What Are You Trying To Achieve?

Catdaddy

Catdaddy

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Chris
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Ok, we've had the 'how long have you been into photography', which also encompassed the 'why did you start photography'... Here's another one for everyone...

What do you try to achieve with your photography - why pick the subject matter that you do, and what are your goals? In true TPF tradition, let me start off...

It's a question that I have asked myself plenty of times - more often than I care to remember. I was talking to Barry last night and mentioned that I wasn't into landscapes, florals or anything like that. I can't pinpoint why. Then I got thinking about it. They don't say anything to me about my life, or anyone else's. Personally, I want my pictures to try and say something - to tell a story. Being a technically good picture, either compositionally or with regard to the exposure, isn't necessarily what I'm after. (Although half the time, that, in itself, would be nice to achieve!) Portraiture is another thing I want to get into.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to take ANYTHING away from all the macro photos, for example, that appear on these pages. But the best one I think I've seen was Hacker's (I think), shot from behind a bee as it was 'coming in to land' on the flower... It speaks volumes to me. And there are a few other togs on here who's shots I can only aspire to as well...

What about everyone else - why do you take the photos that you do, and where do you see yourself heading photographically?
 
Its just a hobby Chris. Honestly.


I can say that shooting aircraft (fast jets) and motor-sport certainly gives me a buzz as does taking candids of friends and showing them the finished product.:)

To have the subject gob-smacked with the end result is enough for me..;)

I know this sounds kinda funny but posting images on this site and receiving feedback is also a great learning curve.

At first I thought people giving less than good feedback on my images was quite disheartening but after thinking about what had been said they were quite right in their assumptions.. Yes the picture was crap.:help:

We all learn something everyday and anyone saying any different has got their head shoved up their rear end too far.:nuts:
 
A difficult question to answer and I'll give it a go. I'm going to reverse the order in which the questions were asked in that I'm heading into a more commercial environment with my photography, it's not something I'd foreseen particularly, in the short time I've been doing it but it just seems to be taking on a momentum of its own. One downside is that I'm doing less 'hobby' photography i.e. pictures for me such as macro etc. In saying that I enjoy it immensely and I'm really enjoying the challenge of photography in new fields (portaits, weddings etc), one thing I have learnt about my photography is to trust my instincts and not think about it too much otherwise it won't work.

With regard to why I take the photos that I do - I just sort of drifted into macro photography. Capturing a bee, hoverfly or whatever in flight is again challenging but at the same time fascinating, there is so much detail in the smallest of creatures it still astounds me at times - hairy caterpillars, fly eyes, a long probiscus, all these things in my back garden that I'd never seen or, more importantly, noticed before.

Above all else though is seeing the finished product knowing that you've nailed the shot, or when someone really praises your work. That's what makes it worthwhile.

Chris, thanks for the compliment, it means more than you know. Was this the one....

Bees-16th-June037-1.jpg
 
Yes, Colin, that's the one! I love it!
 
I'm not sure what I'm trying to achieve other than to improve what I do and learn from all the mistakes.

Main subjects are motocross and the geegee's. Both were accidents, especially the motox, but I love it. The noise, the racing, the whole thing, especially the adrenaline when you see something like the one below through the viewfinder. (I'm not saying it's a good shot but you know he's going to land about two feet from you and you can smell the engine :D )

I'm not trying to go anywhere in a photographic sense, I've no plans to make it into a full time business and am happy that it's a hobby. I just need the "me" time every now and again.

ML1W3048.jpg
 
woh...I'm going to have to think about this one...
on the one hand I love my arty stuff and on the other hand I would love to get a little business going, I do the odd bit of work but nothing constant, I don't feel able to commit myself to a business fully until my divorce is settled and I can get on with my life. (perhaps those angel wings belonged to my own angel! :lol:)
I really feel that I have come home with this lensbaby...only found out about it when Sean put me in touch with a friend of his that had an album full of arty shots that I fell in love with.
I know it suits me, it suits me even better on the D200 ha ha
I am going to do some actual film work with the lensbaby tomorrow to see how I get on with a real camera (maybe the encouragement to do this is because Barry wants to use the D200 :suspect:)
I have a dream I guess..
I need to make it happen! :bang:
 
