burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

The simple answer is yes on all counts. I enjoy the process, I enjoy the results, I enjoy others' reactions to the results, and in my case, I often enjoy seeing others learn from my results. Here is the ridiculously long answer. If you don't like autobiography, just skip it:

Photography has many, many purposes. That was made very clear to me back in the mid-1990s when I attended a Photo Marketing Association convention in Las Vegas. There were over 40,000 people at that event, from all over the world! Virtually every possible use of photography, and every tool available to do it, was represented there. (Unfortunately, PMA became PMAI (nternational) and was subsumed into the CES show, so it is now defunct.) But I'm getting ahead of myself…

In my life, I've found lots of ways to enjoy photography:

As a five year old, the camera was another toy — a magical box that produced pictures of my relatives (parents, sister, aunts, uncles...). I was thrilled I could press a button and a week later, prints would come back from the drugstore. My parents had to put me on a budget — one roll of 620 film, one box of Press 25 flashbulbs, and one develop and print order per month!

As an eight year old, the camera was still a toy, but something that I began to understand could record important memories. And I began to realize HOW and WHY those memories were important. I had taken a photo of a friend who died in a car wreck. Her parents were grateful for my snapshots of her. That year, I also learned how to type. It was taboo for guys to learn to type in those days, but I'm so glad I did!

As a ten year old in the darkroom, I learned the joys and frustrations of controlling the process. I also learned how much fun a Polaroid could be.

As a 12-year old, I began reading periodicals and books on photography. I discovered it was a deep ocean of visual potential with lots of uses. My parents bought me an enlarger. I spent way too much of the next month in the dark!

As a 13-year-old, I learned how powerful an adjustable camera with interchangeable lenses can be. I was grabbed by the yearbook/newspaper advisor of my Jr.-Sr. high school, and practically begged to photograph for those publications. She would pay me for prints. I would come to admire her, and take all three of her advanced courses in journalism and creative writing. My typing skills paid off, as I would become sports editor — later managing editor — of the school newspaper.

I spent the next 5 years behind the camera at almost all school events. I had fun with photojournalism, and bought a lot of equipment with my profits. In my spare time, I dabbled with abstracts, landscapes, nature, and wildlife. My Siamese cat was a frequent subject. He liked to eat chipmunks and baby copperhead snakes...

During my senior year, I got to photograph a lot of powerful people in the community at City Hall, Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, Civitan, JayCee, and other group meetings. My slides went into a multi-image show celebrating these folks' help with various building projects at the local community college. That experience planted a seed.

Another seed was planted when I saw a Clear Light Productions multi-image show at a church retreat in 1973, a week before I went to college. I would later use their projection control equipment as an AV producer. There was NOTHING in that show that I could not have done, and later did. I kept thinking about that in recurring dreams.

In college, I kept using slide film in my limited spare time, since I had no access to a darkroom. I fell in love with the campus radio station, and wired their first production studio. I was operations manager there, and learned a lot about audio.

On holiday breaks, I saw several multi-image shows, each of which reinforced the idea that I would some day be combining my skills. Photography, writing, and audio production were my three passions. I majored in economics, and got a great liberal arts education with some of the finest people I've ever known, but communications was my passion.

After graduation, I worked in radio — on air and producing commercials — for a couple of years, at three small stations. Commercial radio was just as ridiculous as WKRP in Cincinnati, however, so I quit and looked around. Delmar was looking for a yearbook salesperson, so I interviewed. The sales manager saw my resume, and asked me if I could produce AV shows. That was the start of a 33-year career and eight roles with three companies (Delmar, Herff Jones, Lifetouch) on that same business campus.

So I turned every hobby and skill I had ever known or loved into a job role. I produced multi-image shows for meetings and training, product promotions and inspiration. I produced filmstrips, slide-tape shows and video tapes for HR orientation, yearbook staff training, portrait photographer training, and production employee training. THAT exposed me to every facet of the business, and led to a special projects manager role, fixing broken production departments and product lines in the photo lab. THAT led me into a business systems management role, a production systems management role, an IT systems project management role, a product development marketing role, a digital products management role, and finally, seven years in training program development and delivery. Liberal arts prepares one to be versatile, understanding, fearless, communicative, and connective. Thank goodness my parents sent me to Davidson!

Photography is, for me, a tool and a hobby. I enjoy writing about it, reading about it, doing it, and yes, enjoying my work. It has provided me with a secure retirement, and countless hours of fun, but not without a price!

When I left my AV role in 1987, I put down my cameras and did other things at Delmar and Herff Jones for about 13 years. The only times I picked up a camera or video camera were to cover family events, or to do some special project at work that required photos or video. I had burned out on photography — I was doing it 45 to 70 hours a week, sometimes, in the early 1980s. Manic 40-hour stints programming multi-image shows, followed by a two-day crash after meeting a deadline, were not unheard of. Watching an audience respond raucously and enthusiastically to one of my shows was an adrenaline rush that made the effort all worthwhile. But like a drug rush, you pay the price in imbalance. It took me a while to overcome the numbness of the burnout. Digital photography was my renaissance.

