The relevance of “How will my photo make others feel?”

[Heroique]

How might my photo make others feel?

The great forgotten question for many photographers, I think. Deserves a thread of its own. For many, photography is an exclusively individual enterprise, and the question above just isn’t that important. If you read a lot of theory-of-late, and believe it, the possibility of communicating “what you mean” is illusory; and self-regard, it would seem, has no better encouragement. Me, I think asking this question can, and will improve one’s photography, and deserves an investment of faith from everyone.

In this light, let’s say you’re composing a shot...

Why is it important to consider what others will think & feel about your image?

Or, is this not really an important or meaningful consideration for you?

Does a “consideration of others” help your creativity, or hinder it?

[Marko]

It mostly depends on whether those others are paying for it.

I do my photography for my own enjoyment and therefore the only opinion that matters while working on an image is my own. If others happen to also like the results, all the better. It is certainly nice to know that someone appreciates my work, but that is not an influencing factor.

If I were doing this commercially in any way, it would have been a different matter, but then it would be more about effectiveness then about creativity.

[mdm]

That would be a mistake. Its like thinking about hitting a golf ball, good idea when practicing but when you are playing you think about nothing if possible. Gary Winogrand for example is famous for not thinking about his photos till much much later. Shoot first and ask questions later. Many photographers are incapable of editing their own work and employ others to do it for them, seems reasonable to me.

[Vaughn]

If I make a photograph for my mom -- damn sure I think about how she'll feel about it!

[mdm]

Problem is it is impossible to know what your mother really thinks. Whatever you make for her is going to be the work of a genius. She's your mother.

[BrianShaw]

Problem is it is impossible to know what your mother really thinks. Whatever you make for her is going to be the work of a genius. She's your mother.

I know (meaning, have been told) what my mother, mother-in-law, and wife really think about photos of them -- both made by me and made by others. I'll bet Vaughn and many others have had that experience too. They do not generally think I'm genius!

[Vaughn]

Problem is it is impossible to know what your mother really thinks. Whatever you make for her is going to be the work of a genius. She's your mother.

For 88, mom is still pretty sharp...and she would not hesitate to tell me what she thought about my composition, etc.

Vaughn

[Heroique]

Problem is it is impossible to know what your mother really thinks.

Does this also mean that it’s impossible to know and communicate what a client really thinks?

That is, if a photographer takes subjective instructions from a client (“Make my building look daring and confident...” or, “Make my expression look pensive...”), and produces work that meets or exceeds the client’s expectations, have you really succeeded, or is someone always being fooled?

[mdm]

I dont think its like calibrating a thermometer.

[Brian C. Miller]

Really, Heroique, it's a good question for a thread.

When I was starting out photographing, I went wandering around a rest stop. There were a couple of trees framing some distant mountains. I made the photograph with my Pentax 645 (no Graflex yet). What went through my mind was, "gateway." Later on I showed the contact sheet to a coworker. When he saw that frame he paused, and then involuntarily jerked his head back with a "Woah!" as if he had nearly stepped over a precipice.

That was just two trees, framing a distant mountain.

I didn't know enough to ask him about his feelings and reaction to that photograph. But I did see that the photograph had sucked him in, and produced genuine emotion and reaction. That photograph absolutely, positively, succeeded. I want to do that again, and again.