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.

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.

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.

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.

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

As one who has kept journals for the past 60 years and who enjoys emailing, pictures enhance the written narrative. Other than that, photos bring back memories . . . for better or worse. They enable me to share in a way that enhances my relationship and communication with others. I’ve enjoyed reading the responses others have given for we seem to me motivated differently, yet share similar pleasure in the process.