Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Have you ever seriously thought about why you take pictures instead of say collecting stamps? No seriously, have you?

From when I was a youngster up to when I left for the Army in 1961 our family took a 2 week vacation every year. We started out with a Kodak Brownie Junior and worked our way up to various Polaroid cameras. We took location shots, family on location shots--you know snap shots. We put the prints in a box and the box in a closet. We took the box out every once in a while and relived the experience. My parents are gone now but my brother and I still take the box out occasionally and reminisce about 70 years ago.

Now I am old, and now I take photographs. Hundreds, hell, thousands of them. Agreed a large percentage of them are deleted. I still have several thousand of them in a box, you call a computer file. Some are landscapes (location shots). Most are "subject shots" (birds, bees etc.). There are very few family pictures, and they are in their own box. Some are printed, maybe one in 500, and kept in a real box and almost never looked at again. My "photographs" have no intrinsic value to me or anyone else. They are only examples of my skills and techniques, if any, they don't invoke memories of "I remember when I took that shot".

I have concluded that the main reason I take pictures now is because I am a collector and to justify the money and effort that goes into my hobby, I post my pictures on the internet but that is a subject for another post.

Bluefish Loc: Berks County, PA

What does this have to do with quicksand?

ELNikkor

My only real diary is the photos I have taken through the years of my family's and my own activities. I've taken many other non-diary photos as well, and some of these have marketable value. Still not sure which direction to take on the marketing, however.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

I get it, Jack. I have thousands, too. Most don't invoke "potent" memories but they all are reminders of things I've seen and done. I recall where I saw the birds and flowers and most everything else. It's all a matter of perspective. Just keep having fun as long as you can.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

My parents took pix of everything we did. They also had the 8mm camera going at all xmas and bday parties and some vacations. I remember getting my first camera. Then running to the drug store because TODAY was the day the photos came in. Then the sinking feeling when 6 out of 12 were just a blur or just white or black page no pix at all. Then the exhilaration when one was really really great shot.

Years back I didnt have a lot of money for cameras or even developing pix. I saved and saved and bought a gigantic cam corder . Put it on my shoulder and recorded my kids. by todays standards those videos suck but are still great for me and the kids to see.
so thats how I started taking pix, and now I do it cause it keeps me out of trouble . ( except when I get GAS and the wife gets mad at me) and I enjoy it.

tramsey Loc: Texas

I put most of the pictures that I take in the same box you do, one called a computer file. My wife goes through them decides which are worth saving and prints them out and they got into a picture album, just like the old days. She writes who, what, when and why on nintey percent of them. If she finds one she really likes, it is framed and on the wall it goes or maybe the table, some place where we and every one that comes over can see it. We have quite a few pictures around; she shoots to. It's a lot of fun

Cany143 Loc: SE Utah

I make pix because I make pix. Might've gone in other directions, but Shakespeare had already written 'Hamlet,' Bonnie & Clyde had already emptied the banks, and Beelzebub had staked out the claim on Hades long, long ago.

And those 'paint-by-numbers' paintings my Mom did for relaxation/fun/something to do besides wiping our butts when me and my siblings were kids usually had some paint left over for me to splash around with, so I did. And Picasso shot with a Soviet Era 'FED' camera, so......

L-Fox

Pulling out the box is far better than trying to find anything on TV.

ImageCreator Loc: Northern California

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Quicksand is where I sometimes find myself when I make this kind of post

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

I understand the diary photos. I have them too but I call them "snap shots". I am asking about the rest. You must have thousands of shots that are "photographs". Why did you take them and save them?

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Thanks for answering Ken. I understand what you are saying. I just checked I have 538 close ups of bees that are keepers. Some have been posted but most will never be seen again by the world or me. Maybe you have hit on it: Do we do it for the pictures or simply because taking pictures is fun.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Thanks for answering bdk. It's too soon to tell, not enough data yet, but excluding people who take pictures to sell is it possible we take pictures because we find it fun?

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

[quote=Cany143]I make pix because I make pix. Might've gone in other directions, but Shakespeare had already written 'Hamlet,' Bonnie & Clyde had already emptied the banks, and Beelzebub had staked out the claim on Hades long, long ago.

And those 'paint-by-numbers' paintings my Mom did for relaxation/fun/something to do besides wiping our butts when me and my siblings were kids usually had some paint left over for me to splash around with, so I did. And Picasso shot with a Soviet Era 'FED' camera, so......[/quo

Surprisingly enough I understand that answer completely. Taking pictures has become your identity. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. My dad's profession was his identity.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Logical as always Larry