What makes YOU take photos?

newarts · 01-06-2011, 06:14 AM

I take photos mostly to learn about taking photos. I love to reconcile theory with practice & tell others simple, practical ways to understand what's going on (I'm a show-off too).

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of a fairly costly tilt bellows & related adapters to check out the practicality of high tilt angle macros. I'm not sure why I care & I can't even think of a good subject for the test photos (maybe a macro perspective shot of a millipede ALL IN FOCUS!) That's a good illustration of how I value process over print!

I am the poster boy for the oft-abused tech-nut stereotype! Sigh...

Thank God for this forum and its tolerance!

Dave

ll_coffee_lP · 01-06-2011, 10:42 AM

No inner drive here to create. No voices in my head. No wanting to express myself and looking for a creative outlet. I wish.

When my wife and I met we found that we both "liked" to take pictures. Through this commonality, my personal desire to always be learning (photography is perpetual learning), and finding out that I was decent at it - it simply stuck.

No glamour here...

c[_]

**mattb123** · 01-06-2011, 12:31 PM

I grew up making art and just feel compelled to. Not sure exactly why. Photography (beyond the 110 and disc camera snapshots I took as a kid in the 80's) specifically appealed to me as a way to capture a scene to take back to the studio and paint from. But painting grew tedious and messy (although I still like it from time to time) and I started liking my photos more. After college I got an IT career and have always liked figuring out and leveraging technology. When digital cameras came along and then actually got good, I knew I had to jump in and be involved. It brought together so many things I already liked.

LucyGoosey · 01-06-2011, 12:41 PM

Because I have a terrible memory! I all seriousness, my wife and I travel a lot and I can't bear to imagine the day when my memory starts to fade and forget where we've been, what we've seen. I love to take out my photo albums and say, "Remember when..."

A picture is worth a thousand words and I'm a much better photographer than I am a writer.

Gene Temple · 01-13-2011, 05:49 AM

Because its fun.........

mjkwee · 01-23-2011, 02:47 PM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by MetteHHH

And I have a weakness for gadgets which is uncommon for my gender I suppose. I like new toys. And I'm good at rationalizing it too: For instance I really DO need a K5 (when I can afford one), because I NEED to shoot birds in low light with high shutter speed - so the high ISO performance is actually NECESSARY. (Did that sound convincing? I need practise before running it in front of my husband!)

So, the sport, the gadgets, the aestetics, the creativity and the craft are the main motivators you bring up above. What a great hobby it is to give us all of that!

Mette, I know this weakness and you sound like the reason I would love to own a K5 because I love night photography and having the right equipment like the K5 with superb low light capability with high ISO performance is the key to getting better at my hobby. Will that work?

My real reason for getting into Photography is a passion I picked up in high school. I then wanted a Spotmatic slr camera because it was the best gadget I could get then, and like all techies, even then, I convinced my mom to setup a darkroom. But then life got in the way. I had to go to University (not for photography), got married and earn a living. Along the way I put photography on hold for 30 years. Then the opportunity came to revisit it again in 2009 when I wanted a distraction from a right side paralysis I suffered from a stroke in 2005. Being a techie by heart, I began the quest and the resolve to get back to photography single handedly (literary). A year later I made a plunge and invested in a K100D. That was the best investment I made towards my rehabilitation.

So Photography means getting out the door day in day out to do my rehab walks. I manage to leave my wheelchair at home as I develop strength from walking with K100D in hand. I took lots of flowers, and mundane objects that were readily accessible within the limited environment. Then I progress to macro photography to expand the subjects accessible within my environment, limited only by my lack of mobility and stamina plus I could not drive myself around. Today, I am able to drive, I am able to do wildlife photography (see below) and I continue to grow and expand my subjects.

As a techie and going back to my Spotmatic days, I still owned a few screw mount Asahi Pentax lenses. My business partner happen to also own Pentax equipment when I started my digital SLR journey. It brought a lot of memories back and I decided to take up my old MF lenses and practice using these old lenses for my rehab walks. I love tinkering with older MF lenses to the point of LBA. I do own a few AF lenses and use them when I travel on vacations.

That in a nutshell what it means to me. I love the challenge and the tinkering of the equipment while I do my rehabilitation in a fun and productive way. That is why I do Photography.

