Woophy - Do you also feel this way about photography?

Forum < Tips & Techniques < Do you also feel this way about photography?

Author	Message
beemerchef Member	# Posted: 19 Nov 07 15:29 Reply I don't know if this thread belongs here... this was the most appropriate section I could find... sorry if it is not. I only started to really take photography "seriously" about one year ago or so when my buddy Spirit (dog...) and I decided to live on the road and wonder aimelessly. Any pictures at first was wonderful! Posting on my website to show my friends were we were... and then I started seeing other's pictures... mine did not look so good! So I took it step higher. Fast forward, I started seeing my environment in "frames"! Better camera... lenses... better photography instead of better food!... and again the "sight" of the pictures went up a step (at least that is what I have been told...). Fast forward a year... I now look for the "incredible picture"... the "incredible sunset"... moment of others passing by through my life and catch them in these "wow" moments... At the same time as we travel a bit everyday, I still need to take the "banal" shots to go along with my writing... but those don't excite me anymore... I want the unusual... the ones "readers" will be mesmerized at... Well, that does not happen everyday!... So I feel as I don't know what to do... but just wait for that moment, that vision... in the meantime... it is kind of a let down... It is kind of wanting "filet mignon" everyday... the "hamburger" just does not do it anymore! (sorry about the analogy... I have been a Chef for 40 years!). Wondering if anyone feels this way also... just a thought I wanted to share... Be well... Ara & Spirit
Geoffrey McElwaine Member	# Posted: 19 Nov 07 16:49 Reply Ara. Wow ! What an inspirational topic ! Years ago, one of my photographic mentors advised me to try and take pictures - often of everyday sights and objects - which said something new about the subject. Attempting to follow his wise advice has led to much frustration ( when the results disappoint ) and occasional moments of sheer delight ( when the result comes close to achieving it ). Seems like that's become your mission too. Keep at it : this is what makes photography a true Art form ! Regards Geoff. ( Geoffrey McElwaine )
Cybra Member	# Posted: 19 Nov 07 16:55 Reply Dear beemerchef, (Ara and Spirit). (i'm sorry for my English) You have -seems it- the same feeling i have since about a month or 6...9. I make pictures, every day, but none of them are ... wow. I don't know how to put in the wow-effect. All my pics are correctly (they say), but i'm missing something in it. They are not surprising (to me!).... they have no heart, no feeling, seems.... It puzzle my brain... (don't know if i say this wright... english is not my strongest ;0)) I want to be my photo's are strong, surprising, other than others, but not overdone, not artificial made.............. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I want to put in the pictures an other point of view, but its not easy. I have no inspiration, no rest in my body. I wish youre dreams may come trough!! (100%)!! Take care and good luck the both of you! Cybra (I put a light on for you!)
Dieuwertje Member	# Posted: 19 Nov 07 17:57 Reply Hmmm, I have thinked about this topic, and my conclusion is that I am not sharing this feelings, of course I am glad when I could make a good photo. But the main reason to put my pict on Woophy is that I like all things of nature so much, now I can share it with a lot of people, and I am very glad if you like them. Taking pictures is just a nice hobby and Woophy do make it much nicer. Cybra you do make beautiful pictures, so don't break your braines please !!
