Luminous Landscape Forum

Site & Board Matters => About This Site => Topic started by: JJP on February 18, 2006, 10:32:30 am

Title: Photography
Post by: JJP on February 18, 2006, 10:32:30 am
For me, it's a major catalyst to get the backback on, get outside, and walking, and hiking and shooting....which boils down to:  1.   help keep me healthy  2.  help me relax   3.  Not take life so seriously  4.  the images are a bonus  5.  gets me out in the wilderness away from the stale indoor air.  There are more, but I'll stop here.
And so, what's in it for you's?
jules
Title: Photography
Post by: Pelao on February 18, 2006, 03:32:59 pm
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For me, it's a major catalyst to get the backback on, get outside, and walking, and hiking and shooting....which boils down to:  1.   help keep me healthy  2.  help me relax   3.  Not take life so seriously  4.  the images are a bonus  5.  gets me out in the wilderness away from the stale indoor air.  There are more, but I'll stop here.
And so, what's in it for you's?
jules
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You are making me think on a Saturday....

Well, it seems I rarely see things as others do. Now this is probably true for us all, but in my case I express it. I deeply enjoy what nature shares with us and when something catches my eye it also catches my soul. It just grips me and I want to suck it in and try to share it with others. Of course, the trick is to capture it in a way that exprsses waht I see and feel in that moment. I also enjoy the opportunity to capture moments of nostalgia.

For example, near my home there is a large area of farmland being redeveloped with large, ugly, cloned homes. Over some months the tilled fields faded, then the trees, then the farm buildings. As this went on some new features were added: the outline of streets, a pond, etc. At one stage the only thing left was a large white farmhouse, forlorn and abandoned. It looked totally out of place, as if it had been plumped down at random. I wondered about the families that lived there, the generations, the lives. I so wanted to capture that - unforunatley a business trip destroyed my opportunity. In any case, that's the sort of thing I cannot describe well in words, but a well composed image would have expressed my reaction.

I will learn to have a camera with me at all times!!

I also appreciate some of the points you mention - the outdoors etc.

I was thinking about all this a few nights ago when I attended one of Michael Reichmann's Lightroom seminars. At the start he was running a slideshow of a wide variety of images. There were many that could abosrb me for a long, long time. Magnificent shots that brought the location to life by expressing colour, texture, atmosphere and so on.

I also enjoy the learning, the evolution.
Title: Photography
Post by: macgyver on February 19, 2006, 01:54:28 am
What type of "fringe benefits" I recive really depends on what kind of photography I am doing.  (By fringe benefits, I'll assume you mean non photographic rewards, IE things other than a good shot)

When I do landscape photography I get the benefit of spending more time out in God's creation than I might otherwise.  I get an excuse to get up early and go and enjoy the solitude of places I enjoy. I get to see things that others might not see.  Hundreds of people might visit a local lakeside park, but how many go there at before sunrise?  How many can say they've seen the ducks waking?  Also, when I go places lilke that I get to try to show some of that beauty to others.

When I shoot sports or candids I get the benefit of being "more in the moment".  It's a reason to stop my day dreaming and observe more carefully the world around me.  I get to capture the expesions and the personalities of people I know.

Those are some of the ones that pop off the top of my head right now.  Above all, whatever I shoot, it means that I am force to pay closer attention to this world we are blessed with.  And that, is the biggest benefit of all.
Title: Photography
Post by: Anon E. Mouse on February 19, 2006, 06:19:20 pm
You are never in family pictures because everyone gives you the camera to take the photo.
Title: Photography
Post by: Graham Welland on February 19, 2006, 08:03:45 pm
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You are never in family pictures because everyone gives you the camera to take the photo.
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ROFL!  

I treat photography like fishing ... sometimes you just fish for the sake of fishing and it doesn't matter too much whether you catch anything worthwhile or not. Ditto photography & keepers.

On a related note, sometimes I'm a travel/landscape shooter when I travel. Other times I'm just a tourist and use the 'cerebral camera' whilst the digital camera stays in the bag.