Today, with a mini tripod as a camera support, I am able to take moving subjects like the one below. Canadian Geese in flight...

**Kerrowdown** · 01-24-2011, 03:19 PM

I want to eat

Gashog · 01-24-2011, 06:45 PM

I'm a jack of all trades but when I take a great photo, it makes me feel a step above that.
Actually, I'm a total narcissist and I totally get off on having people forced to look at my photos in the paper!

magkelly · 01-24-2011, 10:26 PM

I was out by the library the other day and I was watching this little squirrel that I'd talked to by their door. I'd startled him coming out and so I stopped to reassure him that I wasn't about to hurt him. He watched me for a minute, chattered at me then ran up a tree and across the roof over to this other big, tree in the parking lot which just happened to be the one near my car.

I stopped by the car and looked up to see him up in the branches and suddenly the world above just moved. The sun hit the tree in just such a way, and the wind stirred the leaves and the little spiky seed pods on it in such a way that the whole tree seemed to be swaying and dancing. It was just a mesmerizing display of light, form and color.

For once I didn't have a camera so I guess I just stood there for about 2 minutes watching until the light went away and the wind died back down. Right near the end this woman she walks up to me, looks up. It's still going on, all that nature dancing, but she just doesn't seem to see anything remarkable at all. Afterward she just goes "What were you looking at?" She's really puzzled.

I just started laughing. The only thing I could think of to reply was "Life." She walked away and from the look on her face I think she thought I was just crazy, but it only made me smile more. I truly wish I'd had a camera to get that moment, but I just had too many books and I was going to the store after and I don't like to take my camera to the grocery store much.

I can't really paint that kind of thing, though I have tried. My eyes they apparently have that artistic capacity to see those things, to see light etc, but my hands unfortunately are not painter's hands. What's in the brain just doesn't translate well sometimes to the hands.

But with a camera I can paint. I take that picture and capture that wonderful light, those shadows, that form, that color and make happen via a print or whatever. I can even use it to make a digital painting if I want. See it live somewhere besides in my vision and in my mind.

Moments like these that's why I do photography.

mustangjoey · 01-25-2011, 12:34 PM

I just had my first child 4 months ago. I always thought photography was more for women. Being that every girl I had ever been with was obsessed with taking pictures and I never understood why. Then It hit me, when my daughter was born. I've taken more pictures in the past 4 months than I have taken in my entire life. And now I'm hooked, my camera goes everywhere with me. So I have to carry a backpack with me everywhere. But at least I won't miss those precious moments. Life is too short and too precious to not make and capture memories. I don't want to miss anything, this is a hobby/passion that I will have for the rest of my life. No doubt.

Pablom · 01-25-2011, 12:40 PM

Originally posted by Wheatfield

The voices in my head tell me to.

I think I am hearing the voices in your head too!!

**MetteHHH** · 01-25-2011, 01:07 PM

Originally posted by kerrowdown

I want to eat

Funny, that's the same reason I don't spend ALL my time taking photos...

...lucky you!

01-13-2011, 05:49 AM	#20
Gene Temple Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Lynchburg Virginia Posts: 182	Fun Because its fun.........

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01-06-2011, 06:14 AM	#16
newarts Inactive Account Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Ames, Iowa, USA Photos: Albums Posts: 2,965	I take photos mostly to learn about taking photos. I love to reconcile theory with practice & tell others simple, practical ways to understand what's going on (I'm a show-off too). I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of a fairly costly tilt bellows & related adapters to check out the practicality of high tilt angle macros. I'm not sure why I care & I can't even think of a good subject for the test photos (maybe a macro perspective shot of a millipede ALL IN FOCUS!) That's a good illustration of how I value process over print! I am the poster boy for the oft-abused tech-nut stereotype! Sigh... Thank God for this forum and its tolerance! Dave

01-06-2011, 10:42 AM	#17
ll_coffee_lP Inactive Account Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,972	No inner drive here to create. No voices in my head. No wanting to express myself and looking for a creative outlet. I wish. When my wife and I met we found that we both "liked" to take pictures. Through this commonality, my personal desire to always be learning (photography is perpetual learning), and finding out that I was decent at it - it simply stuck. No glamour here... c[_]

01-06-2011, 12:31 PM	#18
mattb123 Site Supporter Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Colorado High Country Photos: Gallery Posts: 10,873	I grew up making art and just feel compelled to. Not sure exactly why. Photography (beyond the 110 and disc camera snapshots I took as a kid in the 80's) specifically appealed to me as a way to capture a scene to take back to the studio and paint from. But painting grew tedious and messy (although I still like it from time to time) and I started liking my photos more. After college I got an IT career and have always liked figuring out and leveraging technology. When digital cameras came along and then actually got good, I knew I had to jump in and be involved. It brought together so many things I already liked.