At the minute all I'm really interested in is motorsport. So far I've tried, enduros (like motocross but a much longer track and less jumps), motorcycle trials and autocross. All fairly low key local club stuff which I really like because I can get as close to the track as I like by speaking to the organisers and don't have the hassles associated with big circuits like press passes and having to use ridiculously expenses telephoto lenses. In the three sports I've tried I've rarely needed to go above 100mm because I can get so close and never above 300mm (because that's all I've got to go up to). The problem is it doesn't happen very often around here and when it does my new shift pattern seems to clash with it. Which means I'm not really photographing anything lately. It's disappointing seeing as I only bought my DSLR 6 months or so ago but I think it's better for me to wait for something I like to photograph to come along than get despondant about taking photos I don't enjoy and really suck at like landscapes, macros, wildlife, flowers the list is endless.

Would I like to take the motorsport thing further, sure but I don't fancy my chances.

What else would I like to do with my photography though? I can't remember how I first came across TP but I remember the first gallery I saw and it belonged to Arkady. I had a real interest in his Afghanistan and Iraq stuff as I've a lot of friends out there and I thought his stuff was amazing and I joined just so I could PM him and pay the compliment. I'd really like to be able to document stuff like the way he does, it's almost enough for me to ask for a posting back to support helicopters so I can go to the "interesting" places (but not quite enough at this point in time).

I've also got a day dream about branching out into portrait photography. Part of me wants to do it because to do so I'd have to get out of my comfort zone and work on my interpersonal skills. I'm fine with people I know but very shy around strangers which is a massive problem when you're trying to do potraits properly I imagine. The other problem is I'm not sure I'm quite arty or creative enough to be a great portrait photographer. I guess that's part of the attraction of motorsport is that you don't have to direct anyone you just work with what's there. But I'm determined to give it a try, succeed or fail, what have I got to lose but my dignity eh.
 
What I want to achieve:
I like to capture beautiful images of the world (or out of the world if the chance arises), be it natural or unnatural, so I can look it at and go... "Wow", then show it to my friends and they look at it and go... "Wow". :)
 
kamion said:
What I want to achieve:
I like to capture beautiful images of the world (or out of the world if the chance arises), be it natural or unnatural, so I can look it at and go... "Wow", then show it to my friends and they look at it and go... "Wow". :)
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Me too, but I'm finding thats too dare I say, easy. Sure I can go out and take a picture of a building or a landscape. Come home, HDR it, and receive comments like "great pic" and so on. I've been meeting some real artists recently and they've made me question quite a lot of things. Technically people could say theres things wrong with their imagery. Composition, sharpness, etc. That all goes away when you add the meaning to it. Then it becomes incredible. I met a guy last night who did landscapes with a Nikon Coolpix camera. It was only like 3mp. The thing is, he spent 6hrs or more in one spot taking the pictures for these panoramics. He then spent months blending them back together because the panoramic wasn't just of the location, it was the time too. He blended shots from over the entire day. You can see people riding a donkey, then swimming, then building a sandcastle. Its seamless. Brilliant work. Doing something like that, something that has meaning is what I want to achieve. I've been finding that I can take pictures I've taken and assign them meaning. I've been doing a few things like that recently which I plan to talk about in another thread. I was at a party the other week and someone asked me, "So how long have you been an artist?" and I was taken back. I've never thought of myself in that way but it was really nice to be seen as that. Its great in a way as I can have my comercial photography to pay the bills, and I can have projects on the side that keep inspiring me. Thats the theory, I just have to come up with the ideas :)
 
petemc said:
Doing something like that, something that has meaning is what I want to achieve. I've been finding that I can take pictures I've taken and assign them meaning.
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:clap: Good point. My pictures are rather empty some times I feel. :shrug: I guess I'm not really an artistic person in any way. What you've pointed out is probably the difference between an artist and a regular person taking photos.
 
kamion said:
:clap: Good point. My pictures are rather empty some times I feel. :shrug: I guess I'm not really an artistic person in any way. What you've pointed out is probably the difference between an artist and a regular person taking photos.
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I wouldn't put yourself down. This one on your gallery is great
Japan0313_2.jpg
 
Bump...

