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Author Topic: My Journey Essay  (Read 1734 times)

TomFrerichs

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My Journey Essay
« on: February 17, 2017, 02:28:55 pm »

Andrew Molitor wrote:

Am I doing good work? I really think I am. It is powerful and moving to the only audience that really matters, which is me. There is some evidence that some of it translates pretty well.

There are two ideas in his last paragraph I find appealing...a bit of fresh air, if you will.

I am an amateur, and like many here (I suspect) I don't set out to sell my services or my work. Sure, I've sold a few prints, but my primary reason for spending my time and treasure on photography is to please myself, to record a memory or impression that is personal to me. My photography is taken for "the only audience that really matters, which is me." It's nice to find confirmation this is not a solely held motivation.

The last point is, I think, a necessary consequence of the first. I know there's beautiful work out there, technically perfect and wonderfully composed, that doesn't seem to have any soul. It's as if the photographer had become as mechanical as his camera. It seems to show up, though, when a photographer invests a bit of himself in his work. Those photographs may not be the "iconic image" Andrew wrote about, but they seem to sincerely speak.

The image of the calculus book...I didn't look, but is by chance Protter & Morrey?...isn't one that I would particularly want to hang on my wall, but taken with the text is powerful. It communicates. And that is what I think "translates pretty well" means.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2017, 03:42:08 pm by TomFrerichs »
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: My Journey Essay
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2017, 03:13:37 pm »

Andrew's is a fine, thoughtful essay. It provides one excellent answer to the question posed in the Coffee Corner about "Why do we do this?"

I rather like the dark tones of the Calculus book. Having taught math (and computers) for 35 years, I well understand that for many students Calculus is a terrifying experience.
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David S

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Re: My Journey Essay
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2017, 05:14:01 pm »

Thought provoking essay which I enjoyed.

Dave S
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John R

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Re: My Journey Essay
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2017, 06:25:20 pm »

Thought provoking essay which I enjoyed.

Dave S
Second that motion. I had been away from photography for many years, simply not having the time. All the new buzz around "digital cameras" was really calling to me. So I investigated and took it up again. But quite frankly I no longer seek to do things I once did. No more looking for the iconic image or landscape. Just trying to find ways to better express myself with camera.

JR
« Last Edit: February 18, 2017, 02:53:39 pm by John R »
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David Mantripp

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Re: My Journey Essay
« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2017, 04:41:34 am »

A fantastic piece, and dare I say, this kind of content makes the price of admission more than worthwhile. More of this kind of thing, please, Kevin.

I'm personally very interested in the interplay between caption and photo.  There is the idea that the caption gives meaning or indeed justification to the photo, but I think the reverse can also apply.   For many years I have maintained a kind of "alter ego" on Flickr, where I evolved the strategy that I never post a photo "until it speaks is caption to me".  The caption is almost never descriptive, but it is also never random, there is some convoluted logic to it.  Sounds very pretentious, very contrived, doesn't it ?  But actually it is just something I started doing without thinking and then realised I was doing it, around about 2008 - and rationalised it after the fact.

I've had some interesting actions to these captions over the years. Some people hate them, some think I'm nuts, but a few get it.  Well, at least I get reactions.

I suppose we all eventually discover different ways to get beyond the iconic photo stage.  Unless of course we happen to be good at making iconic photos...
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Jonathan Cross

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Re: My Journey Essay
« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2017, 01:05:12 pm »

This essay is a delight.  I am of the school that operates on the basis of, ‘If I am pleased, that’s fine; if someone else is as well, then that’s a bonus, but it is not important’.  I do take photographs for others, e.g. for a local magazine,  and I use that activity as an opportunity to get better which I would not necessarily have taken otherwise.  My photographs are part of Jane’s and my memories, and I want the images to be adjuncts to them.  I also enjoy the activity of taking photographs and of seeing places, people and flora and fauna in the process.  I am going through a period of putting people, often my wife Jane, in landscapes to give a sense of scale.  I am glad we are all different; this essay has got me thinking about how we view the world just as seeing the Paul Nash exhibition and the Elton John photography exhibition at the Tate galleries in London have.  I want to keep on learning.

Jonathan
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