Pleasure of creative expression.

[Dugan]

Has anyone else seen "Why Man Creates", the short film by Saul Bass?
It's an interesting, light-hearted exploration....it's on the Yu-Toobz.

[Alan Klein]

I think it’s hard to answer this question with a hard “NO”.

However, for at least some of us, this is a rather slippery slope that can easily (and very stealthily) start chipping away at the core value we derive out of taking photos. When we start taking for photos to inspire awe and admiration from other, rather than to just express ourselves for ourselves, something is lost.

So there are simply two very different reasons to take photos. Neither is good or bad on an absolute scale, but they can be good or bad for any one individual.

As my photography is evolving, I am happier and happier with just keeping photos to myself, or, at the most, share them with a small group of friend photographers for the sake of getting their feedback, inspire each other, and evolve our photography.

Of course it “would be nice” to share the photos with others. It’s hard to argue against that. But I also don’t see any inherent value in it when I do so, and I know it will distract me. For me, it will always lead to a point where I actually start caring - maybe ever so subtly to begin with - about affirmation and whether a photo is liked or not. And then I’ve eroded the intrinsic value of my photography to myself.

Would Pavarotti and the world have lost anything if no one heard him sing?

[Alan Klein]

Of course, they would have.

[Vaughn]

I have always had an educational bent to my photographic work. Educating myself...and others as a way to further educate myself.
I enjoy bringing a different way of visually experiencing a Place to others...the viewers' experiences are directly related to the expression of my experience through the prints...and to the "success" of the print. Printing in a university darkroom from 1977 to 2013, with continuous feedback and discussions over those years has created a different viewpoint than those who have worked and enjoy working in a less social atmosphere.

I am a member of a local artist cooperative, not so much for sales (which are always nice -- I almost make my expenses back), but to have my work out where a large variety of people can see it...and explain the processes I use and why (mostly platinum prints from negatives), if they seem at all interested on the days I work there.

Photography for me is not a hobby to keep myself constructively occupied. It is, to me, an art form I have structured my life around for the last 40 years in order to explore its (and my) possibilities and my connection to Light and Place. My 'projects' tend not to have defined endpoints -- most are life-long (or for as long as I can carry the cameras).

But there certainly is a lot of pleasure in the whole creative process. I'll look at an old print and wonder how in hell did I see what I saw and get it onto film then paper. I remember seeing the top of this palm off in the distance, hiked out into the Death Valley heat and down into the canyon of this spring. Only one image of it -- only one spot seemed right. 8x10, 300mm lens, platinum/palladium print.

PS -- I watched "Why Man Creates" in High School when it first came out. Always been a bit of an influence.

[j.e.simmons]

I’ve lately worked at having what I think of as a more expansive photographic vision - seeing better relationships within my images. I find that to be the same as playing music (trombone, bass trombone, tuba) particularly in the small church wind ensemble where the parts are not doubled and are more open. I have to pay a lot of attention to all of the parts and my relationship to the others. Maybe this makes no sense at all.

[Alan Klein]

I have always had an educational bent to my photographic work. Educating myself...and others as a way to further educate myself.
I enjoy bringing a different way of visually experiencing a Place to others...the viewers' experiences are directly related to the expression of my experience through the prints...and to the "success" of the print. Printing in a university darkroom from 1977 to 2013, with continuous feedback and discussions over those years has created a different viewpoint than those who have worked and enjoy working in a less social atmosphere.

I am a member of a local artist cooperative, not so much for sales (which are always nice -- I almost make my expenses back), but to have my work out where a large variety of people can see it...and explain the processes I use and why (mostly platinum prints from negatives), if they seem at all interested on the days I work there.

Photography for me is not a hobby to keep myself constructively occupied. It is, to me, an art form I have structured my life around for the last 40 years in order to explore its (and my) possibilities and my connection to Light and Place. My 'projects' tend not to have defined endpoints -- most are life-long (or for as long as I can carry the cameras).

But there certainly is a lot of pleasure in the whole creative process. I'll look at an old print and wonder how in hell did I see what I saw and get it onto film then paper. I remember seeing the top of this palm off in the distance, hiked out into the Death Valley heat and down into the canyon of this spring. Only one image of it -- only one spot seemed right. 8x10, 300mm lens, platinum/palladium print.

PS -- I watched "Why Man Creates" in High School when it first came out. Always been a bit of an influence.

Nice shot Vaughn. I sometimes look at my photos and feel great that it's just there. There is something spiritual in catching a moment in time forever.

[PatrickMarq]

Wouldn't it be nice if your photos also please others?

I would say I take photo’s for myself, but ‘secretly’ I hope that other people like them a lot.
As Alain said in another post somewhere here on the forum, https://www.largeformatphotography.i...=1#post1643544

Everyone wants to leave their mark in life. And I agree

[r.e.]

I would say I take photo’s for myself, but ‘secretly’ I hope that other people like them a lot.

There are very few examples of professional artists who aren't looking for an audience. The audience is what puts food on the table, but I think that the desire goes deeper than that. Even financially independent artists look for an audience. When amateurs say that they don't care about an audience, I think that it demonstrates either an honest self-assessment that their work won't cut it in the wider world or lack of confidence that it will.

Pandemic aside, I spend my summers on a river and I have a neighbour on the other side who plays the accordion. He knows that there are a couple of real masters of the instrument in the area, and I'm pretty sure that that's why he's shy about playing in public. Yet once in awhile I hear him play on his front porch. It's a bit faint, because he's downriver a ways, but he knows when he does this that sound travels on a river and that he'll be heard by others. He's a better player than he thinks, and we'll stop what we're doing to listen.

[jnantz]

Wouldn't it be nice if your photos also please others?

why does it even matter ?

[Michael R]

why does it even matter ?

It releases endorphins.