repleo Loc: Boston

For those of a 'for myself only' mindset - look into the sad, poignant story of Vivian Maier. What a talent that was only uncovered by accident.

http://www.vivianmaier.com/

Better still watch the movie "FINDING VIVIAN MAIER" (on Netflix I think)

Base_fiddle

[quote=hollyhock]If you could not share the images you have taken, would you continue to shoot?...


Hollyhock raises and interesting question; one that I never focused on.

I shot to capture a moment…to capture what my eyes saw. A professional photographer told me in 2008 that my camera could never capture what my eye sees and gave very good camera-technical reasons why. That didn’t stop me from recording something similar to what my eyes saw.
So, the first answer is I take pictures because I want to.

Past that, like others who have responded, no one really wants to see my pictures. They get bored or make fun of the fact that I took so many pictures. Clearly, if someone wants to see my pictures, great, but I never hold my breath.

So, I take pictures and no w that I am retired and can set my own priorities, I’m going back and scanning in negatives from up to 60 years ago. Memories come flooding back; even my wife is now interested in things that we did 40 years ago and focusing on how we have changed physically.

What I am finding is “why I took pictures.” I came across a negative of our one-year old son crawly on the floor at the Air and Space Museum one year after it opened. He was crawling to a silver garbage can because he could see himself in the can. It was a great picture! I knew I had the picture, but had to find it. At the time, I knew that I liked the shot. Now the shot pays dividends, because my son and his children can take delight is seeing a great picture of their dad when he was a kid.

Take another example – my wife and I have taken many, many trips and I “made” her wait for me, because I was waiting for the sun to peak through the sky to give me better lighting on the background. This happened at Niagara Falls when my wife and our two kids at the time waited twenty minutes in from of the US side of the falls waiting for the sun to break through the cloudy sky and highlight the water flowing over the falls. Today, it brings back incredible feelings for me and my wife.

Monday is always the quarterback for Sunday. Today a lot of people are asking where they came from. Well, pictures show the story…a story that you won’t find in Ancestry or Family Search. Decedents 100 years from now may be able to use my RAW or JPEG digitized pictures to see what my family’s live was like and pictures of ancestors living in the 20th and 21st centuries. That makes me a keeper of pictorial history. Something that someone someday may smile at and be grateful for.

srt101fan

[quote=Base_fiddle]

Well said!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

[quote=Base_fiddle]

You get it!

The most enduring use for photos is to remember ourselves and our family members as we once were. I was in that business for 33 years, working for yearbook and school portrait companies. It was never more clear to us how important our business was, than when we had to send parents a memorial package of prints of their student who had just died of a rare disease or in a car crash. Memories are priceless. Our portraits and snapshots are important to us, and to future generations.

lmTrying Loc: WV Northern Panhandle

Bingo! I too, see a lot more of the world because I am concentrating and setting up for the shot.

lmTrying Loc: WV Northern Panhandle

Not all of them! My wife writes. What, I do not know. Occasionally she talkes about her stories taking twists and turns and going places she never intended. When I walk into the room, she covers the page she is working on. Only once in high school did she ever let me read what she had written. And she refuses to be published, because she wants NO one telling her what nor how to write. It's hers, no one elses, period.

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

For me, photography is first and foremost the means by which I express my artistic side. Not being able to share what I create would leave me feeling only half fulfilled. If nobody else would see my work, my interest would wane significantly.

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

Absolutely...and no!

For me, photography is a personal imperative. I need no further justification.

Dave

MTG44 Loc: Corryton, Tennessee

Of course.

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

When I was putting my family tree together, I consulted the stuff in my parents boxes: albums, letters, papers, etc. What I found annoying that there was exactly two pictures of my grandparents on my dad's side. On my mom!s side the only grandparent pictures were those I took with my little black brownie. So do your kids a great favor. Take lots of pictures, label each with place, date, people (if not obvious), and a note why the scene was special enough to photograph. Keep a well organized album. If your kids are like most of us, they might not think of a fanily tree before you descent into your dotage.

silverwren Loc: Alabama

I also shoot for my own pleasure and rarely show my photographs -unless it is an occasional shot I am especially proud of. Sounds like most of us are our own toughest critic.

Draw865

I share very little unless unless I'm shooting portraits. A lot of my photography is more about exploring technique or problem-solving -- how best to make the shot or get the effect.

btbg

Yes I would keep shooting. In fact it would be more freeing. Right now I have to make sure that what I shoot is printable in our newspaper. I have limited freedom what I do as they expect faces in everything and don't really want things like motion blur or anything artistic or creative.

If I didn't have to produce marketable images I could shoot whatever I want and could spend a lot more time experimenting. It would be a lot more fun.

With that said, I still appreciate when people see my work and are complimentary. That just isn't what drives my passion to photograph.

therwol Loc: USA

I will be in the minority here, but I shoot mostly to share. I've documented my life and the lives or my friends and family for decades and always shared my pictures. My grown kids are going to inherit what amounts to a documentary of their entire lives when I'm gone. I regret I haven't had time to organize it for them. (Most of the pictures were taken on film, and I haven't scanned it yet. No time until I retire.) I even have a ton of Sound Super 8 movies that are going to have to be transferred to Video. I already had a decent Eumig sound movie camera by the time my first came along. Those movies look awesome when projected on a large screen, but I won't run them through a projector any longer.)

One thing that motivated me was that I was way ahead of most people with equipment, and I could take pictures that left people with their mouths hanging open back in the day of Instamatics and Polaroids. It was a way of sharing something that people couldn't do themselves. I must have given away a thousand pictures while in college.

I do sometimes shoot for myself, but those are not my most important pictures, as nice as some of them are. I also have a ton of meaningless pictures that resulted from testing the capabilities of equipment.

therwol Loc: USA

PS to that. Does anyone know of a movie transfer service that uses equipment that minimizes flicker from mismatched frame rates? I shot my moves at 18fps when my camera offered 24, and I regret it. I did a few home transfers using the crude method of projecting the film and using a video camera on a tripod. The results don't do justice to the originals.