Hmmm. I just found this post and as I am very new to photography I think it is a great question to ask myself. It really comes down to the fact that I need a hobby. I've lived in England for 18months now and I know noone outside of work. I need friends and a sense of community and I really think photography offers both. Also I love to take photos. I like to disect common things. I find my pictures of whole object boring and I tend to like to look at the parts that make up the whole. I have a bunch to learn and I look forward to getting better but mostly I really just enjoy the act of looking through the viewfinder.

Renee
 
h.r.ford said:
I've lived in England for 18months now and I know noone outside of work.

Renee
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Excuse me Renee.. Who was round at my house earlier this week..:wave:

You know you are welcome anytime too..:)
 
This is an excellent thread and one that's made me think. I've had a 'decent' camera since 1982 (Praktica followed by a Minolta x500 and now the Canon 20D).

I love the creative side of photography and I love the 'recording' side. I treasure the pics I've taken of my family over the years. I treasure the pictures of the places I've been. But I have always loved the odd: the unusual angle; the strange scene; the once in a lifetime event etc etc

And the more I think about it the harder it becomes to say why I do it. :thinking: I just love the creative process from seeing, through taking to presenting.

I guess I'm looking for the killer photograph that gives me pleasure and those I show it to pleasure.

And I love learning to master the tools of the craft (and I've got a long way to go...). Its like learning a language and it'll be great when (if) I'm fluent.

In a nutshell its absolute fun! And finding this forum has just added to the fun!

Plus I'm a sucker for shiney new gear :D
 
Dark Star said:
This is an excellent thread and one that's made me think. I've had a 'decent' camera since 1982 (Praktica followed by a Minolta x500 and now the Canon 20D).

I love the creative side of photography and I love the 'recording' side. I treasure the pics I've taken of my family over the years. I treasure the pictures of the places I've been. But I have always loved the odd: the unusual angle; the strange scene; the once in a lifetime event etc etc

And the more I think about it the harder it becomes to say why I do it. :thinking: I just love the creative process from seeing, through taking to presenting.

I guess I'm looking for the killer photograph that gives me pleasure and those I show it to pleasure.

And I love learning to master the tools of the craft (and I've got a long way to go...). Its like learning a language and it'll be great when (if) I'm fluent.

In a nutshell its absolute fun! And finding this forum has just added to the fun!

Plus I'm a sucker for shiney new gear :D
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Great post John that says it all..:thumbs:
 
busterboy said:
Excuse me Renee.. Who was round at my house earlier this week..:wave:

You know you are welcome anytime too..:)
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sorry should have been more specific. Don't know anyone well outside of work. But I do hope to soon change that!

Renee
 
I havent got an artistic bone in my body, but, I like "recording" motorsport events, I have a passion for cars, bikes, planes and all things fast. I desperately want to enjoy doing portrait, still life and landscape type work, I live in a beautiful part of the world, with lovely rolling hills and scenic villages, but, I just dont get it... I see peoples landscapes and like them, but, I dont ever see a scene and imagine it as a picture (if that makes sense)

Thats why I tend to stick to what I know, motorsport.

In a perfect world id be taking photos of all aspects of motorsport for a living, following the F1 circus, maybe working for a major sport photography agency (like Suttons) id also like to have a bash at Pap work, I dont respect what they do, but, I can certainly see the fun in it, trying to outwit the celebs etc.

Never really spent much time thinking about this topic tbh, as other have said its a hobby, its an expensive hobby, that if I had any family commitments Id probably have to drop, my only other hobby is PCs and there cheap in comparison. Luckily ive got enough spare income to afford to buy top gear that ill never get the best out of.

Ive been printing more and more of my work recently, and im finding the feedback to be getting better and better, it used to be they would thumb through the shots like holiday snaps, but, now folk tend to spend a lot of time looking at each picture, commenting on the clarity and detaill, even asking for prints making.
 
I like everyone here started taking pictures for fun. However, in the last six months it has escalated for me and I regularly shoot 'big' jobs, ergo my recent Silverstone thread. Most of that stuff will never see the light of day other than stock sites and occasional web/magazine deals. However, I have been doing loads for BBC online, example being the Bristol half marathon on 17/9/2006.

Lots of local sports coverage too and have had 5 pictures printed in Bristo'ls premier sports newspaper in the last week alone which equates to a nice little earner at £24.00 commisioned.

