Do you cry?

[Old-N-Feeble]

<snip>He died in a massage explosion...<snip>

Damned spell-check!! Or was that a Freudian slip?

[Bruce Watson]

Really just curious – do photographers here shed tears?
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I mean the spontaneous, involuntary tears when seeing (experiencing) an exceptional print – portrait, still life, landscape, architecture.

Absolutely. That experience at my first Ansel Adams exhibition is what got me into this LF mess in the first place!

I guess I'm pretty easy -- it only takes three things to make me well up. A beautiful vision, well captured, and well printed. Doesn't happen often. OK, so maybe I'm not that easy.

[Heroique]

...A women cried when she saw one of my prints in a show in Japan. When she was a little girl, she used to stand by the stairs waiting for her dad to come out from his shift in the coal mine. He died in a [massive] explosion there in the 60's. So, photographs definitely have the power to move one to tears. It was this image.

I thought this raised an interesting issue. Namely, when it comes to excellent photography or other arts, when is it important to distinguish between sentimental tears and aesthetic tears? It’s a kind of critical consideration. In the case above, maybe this Japanese woman was experiencing both. On one hand, the photo reminds her of her personal life (sentimental); on the other hand, the dramatic shaft of light climbing the steps may have produced in her a more impersonal reaction (aesthetic). It’s the difference between, say, a Thomas Kinkade and Ansel Adams. As for paintings such as MDM’s comment about Munch’s Scream, I’d say many expressionist paintings perform the same sort of double-duty. Think of Van Gogh’s moving expressionistic portrayals. They’re “about” the painter’s tormented, personal life – maybe even about yours – but we can also experience them (feel tears) in a more impersonal, detached way.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Oops! That should have read "massive" explosion!!! Freudian slip!! Where was my mind...

Heroique, it was more sentimental than anything else for this woman. She visited the gallery everyday just to look at that one print. At the end of the show, I gave the print to her.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Never. But then I'm one cold SOB, not some freakin' girl.

All seriousness aside, all this ruminating about people crying at the sight of their work is just so much hyperbolic BS.

???

[Jim Galli]

Do tears of boredom on this forum count?

[Greg Miller]

Makes me curious if only “high” arts induce this aesthetic reaction, but not still photography.

I have witnessed people crying when viewing an exhibit of mine that was basically a documentary project. This was totally unexpected from my perspective, but the subject matter elicited very strong emotional memories for some viewers.

But there are many emotions besides crying. I thnk we have all witnessed people going "whoah" when viewing a photograph. That is evidence of eliciting a fairly strong emotional response.

For most of my work, I believe that I have failed if I do not elicit some emotional response in some viewers. I have created a list of guiding principles that I follow when photographing. #1 on the list: You must feel something when you take a photo; otherwise the persons viewing your photo will feel nothing

[Greg Miller]

Makes me curious if only “high” arts induce this aesthetic reaction, but not still photography.

I also think that there are many commonalities between photography and music. For one, there are many examples of musicians who are technically brilliant, but fail to connect emotionally (musically) with the music. There are many examples on the reality TV shows like The Voice, and American Idol. Those musicians tend to get voted off pretty early and never win because they just sound sterile.

There are also many examples of photographers who are technically brilliant but the prints lack any emotion, so the viewers have nothing to connect to.

[Vaughn]

Do tears of boredom on this forum count?

No...

[lenser]

My late father's best friend, a huge and hulking athletic man who was also a psychology prof....and a very avid fisherman and outdoorsman......told us once about an experience hiking into a distant arm of one of the Minnesota lakes. He arrived at his destination and broke through the trees near the edge of the water just as the sun rose and turned the dew drops on the leaves and grasses into glittering gems and the light barely danced across the ripples on the water. His next statement was, "The are some things that are so beautiful that all you can do is cry.".

Fortunately, I've experienced a few moments like that and even one or two that were inspired by images that I've seen.

Emotion can be a wonderful thing. Thank you God for my eyes!