01-06-2011, 12:41 PM	#19
LucyGoosey Forum Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: New Jersey Photos: Albums Posts: 86	Because I have a terrible memory! I all seriousness, my wife and I travel a lot and I can't bear to imagine the day when my memory starts to fade and forget where we've been, what we've seen. I love to take out my photo albums and say, "Remember when..." A picture is worth a thousand words and I'm a much better photographer than I am a writer.

01-24-2011, 03:19 PM	#22
Kerrowdown PEG Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Highlands of Scotland... "Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand" - William Blake Photos: Gallery Posts: 57,835	I want to eat

01-24-2011, 06:45 PM	#23
Gashog Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: NY Photos: Albums Posts: 523	I'm a jack of all trades but when I take a great photo, it makes me feel a step above that. Actually, I'm a total narcissist and I totally get off on having people forced to look at my photos in the paper!

01-24-2011, 10:26 PM	#24
magkelly Veteran Member Join Date: May 2010 Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,901	I was out by the library the other day and I was watching this little squirrel that I'd talked to by their door. I'd startled him coming out and so I stopped to reassure him that I wasn't about to hurt him. He watched me for a minute, chattered at me then ran up a tree and across the roof over to this other big, tree in the parking lot which just happened to be the one near my car. I stopped by the car and looked up to see him up in the branches and suddenly the world above just moved. The sun hit the tree in just such a way, and the wind stirred the leaves and the little spiky seed pods on it in such a way that the whole tree seemed to be swaying and dancing. It was just a mesmerizing display of light, form and color. For once I didn't have a camera so I guess I just stood there for about 2 minutes watching until the light went away and the wind died back down. Right near the end this woman she walks up to me, looks up. It's still going on, all that nature dancing, but she just doesn't seem to see anything remarkable at all. Afterward she just goes "What were you looking at?" She's really puzzled. I just started laughing. The only thing I could think of to reply was "Life." She walked away and from the look on her face I think she thought I was just crazy, but it only made me smile more. I truly wish I'd had a camera to get that moment, but I just had too many books and I was going to the store after and I don't like to take my camera to the grocery store much. I can't really paint that kind of thing, though I have tried. My eyes they apparently have that artistic capacity to see those things, to see light etc, but my hands unfortunately are not painter's hands. What's in the brain just doesn't translate well sometimes to the hands. But with a camera I can paint. I take that picture and capture that wonderful light, those shadows, that form, that color and make happen via a print or whatever. I can even use it to make a digital painting if I want. See it live somewhere besides in my vision and in my mind. Moments like these that's why I do photography.

01-25-2011, 12:34 PM	#25
mustangjoey Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Rockford, IL Photos: Albums Posts: 73	I just had my first child 4 months ago. I always thought photography was more for women. Being that every girl I had ever been with was obsessed with taking pictures and I never understood why. Then It hit me, when my daughter was born. I've taken more pictures in the past 4 months than I have taken in my entire life. And now I'm hooked, my camera goes everywhere with me. So I have to carry a backpack with me everywhere. But at least I won't miss those precious moments. Life is too short and too precious to not make and capture memories. I don't want to miss anything, this is a hobby/passion that I will have for the rest of my life. No doubt.

01-25-2011, 12:40 PM	#26
Pablom Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Usa Posts: 1,940	Originally posted by Wheatfield The voices in my head tell me to. I think I am hearing the voices in your head too!!

01-25-2011, 01:07 PM	#27
MetteHHH Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Oct 2010 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,817 Original Poster	Originally posted by kerrowdown I want to eat Funny, that's the same reason I don't spend ALL my time taking photos... ...lucky you!