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27 Reasons Why People Photograph

Photography. The ability to capture and freeze a moment. In today’s age people are photographing all the time thanks to the device that does not leave their hand. But why? Why do people feel the need to photograph? What compels them to keep photographing? Is it only because their cat is cute or is it something else? Why Photograph?

For myself I have felt that photography is natural. It is a way of living. A way of experiencing the world. It is not about what comes after the image- for me. The sharing and showing is something I have struggled with. So it was not about the fame or popularity or even the attention a great photograph can bring. It is something more. To me, being a photographer is someone who is in love with the world. Or as I say to my friends, “It is because I love to find the good stuff.” It is a way of practicing joy.

This very conversation was one I had in a college class with my professor who change everything about how I look at photography and therefore the world. That is where the featured image stems from- a conversation and his notes on the board.

27 Reasons that People Photograph:

  1. Memories
  2. Documentation
  3. Money
  4. A way of Engaging with the World
  5. A way of Practicing Joy
  6. To Find the Good Stuff
  7. Challenging Concepts
  8. Propaganda
  9. Obsessive
  10. Fun
  11. Addiction
  12. A Drive to Create
  13. A Drive to Capture Beauty
  14. Photography as a way of knowing
  15. Libidinal
  16. Intellectual
  17. Camera Junkies
  18. Gear Heads
  19. Popularity
  20. Advertising
  21. Manipulating
  22. A Compulsion
  23. Not able to let go
  24. Impressions
  25. To Tell a Story
  26. To Make
  27. To Make Art

Let me say that again. To make. To make art. Humans are engineered to make. The visual is not foreign. It is how we first communicated and will be how we communicate forever into the future. The visual is essential to connection and can be essential to disconnection.

This is why visual arts education and media literacy is so important for our current students. It is the world we operate in and it is not going away.

To continue your search for why- read the interviews of 5 inspiring and expert photographers I recently did. To see what I find beautiful- see this.

Where do you all fit? Why do you photograph?
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InspirationTech & TipsTips

TedxTalk on Abstract Photography: Blurred Impact

Photographic images are containers for information. They tell a story. Or at least they should right? We are conditioned to expect images to talk about something so when they offer very little and are in fact abstract what does this mean? Abstract photography evolved out of frustration, but turned out to be one of the best things I ever investigated.

This talk investigates my path to the abstract photograph and the ideas behind that slur of information. On here and on Instagram I rarely share this portion of my work. I save this for my fine art that resides on my artists website.  However, I am still making this work and felt it could be appropriate to share my Ted Talk here as well.

If you struggle to understand the abstract or are drawn to creating the abstract this talk gives insight into both as well as my journey with photography.

As always, I welcome your ideas and commentary on abstraction and the photograph.

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InspirationTechTech & TipsTips

Pinhole Photography: The Art of Capturing Time

An Early Start to the Pinhole

A Pinhole camera is any light tight container with an aperture (hole) and a shutter (something to cover the hole.

Interest in perspective and optics during the Renaissance is what led to the first necessary discovery for the pinhole camera: the camera obscura. Leonardo De Vinci described the camera obscura very clearly as early as the 16th century. (Alternative Processes)

A camera obscura is a dark chamber, container or room with a singular entry point of light. Once your eyes have adjusted, the outside will appear on the wall upside down. You can see how this would  be useful for artists to trace and have an accurate perspective.

Create a camera obscura right now out of your own room!

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Inspiration

Taken or Made: An Evaluation of Re-photography in the Technological Age

“You don’t take a photograph, you ask, quietly, to borrow it.” -Author Unknown

You are exposed to thousands of images everyday. They scroll in front of our eyes on Facebook, Pinterest, billboards and more. There mode of existence is your computer, phone, car: essentially technology. This new age of technology comes with an over-saturation of images and easy access. In this blog I too contribute to plethora of images being produced. It is this trend that has offered support for a sub category of images marked rephotography.

Rephotographing historical sites or even other artist’s work has been a highlighted theme in the contemporary art world. A peaked interest has been found more recently in the heavy saturation of online images.

Are these advances in technology allowing for more taking rather than making of images?

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