of where I have been and what I have done.

I am Nik in Australia and have the tremendous good fortune to be visiting California next week for 2 weeks! Maybe I can meet up with some American camera clickers?

Plieku69 Loc: The Gopher State, south end

I just received an email from Gitzo . Looking around their site I it occurred to me that they, and every photographer site features models who are young, studly, wear jeans an t-shirts - and don't shave for several days.

That has to bey it, the secret to getting those fantastic photos, we all just need to shape up and stop shaving.

Ken

Motl678

Nicely stated. I enjoy looking at my old photos . . . currently digitizing Kodachromes and Ektachomes . . . not just the instance, but the general time and space of a much younger man.

donb17

David in Dallas wrote:

To be honest, most of my photos are shot to record where I was at the time and serve to invoke memories when I look at them later. I am not trying in most cases for high art or telling a story. I post my pictures on a web site where others can look at them, not because I think they're great, but because perhaps others might be encouraged to also visit those places. Once in a while, I do manage to luck into a pretty nice photo, and I'm always pleased when that happens.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

David in Dallas wrote:

To be honest, most of my photos are shot to record where I was at the time and serve to invoke memories when I look at them later. I am not trying in most cases for high art or telling a story. I post my pictures on a web site where others can look at them, not because I think they're great, but because perhaps others might be encouraged to also visit those places. Once in a while, I do manage to luck into a pretty nice photo, and I'm always pleased when that happens.

Well said--congratulations! My sentiments exactly. I have no lofty ambitions of being the next Ansel Adams--I just like to take photographs. If folks like them, that's nice. If they don't, that's ok by me, too.

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

Not every photo is a keeper. I take more stinkers than keepers. Most of my stinkers are the result of three dimensional scenes not translating well to a one dimensional surface. Last year I took a photo of a deep gorge in Utah, stood there, looked down, and said, "Wow!". I used my wide angle lens, thinking it would do a better job replicating the scene -- and the photo fell flat (but I didn't know that until I opened it up on my computer). There was no sense of depth to the photo. I walked along and there was a butte off in the distance. I shot that with my 70-300 zoom; it turned out beautifully. Even though the zoom compressed the photo, the butte was the center of attention and you could still get a feel for the distance involved. Like I said, "not every photo is a keeper."

I don't know if the story is true or not, but when I shot film I read a story about Ansel Adams. A person asked him if he ever shot a bad photograph. Adams answered that he had garbage cans full of them. I guess, even for a master photographer, not every photo was a keeper.