For me, the greatest gratifications of photography are always in:

• Showing the best sides of humanity as examples we can learn from

• Recognizing success and achievement and celebrating it

• Preserving memories and documenting events

• Showing people procedures, providing visual grounding for narrative pathways to performance, and laying the ground rules for success.

That last one is where I can combine all my skills in a multi-media, multi-dimensional approach to training.

My mantra is that I turn worthy thoughts into streams of appropriate words and grounding images, to elicit desirable actions.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. If you read this far, I apologize for lack of brevity!

ppage Loc: Pittsburg, (San Francisco area)

Social Media does it for me. I have all my best shots on Flickr and Instagram. I put my most recent best shots on Facebook for friends and family as well. I scroll through my work on Flickr often, maintaining view counts checking favs and comments. It is very rewarding to post photos on flickr and see the views break 100 or more within hours and get up to 500 in a few days. I look forward to the comments I receive and this stokes my efforts to keep producing. The Flickr community is very supportive, helpful and encouraging. I am just a feedback junkie I guess. I don't expect constructive criticism, it's not done much. It's more like a mutual admiration society but that is ok with me. I grudgingly got on Instagram because I think looking at beautifully shot and edited photos on a cell phone is sacrilegious but I gave in and found an equally supportive environment. Looking at the other artist's work has really upped my game, shamed me sometimes, reminds me that I have a long way to go and not to be cocky. Interacting with other artists has led me to different techniques, better gear and great location tips.

I also print my work and wallpaper the inside and outside of my cubicle at work with 5x7's and 8x10's. When I am upset or bored I sit back and gaze at all my work and remember all the places I went to get them and I feel better. I print the really special ones on metal and hang them in my house. So yes, I revel in my work personally and share constantly.

BlackRipleyDog

Nothing beats printing and hanging on the wall. Very analog.

bobburk3 Loc: Maryland

What name do you go by on Instagram and Flickr? i would like to look at your pictures.

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

I have a 49" 4K Samsung OLED TV which is on 24/7. I watch one episode of Supernatural each day and that's it for TV stuff. The rest of the time the TV plays through two 32 GB USB flash drives which have several thousand pictures on them.

I also have digital photo frames throughout the house, the smallest being a 4x6 and the largest being a 14x20. They play through pictures, too, 24/7.

Hmmmm. Maybe that's why my electricity bill is so high................LOL

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I feel your frustration! I photographed and video recorded my neice's wedding. I got a generic thank-you note. They never said a word about the photos or video. Nor did my sister.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Were you the primary photographer and did you charge them?

cbw60

Going back and looking at the pictures I have bring joy to my heart. It is a good pick me up.

ppage Loc: Pittsburg, (San Francisco area)

I go by the handle "sharpshootersf" on Instagram and Flickr. Let's follow each other if you're inclined. If you have problems finding me on Flickr look for Pat Page or Patrick Page. Thanks for the interest!

ppage Loc: Pittsburg, (San Francisco area)

Flickr
​https://www.flickr.com/gp/128663890@N07/9WXHby

WillieC

I have a 46" screen for my computer and when not using the computer the pictures continuously change every minute and it brings back all those memories also brings me back to the location the picture was taken.

bobburk3 Loc: Maryland

I go by bobburk3 on Instagram.

bobburk3 Loc: Maryland

burkphoto...no need to apologize. I enjoyed your story. Probably because I made a career out of photography too. I managed professional color labs for over thirty years...amateur photo labs, professional photo labs, school picture photo labs, and my favorite was a professional lab in Tampa, Fl that specialized in underwater photography. After stepping away from photography for several years, I made the switch to digital from film and it has taken a while to adapt. The principles are the same as far as fstop and exposure go, but there is so much more to it than that. But I am enjoying learning. I wish i had the money to buy better equipment but I guess you never have everything you wish you had.

mardic Loc: Fla.

You and I are of the same mindset. Just
love/hate what I or my daughter did.
Dick

cambriaman Loc: Central CA Coast

Primarily myself and my wife see my images. I look back often to compare. I also have a "hobby" of sending an appropriate photo and greeting for the occasion to a e-mail list of a few dozen relatives, friends, co-workers and neighbors for most holidays, such as Independence Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, the seasonal solstices, and other public holidays. It gives me a chance to review my files and keep in touch. I also print my favorite images 11 by 14 and mat and frame them for display in our home. I have run out of walls! I rotate these selected images a couple of times a year usually using recent photos to replace the older ones which remain matted and stored for display again when the mood takes me. I also personally make greeting cards for family and friend birthdays from my images, usually one showing the celebrant at some time. Our Christmas card is variously a collage of images from the past year with brief textual comments or some specially nice winter scene. The Christmas greeting is delivered to family and close friends by Snail Mail and by e-mail to others.