My mom asked the question....

TYOsborn · 08-13-2008, 07:10 PM

What are you going to do with all the photos? For some reason her question surprised me. Then I thought... Well, I don't know. I'm sure some day my great great great grandkids will look at the pics of their great sis etc and be happy they have the pics, but what about those pics of the flowers, sunsets, etc...? I've spent a lot of money over the years buying cameras that just didn't quite do what I wanted. I finally have one now that I love (Pentax by the way) so now I'm buying lenses, tripods, camera bags... the list goes on as I'm sure many of you know. I'm learning to be a better photographer through books and everyone here in the forums.

I love it... It's a passion of mine. I had a couple of my photo's printed in our local newspaper. It fueled my passion. It was one of those deals where you can upload pics and if they like them, they print them so it's not like I sold one, but it sure made me feel good.

Maybe if I get good enough I could do weddings, but it's really not what I want to do..... I've seen so many magnificent photos in these forums. Is it all a hobby or is there a chance that someday your photo will end up in a magazine for everyone to see? It would be nice to make money at it, but what I really want is for people to see what I see through the camera's eye.

So, my question is to you all... What are you going to do with the photos?

Arpe · 08-13-2008, 07:20 PM

I was taking photos of a run down lakeside bach once, and a neighbour asked me "what are you going to do with the photo". I just said "look at it". And that's what I do, look at them, that's what they're for.

MShawn63 · 08-13-2008, 07:37 PM

My pictures go to my friends, and family, I've become the resident "Papa"-ratzi and I love to capture life as it happens. I've had my own one man show in a local coffee shop that worked out fairly well for me and sold a number of others. The most fun I have is doing weddings and parties.

Photography is a passion and an addiction I'd love to win the lottery and spend all my time focusing on taking pictures.

Wheatfield · 08-13-2008, 07:40 PM

Originally Posted by TYOsborn

So, my question is to you all... What are you going to do with the photos?

90% or more of my shooting is purely recreational. Personally, I don't feel the need to justify my hobbies or passions to anyone (though my wife likes to be informed when I make a heavy equipment purchase).
Hobbies are what we do for fun. It really doesn't matter why we are doing it beyond that.
I'm not expecting my pictures to hang around after I die, and I think anyone who believes they are going to have their pictures fawned over by future generations is showing a hell of a lot of arrogance and hubris, and a very shallow connection to reality.
There aren't that many "important" photographers taking "important" pictures in the grand scheme of things.
Never have been, never will be, and with digital making everyone a photographer, the potential for being one of the important ones taking important pictures is even more remote.

Some people build model railroads, others collect recipes. Neither of these pastimes have much possibility of making a person rich and famous, outside of the very small ponds that the practitioners of these hobbies inhabit, but they do it anyway, for the sheer pleasure that it brings.
I enjoy photography, I enjoy bringing pretty pictures home, but more than that, I enjoy being where the pretty pictures are, at least as much as I enjoy capturing them.
If my pictures please other people, that's really their problem, not mine, and I take very little interest in how they feel about what I do. I rarely show my pictures in forums, I think my entire website has less than 50 public pictures, and few of them have garnered any comments, favourable or otherwise.

So go out and enjoy your photography, don't worry about whether your mother approves, and don't bother justifying it to her, or anyone else.

troywhite · 08-13-2008, 08:42 PM

I run google screensaver on dual monitors. It displays random photos from my whole collection on both separately. Really impressive!!

Anyone who walks past my PC is mesmerised by it and will stop and watch for a while.

StarDust · 08-14-2008, 01:39 AM

I was actually thinking about what I was going to do with my photos a few days ago. I thought that I could perhaps send a photo to a contest.
Would be fun to know if I have a chance to reach top 10

ryan s · 08-14-2008, 02:10 AM

Take some nice pix of her flowers, make them poster size, and give them to her.

Nothing makes a mom proud as seeing (and showing off) her own home-grown plants larger than life

JCSullivan · 08-14-2008, 03:19 AM

I often ask myself the same question - My answer is, NOTHING.

It is something I enjoy doing. It is challenging myself to capture something or someone. It is looking at the image 30 years later and remembering Naples or Palermo, Dublin or Athens or Albania.

Get it!!

*bonovox* · 08-14-2008, 04:54 AM

Originally Posted by troywhite

I run google screensaver on dual monitors. It displays random photos from my whole collection on both separately. Really impressive!!

Anyone who walks past my PC is mesmerised by it and will stop and watch for a while.

Thanks for this tip Troy.
I just downloaded google screensaver and am really happy with it.

IsaacEastgate · 08-14-2008, 06:23 AM

Just be glad you aren't going to be short on christmas or birthday presents for the next few years

and stock up on frames

ghelary · 08-14-2008, 07:00 AM

To me photo is the most accessible form of art.

It takes years to make decent drawing or to play decently music. But a newbie can take his P&S press the button and make a picture that has something.

Of course, like any other art, it takes years to master techniques and achieve a vision. But I think Photo is different from the other form of art as it gives encouragin results from the start.

My first real camera was a Canon A590 that I bought in 2005, I found myself looking for dramatic point of view, playing with the flexible screen. Then when I went in Japan last year I replaced it with a Panasonic Lumix LX2, mostly for low light shooting. Then I stepped up and 4 months ago I bought a Pentax K10D for wider lenses, longer lenses, and lower light shooting. I just got the DOF effect in my mind after I bought it.

Now, I'm on the learning on how to shoot, when to shoot and how to develop. Shooting hundreds of pictures is only for me a way to get to the few pictures that have something. I'm trying to learn to see before pressing the button, to wait for the right moment. That requires good technical knowledge and a lot of try and fail

Daryl · 08-14-2008, 08:35 AM

No-one has to "do" anything with their photos. What painter thinks about what they will "do" with a painting before they start it? Not many. They have a general idea - sometimes - of what they are trying to achieve, and enjoy the journey, and maybe the end product. My wife was an artist (quite a few successful exhibitions - pretty serious about it) and she could sketch something out before I set my camera up.. and then would work on her sketches for months after, building the work up. The process is often more important than the end product. I'm a pianist. I can work for years - yes, years - on a piece of music, and still be unsatisfied with its performance - not to the point of beating myself up over it - but always, always, there's something new to be discovered in a piece of good music. The music can always be played with a different light in it, or on it. It's one reason why we listen to others playing the music we do... "What are you going to do with that performance?" is a question that makes as much sense as "What are you going to do with all those photos?" I think you have to participate in these activities to understand the why.

It's really about why - not what in the end.

I've been taking photos for about 40 years now.. I have lots!! And I really love getting out an old album to revisit the places and people that might not be with us any more. It's about finding the feelings you had of the moments you've captured, even if they are not great technically. If you can share them with those whowere with you at the time - it's wonderful!

Why is a better question than what.

*Fl_Gulfer* · 08-14-2008, 10:10 AM

I look for small frames at yard sales and auctions around here and frame the real good pictures and hang them up around the house and my other house. I have lots of space.

ryan s · 08-14-2008, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by Fl_Gulfer

I look for small frames at yard sales and auctions around here and frame the real good pictures and hang them up around the house and my other house. I have lots of space.

I do this as well...it's amazing what $1 can buy at Goodwill

Except the "other house" thing isn't true for me

*Mike Cash* · 08-14-2008, 11:58 AM

Ask her what she's going to "do" with all those Beanie Babies or all those flowers she planted around the house. Or what she's going to "do" with all the television shows she has watched in her life.