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?