Leica

[marton]

I believe that part of the problem with modern cameras is that there's no sense of film, and of the things ever being loaded.

Add the idea that it isn't costing you fresh (or old, if you're lucky) money to go click, and there's a sort of consequential, subliminal sense of little value in anything that gets snapped.

I have to add, in fairness, that were I paying for film, I'd probably have stopped shooting years ago. What would be the point? In fact, I'm positive that it's the false sense of 'free' that has made photography so widespread today. There's still little point, but folks don't think about it because they do not make themselves aware of the fact via the pocket.

When you realise that one person's image is just as viable as the next person's image...

Rob

It's that very thing I've consistently had lingering thoughts about where my own photography is concerned. For a long period now it's unavoidable for me even when looking at work by photographers I hold in very high esteem. 

[Rob C]

It's that very thing I've consistently had lingering thoughts about where my own photography is concerned. For a long period now it's unavoidable for me even when looking at work by photographers I hold in very high esteem.

I guess that when something becomes easy to do, and it's personal as against being made for somebody else, then there's a loss of judgemental capability concerning the thing being produced. It goes something like this: "I want to do it: that's good enough, so I'll do it because I can." However, once done, there's no external measure applied to gauge success or failure to meet expectations. That leaves room for doubt, and after a while, doubt becomes a way of life and reduces the joy in the activity.

Sadly, it's back, once again, to Terence Donovan's quotation about the most difficult thing for the amateur being finding a reason to make a photograph. As a retired pro, it's exactly where I've found myself ever since retirement. On the one hand it fills time, but on the other, one can't escape the realisation that it's really been a waste of that precious time.

In essence, photography, even as life, requires genuine purpose.

Rob

[marton]

I guess that when something becomes easy to do, and it's personal as against being made for somebody else, then there's a loss of judgemental capability concerning the thing being produced. It goes something like this: "I want to do it: that's good enough, so I'll do it because I can." However, once done, there's no external measure applied to gauge success or failure to meet expectations. That leaves room for doubt, and after a while, doubt becomes a way of life and reduces the joy in the activity.

Sadly, it's back, once again, to Terence Donovan's quotation about the most difficult thing for the amateur being finding a reason to make a photograph. As a retired pro, it's exactly where I've found myself ever since retirement. On the one hand it fills time, but on the other, one can't escape the realisation that it's really been a waste of that precious time.

In essence, photography, even as life, requires genuine purpose.

Rob

Can't argue with that.

It's a fascinating situation when you put it like that. On the one hand 'photography as art' keeps one shooting, even though the results are as ephemeral as conceptual art, and you just keep thinking about it trying to find solid ground upon which to stand, and it is very hard to find. On the other hand, as a person who just can't stop photographing things, it's not like there's a choice. Ultimately, photography is a very bizarre way to spend time.