However, what I have learnt in the last few months is that people tend to read to much into critical performance of gear, an example being the forums over at DP review where post after post asks 'is this lens sharp?' 'is this back focus???'...blah blah blah............

Now I am not saying that I have not asked similar things here or elsewhere but I have learnt that in press photgraphy once your picture leaves your 'ownership' it can get murdered! Case in point being the BBC who like images to be 470px on the longest edge. Example



Now the BBC resize, under 100kb!





Quite a difference yeah? I think that what I am saying is that sure, 500mm primes at 2.8 worth £6K would be nice but you really can do this with third party stuff and lesser cameras as I have gone out and shot stuff like the Silverstone night race with my 30D and the 100 - 400L @ 5.6 and looked at other imagery taken there by 'pros' and think "wow, is that the best they can do?" :thinking:

Also, all the critical stuff people *think* about seems to get overlooked in press/media snapping, ergo, you average Mirror/Sun reader -

'Look thats Kate Moss, coming out that blokes house, ohhhh Roy, look at the exposure on that shot, its half a stop out!!!!' Yet I am aware that in studio and advertising and wedding exposure is critical as are lenses so its horses for courses. For reference pick up your local paper in the week and have a look at some of the imagery - quite an eye opener.

Maybe its all about the person behind the camera and light management. Its as simple as that.

So, thats what I have learnt. Where is it going? I dont want to stop, I want to be a Rueters or a sporting pics snapper paid to go here there and everywhere. For one thing I realise that you have to eat sleep and **** photography and really this is only small time stuff >

*Up this morning pre-labelling this afternoons shoot in CS2.

*Then out to shoot the football at 1.30.

*Shoot the match, download, edit, label, resize, send to picture desk, archive, delete unwanted.

*Then spend 20 minutes typing about in on TP :lol:

Of course, wireless is next on the list for me, but most of all I love it and it allows me to buy a new pair of trainers once maybe twice a month :D :D :D :thumbs:
 
Oh my, too hard a question for me to answer at the moment, but certainly one I've been thinking about a lot lately.
I may have an answer to contribute in a few weeks ;)

One thing I will say though is that I couldn't agree more about Diego's kit comments. Some of the stuff I've seen over the past month or so has blown me away - and has come from kit that a lot of people wouldn't even take a sniff at.
 
Like a few others, I'm not aiming to go anywhere specific with photography. Music is my real passion.

I just love photography as I find it fun and lets me see everything in a creative way, rather than just looking at things. It makes me think about things much more and I love the feeling you get when someone looks at your photo and says "that would look good on my wall".
 
I communicate with my camera. Without it I would be mute and possibly blind. I look at the world differently because of my camera and I tell what I see. Yeah, it's deep and it's real. And perhaps I am a freak, at least a bit obsessed...but that's okay. It works for me. :cuckoo:
 
For me, photography is a hobby and a record of my life. Not usually people but more places. I'm not creative at all and really can't compose classic pictures at all, and that is where my limitations start. For me these forums fill me with ideas of shots that hopefully I can use in the future.
 
Inside me is a great photographer who's crying to get out, he wants to be Ansell Adams, to look at a landscape and be able to visualise a finished print then bring that print to life.

On the outside is a snapper, someone who occasionally gets a decent shot and dreams of finding the key to let the inside guy out, but I have fun meantime.
 
To learn something, thats probably the simplest thing I want out of this, and the relaxation, enjoyment that it gives me.

Never had any consideration that I would ever get published (not that I have) or that it would generate revenue, its an interest pure and simple and thats why I do it.

:thumbs:
 
Inside me is a great photographer who's crying to get out, he wants to be Ansell Adams, to look at a landscape and be able to visualise a finished print then bring that print to life.

On the outside is a snapper, someone who occasionally gets a decent shot and dreams of finding the key to let the inside guy out, but I have fun meantime.
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I so agree! I want to capture events that evoke memories and feelings and if others like them too, so much the better. I never thought of showing my pics to anyone other than my family until recently, but finding out that others like your work is hugely encouraging. I guess the better you get at your chosen art, the more your reasons for doing things evolve and change. Enjoyment must rate high though: what's the point without that?
 
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