www.imagografie.ch Member	# Posted: 19 Nov 07 18:40 Reply well, i do understand your view very well! i started here on woophy 2 years ago with banal pictures, and just because of the comments and inputs from members here i wanted to do it better, and better and better.... i do see the world since then in a frame! and often think if i just could make the picture! on some days i really go out the house and chase them, and sometimes i'm too lazy to leave the appartement and chase them in there.... lucky me that i can take such pictures without leaving my appartement ;-) i just live in the right place... for me the photografie is relaxing and emptying the head after a hard day of work... we all learn everyday that will never stop! ;-) greetz Bunny
beemerchef Member	# Posted: 19 Nov 07 18:53 Reply Beautiful pictures and comments... and thanks for putting a light one for us!... I have ridden motorcycles for 50 years and that was my passion! At 60 now, homeless on the road with my own Internet Dish which means we camp anywhere and anytime, photgraphy has surpassed the riding, the motorcycle (with sidecar for Spirit) is now just a tool!!! I have learned patience with sunrises and sunsets! For every day being the best times... forgetting the high noon situations!... allright... now you have to get out of your appartment!!! This is us a couple days ago... The search for "that moment" continues!!! Be well... Ara & Spirit
Martin de Rijk Member	# Posted: 19 Nov 07 19:08 Reply Hi beemerchef, This is truly a fine topic, about our feelings towards our own pictures and us beeing (playing) the photographer. I regognize a lot of what you're telling us. waiting for that one picture that gives you that great satisfaction of having made something realy good. A lot of my pictures give me pleaure and I'm truly satisfied with them and sometimes even a bit proud, but that "wow"feeling.........I know what you mean. But on the other hand, making pictures for a few years now and beeing here on woophy helps a lot. One of the main things I've learned here is to be critical at your own pictures. The other thing is, you see so many good pictures over here (and elsewere), you are forcing yourself to be more inventive, more creative. You don't want to copy others or place the next........... you fill it in. But you can also learn a lot from looking at other pictures, to improve your skills and knowledge about making your own. When I look at all the pictures I made years ago I must say I've improved, and that's the main goal, keep improving. And don't forget, some of worlds finest made their pictures at the most standard places. It's all about your view, the timing and a good composition. And a little work afterwards can be very helpful ;-)
Martin de Rijk Member	# Posted: 19 Nov 07 19:12 Reply Just saw the picture after I wrote my comment. I must say I envy you, all that freedom, makes me think of stories about the moutainmen who left for the wilderness. Unfortunately they had no camera's :-). Well I have ti stick to the citylife for now I quess.........
TBM Member	# Posted: 19 Nov 07 19:36 Reply Hi friends, a good photographer, I think, always feels that sort of restlessness beemerchef and Cybra are talking about. It is normal. It's what makes us always look around carrying a camera... But do not make it an obsession! The "wow" picture will arrive, sooner or later, and if we are not Robert Capa or Henry Cartier Bresson we can be happy anyway with our "ehy, look at this" pics! Art (and photography is always an art, even in our humble and unskilled hands) must be a consolation, for the artist as well as for the spectator. You know.. I have found in the Internet a short film with an interview with Federico Fellini, the great Italian director, who expresses very well this point (he talks about art in general, but since he was a maker of images, always working with lenses, films and lights, I like to thinlk he was talking about photography). Have a look, and be very well The link is: http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=Midzao33EEs [url=http://][u][/u][url=http://]
ergoe Member	# Posted: 19 Nov 07 22:55 - Edited by: ergoe Reply You reflect my feelings. Taking a photo started with me out of curiosity and the desire to hold beautiful moments tight longer. The luck to have caught an excellent photo from time to time spurred the ambition on to seek luck more and more. Literature, better equipment has contributed to it a little. Woophy promoted the joy to share beautiful pictures with others and getting most valuable examples of great photographic highlights of other woophy friends. The most important step towards good pictures for me is the seeing of the beautiful in our vicinity at all, to train the eye to take care toward the small, smallest but also the great events at the distant horizon, punch these memory worthy moments in the right light, the right perspective, the right attitude and the anticipation of the hopefully excellent picture. It is great to read from you that you know the same feelings.. We let further ourselves be advanced in our lovely activity which so much grants us moments of bliss and calls us in memory again. Thanks for this valuable topic
pansa Member	# Posted: 20 Nov 07 08:01 - Edited by: pansa Reply I have been photographing for 30-40 years. In the beginning B&W and a lot of dark room work. Is not very good for your marriage btw. Later color slides. Have a stock of about 20,000 slides, which are packed in boxes and which are basically unaccessable. Digital made the breakthrough because you can share your work with others. For me photography is an "obsession" but a positive one. It has been said before but I agree 100% with it that a photographer always sees the world in frames. I am always looking for a special colour, reflection or shadow and I see things that other people obviously overlook. It's a second nature. But the most important "kick" is to share it with others and to get comments, a tap on the shoulder or even criticism. Thanks for the topic and good luck on your motor bike.
