Do you LOOK at your photos?

I take pictures to be able to look at them later and particularly as time goes on I appreciate having them all the more, I love being able to see past events, moments, people, dogs etc. I have digital photo frames set up to randomly show photos although at times I find when I've been looking for a particular photo I end up looking through more photos for enjoyment.
 
Ed Sutton said:
I reckon Conrad had it nailed.
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I have to admit that I never "got" Conrad.

I tried "Heart of Darkness" at least three times but just couldn't find it interesting. I got on better with his first book "Almayer's Folly" but I did skip quite a bit.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
I tried "Heart of Darkness" at least three times but just couldn't find it interesting.
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I've re-read it a couple of times. I enjoy the tale but I'm not sure I understand the allegory. I'll probably read it again at some point.
 
Cockney said:
I have a few that I'm really happy with and I keep thinking, "must print them". Never happens, life gets it the way.
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Sometimes I want to edit some old photos from years ago, and maybe make it better, or if I have a good image I really do want to edit it.
 
I long ago chucked out all my negs & slides from the days when film was all there was, however from latter days when I'd transitioned to a hybrid workflow using a film scanner, I have a stack of scans in my digital archive that I can (& do) still access.

I mostly did 35mm with a bit of 120. One gift of digital (after a certain tipping point of development) was that it upped the available resolution - the bangs per buck - for a similar camera size. I know I'm digressing a bit, but it all relates to the thread theme in the end.

Currently I'm 'regressing' to using film a bit more, which I'll be scanning in-house & archiving, sharing & printing. And let's acknowledge that a film original even after being scanned has a different texture to a digital original - ignoring the fake digital film simulations that are available.

So again, scans will be archived alongside all the past stuff, & will be accessed just as often.

If you never look at an image again, what was it for? The brief pleasure of a mechanical click, beyond that meaningless & unmemorable even to yourself?

Let's be passionate about the image - regardless of our skill level. Let's engage as fully as we can.
 
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droj said:
If you never look at it, what was it for? The brief pleasure of a mechanical click?
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Some people are quite happy to go fishing and not catch anything because they enjoy the day out. Others prefer to fish with old tackle because they enjoy using it. Others like seek out the biggest fish, yet some are happy to catch anything regardless of size.

Different strokes for different folks. You'd have to pay me a lot of money for me to use film again!
 
Ed Sutton said:
Some people are quite happy to go fishing and not catch anything because they enjoy the day out. Others prefer to fish with old tackle because they enjoy using it. Others like seek out the biggest fish, yet some are happy to catch anything regardless of size.

Different strokes for different folks. You'd have to pay me a lot of money for me to use film again!
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You're a kind of reverse Luddite, then, Dave. Come on, man, open up, seek the freedom! ;-)
 
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I always look at my photos. As a beginner who hasn't taken photos since my Dad gave me a Pentax 35mm camera 52 years ago, I just love looking at my collection of beginner digital photos, sometimes pathetic photos. I just love taking photos. Of anything I can. The joy of having almost unlimited digital photos is amazing to me. Then I save them in massive folders on my PC and watch them back via the slideshow option. Love it. :) (y)
 
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Sgt_Jack006 said:
I always look at my photos. As a beginner who hasn't taken photos since my Dad gave me a Pentax 35mm camera 52 years ago, I just love looking at my collection of beginner digital photos, sometimes pathetic photos. I just love taking photos. Of anything I can. The joy of having almost unlimited digital photos is amazing to me. Then I save them in massive folders on my PC and watch them back via the slideshow option. Love it. :) (y)
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Keep up your cheerful gallop, Andy! And over time refine your perceptions as you may - but I think you've got something of the gist, to do with meaning, & having fun ...
 
droj said:
Keep up your cheerful gallop, Andy! And over time refine your perceptions as you may - but I think you've got something of the gist, to do with meaning, & having fun ...
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Thank you. I will. I feel so enthusiastic for this new found digital freedom. I realise I am behind the times but I love it. Tomorrow I am hoping to catch a train to the coast just to take photos. It is my new expedition in life. (y)
 
I've found that I used to look at them often, and used to have multiple devices setup so that they'd start showing a collage of my photos when entering screensaver modes, power saving modes, etc.
Since I switched to higher-end gear, I have loads of unprocessed pictures and, in spite of having better photos, just never get to display them because I haven't processed them into a format that's readable for anything but a few applications. Time constraints are a real PITA when it comes to digital editing
 
doctorjuggles said:
I've found that I used to look at them often, and used to have multiple devices setup so that they'd start showing a collage of my photos when entering screensaver modes, power saving modes, etc.
Since I switched to higher-end gear, I have loads of unprocessed pictures and, in spite of having better photos, just never get to display them because I haven't processed them into a format that's readable for anything but a few applications. Time constraints are a real PITA when it comes to digital editing
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I assume this is because you now shoot Raw, so have you considered taking raw + Jpeg to get quick and easy access to the Jpeg, the way you did in the past, but still have the raw available for further processing,

The other option is to create (or buy) some presets/styles for a quick and dirty process, just to get the image processed and out there.

Most Raw Files also have an embedded jpeg (based on the style you set in the camera) and some programs (certainly Capture One and Photo Mechanic) will allow you to access this Jpeg and export it for quick access to the image for sharing. With Nikon the embedded jpeg is a high quality file, With Olympus and Fuji, it's lower quality, but might still be good enough. I don't know about other makes.

I don't feel any of these solutions are ideal, but they probably are worth thinking about.
 
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doctorjuggles said:
Time constraints are a real PITA when it comes to digital editing
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I find it less of a problem than having to set up my darkroom equipment in the bathroom, then make loads of failed prints until I got the one I wanted, then put all the gear away. No negs or prints drying all over the place either. b****r that for a game of soldiers! :D

Switch computer on, process, export as required and job done in a lot less time.

Although I'm sure a lot of people spend a lot longer fiddling with their files trying to perfect their pictures than I do. ;)

I do wonder if you can really 'look' at pictures scrolling through on a slideshow though. I set one running occasionally and it becomes like wallpaper, but it can help see if a set of pictures works together.
 
Plus ça change...

How many of us who used put prints in albums ever took the albums out to look through or show people? When my in-laws died, we had shoe boxes upon shoe-boxes of photos to work out what to do with,

I'd been with my wife over 20 years at the time and hadn't seen any of them.

I can only speak from my own experience, but I often look back through old folders of pics, but my wife and daughter never do.
 
I look at my photos most days, whether it's reminding myself of a holiday or event I went to or just looking back to see what I can improve on next time.
 
I rarely look at my photos.

Tend to only look if there's a particular reason. Recently did a deep dive as my daughter and partner wanted photos covering their first 12 years since birth, so most of what I looked at were prints.
 
I have photos of which I am fond as the feed for the Windows desktop slide show, so they change every few minutes as the desktop wallpaper. As new images come along I add them and so I have an ever-increasing variety of shots I like to contemplate.
 
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