Jacky Member	# Posted: 20 Nov 07 13:16 Reply This is a piece I wrote on another photography site, the original post made me think about my life : My new Life : This coming Monday, it will be exactly one year ago that I stepped into an plane, on my way on holiday on an exotic Island, Zanzibar, thinking, this is it, the best it'll ever get. Stepping onto that plane, I was someone's wife, someone's daughter, someone's mother, someone's friend, someone's secretary. But I was not SOMEONE. I wasn't living - just existing day to day, weekend to weekend, paycheque to paycheque. No real purpose in my life - I thought the best I could do was to be a good mother, an alright wife, a hardworking secretary, a grown daughter and a friend without a life, other to babysit other's children because, well, I was always there. No mission in life anymore - no more dreams, no future of MY OWN to look forward to. Getting up in the morning, taking the children to school, going to work, coming home, spending time in front of the TV and going to bed unfulfilled but "content" with the fact that I am bringing up three lovely, balanced children, believing that is my purpose on this earth. Now, looking back, a year later, I realise how wrong I was believing that I was just going on the holiday of a lifetime. It was so much more than that, because in Zanzibar I took a camera into my hands to take snapshots of our family and, without knowing it, with every click I was clicking away the old me, the old life. I was at the beginning of my new life but I still did not know it. Back in South Africa, I quickly made a slide show presentation of the holiday photos and started receiving so many compliments, so many people telling me to join competitions. And what better place than on the internet? I searched and searched, and eventually found *. And that, my friends, sealed the fate of my old life. No turning back now, even though I did it just for the fun of it. Of course my first images scored low - you know - THE DATE THING KILLING THE SCORES, the sunrise images receiving comments of too low resolution (as if I knew at that stage what it meant!). At that stage I did not even know how to remove the date on the images, but someone, if I remember correctly it was * at that stage (Thank you), told me about cropping. But I was stuck, something caught on and I started the learning curve, which at that stage I didn't realise would never ever end as there are so much to learn. I will never, ever forget my first category award - an image by the name of Stone Town, the only one of Zanzibar remaining in my portfolio, unedited except for the REMOVE THE DATE THING. I will never have the heart to archive that image - so the system will probably do it for me at some stage. Craving more awards, I started working harder at the photography thing, which everyone around me believed was just a new fling with a hobby. How wrong they were!! Some of my "friends" also made the mistake of doubting my abilities - and if you know me, you'll know this : Believe in me and the chance is better that I will disappoint you, but tell me straight out that you don't think "I have what it takes", and I will show you. Moreover, I will show you I not only have what it takes, but I will drive myself to the very limit of my body giving in and my mind wondering to quieter places.... which I think it already did, but that's a story for another day. My boss already figured this out - tell my I will not be able to finish my work on time, and well, I'll not only finish it but do more. Some of you know about my appointment at our local Newspaper as a freelance photographer, well in the last two weeks that also developed into freelance journalist, as I am now also writing the articles to go with the photos. (Unfortunately the articles are in my homelanguage which is Afrikaans, but you are welcome to visit www.streeknuus.co.za - my article this week is the one titled "Milan, Nee Man, Cullinan" Roughly translated it says : " Milan, no man, Cullinan [my home town]) It is about our equivalent of a prom dance. I've received honorable mention for one of my photojournalism images on a news photography site, I've sold a few images on another site, I've done a project for my office - all the photos for their website and marketing material. My photos were requested by my kid's school for publication in the year book, others were used for a slide show presentation at the school's rugby year end function. I've already been booked by both the school's rugby coach as well as the local rugby club to capture every match next year. A lady at the office gave me the CD with her wedding photos, asking me to see if I can do something, because she is not happy with the photos. All of a sudden I can't remember what it is like to come home in the evenings and spend time just doing nothing, also over weekends. To see the pride in my children's eyes, to see my husband and mother in law and my own mom and dad being proud of their wife / daughter. To feel the pride in myself. I've also lost a few friends in the process, but I know now that they were only my friends while I was a nothing in their eyes, while they could step on me. But I've changed for the better - all of a sudden I can stand up for myself and say, you know what, NO, it's not worth it, if you step on me I'll step right back. Because I AM. My life is so hectic now, but I won't change it for the world! . Receiving recognition for my hard work, well, working for two bosses now - one job I hate, but it puts food on the table, the other one I absolutely love, and it puts a warm feeling in my heart. Going out into the community and having people say hi to me, because I'm my own person now. I've finally become SOMEONE, not SOMEONE ELSE'S SOMETHING.
lonesome runner Member	# Posted: 20 Nov 07 15:06 Reply @ Jacky: Great story. Impressive.
beemerchef Member	# Posted: 21 Nov 07 03:56 Reply Great post from the "heart" Jacky... thank you... the world needs human beings like you... For some, "photography" is just 'taking pictures"... for some "it is the extension of their soul"... trying to catch what we will never catch... a camera does not relate to smells, feels and vibes!!! But we try... obviously you do too... Be well... Ara & Spirit
Corneel Timmermans Member	# Posted: 22 Nov 07 12:41 Reply Good topic, I agree with bunny, looking with a different eye to the world and being able to share it with thousand (I wish ;-) ).. Corrneel
Tatt Tude Member	# Posted: 23 Nov 07 06:02 Reply Such a wonderful story, Jacky. I can relate. I used to think I had hobbies that I enjoyed in the past, only to grow bored with them, eventually, and let them fall to the wayside. I, also, felt I had no life; going to work in the mornings, coming home, doing nothing but sitting in front of the computer or the TV in the evenings and weekends. Then, about 5 months ago, I discovered photography. Since then, I've gotten to a point that I have more confidence in myself and have grown as a person. Everywhere I look, there's a photo to be taken. Friends and family, have suddenly seen that I have an ability to do something creative and they've been amazed at some of my photos, which makes the confidence level go so much higher. For once, I feel like they have finally seen something in me to be proud of, instead of just being the "good little girl" that caused no trouble, but had no life, to speak of. It makes me feel wonderful when a co-worker or family member asks ME for advice on taking a good photograph. My photos aren't the best, but when other great photographers give me a comment, whether good or bad, at least I've been noticed and I won't give up.
beemerchef Member	# Posted: 4 Jan 08 03:46 Reply So as I "reread" the posts, always fun and interesting to read the past, I have found out a bit more about the subject... you know... the "wow" picture, actually taking photos period! Not much has been that great this past month... I am a sucker for sunsets and sunrises... I think I have reached a saturation point with them... a bit blaze about them till most likely the "great one" will come along! I found out the other day that I have to be alone, or with Spirit, to really be one with my surrounding and camera... even being with a friend just does not allow me to blend in, but the most important aspect I found out is the "frame of mind"! It is winter here now... we are back in the cities... Houston, Baton Rouge, Atlanta soon... and that is not where my heart belong... my senses are just not allowing myself to capture scenes as I would in the deserts while in isolation or the forests when camping days on end with the nearest other camper miles away... I enjoyed New Years Eve alone in downtown San Antonio with Spirit... just sitting there and shooting the carriages moving along, leaving a trace in the dark... The pictures have become now so personal, maybe too personal as... if the mind is truly happy the shots will be great... if not, they will be just OK... I think I am starting to compare with my professional life that I had as a Chef for 40 years or so... that one night that will stand out with the miraculous and magical nine course dinner blowing the guests away... as yet, such an amateur with the camera maybe my patience just needs to stay in place!!! Just venting!!! Maybe I am just thinking too much!!! Be well... and Happy belated Holidays. Ara... and Spirit!

Most users ever online: 12 [24 Nov 08 22:25] Guests - 1 Members - 11