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

[Merg Ross]

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?

Heroique,

Although worded differently, I believe that my query a few years ago on this forum is relevant to yours. Both address the audience or, as you prefer, "others".

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=24162

[Heroique]

Thanks for the link, Merg, which will add depth, I’m certain.

Brian, your experience – a success that any photographer might wish for! – makes one curious if a photographer might approach someone, ask what they want to experience in a photograph, then head into the field to compose such a shot...

The method I’ve just described could not be more absurd, of course, and no photographer would go about their work this way – but it’s in the interest of suggesting what I think is a plain truth:

Yes, we’re more complicated than machines – that is, we’re not “thermometers to be calibrated,” as David points out – but neither are we so complicated & “lost” in our subjectivity as to defy all attempts to communicate w/ others about distinct, subjective experiences through the concrete images of photography. Photography, I believe, can be an intentional means of communion, not just an accidental one. There are plenty of obstacles, of course – personal experiences, cultural background, which modern theorists we like to read, etc. – but plenty of potential for success, too.

It’s one reason – there are plenty – why I think it’s important indeed to “consider others” on some level during the act of composition, especially if the plan is to share results w/ someone other than yourself...

[Jim Ewins]

“Photography like any other medium used for individual expression is dependent upon emotion. It is emotion in the first instance, which acts as a driving force in our perception of a suitable subject, and the success of our presentation depends entirely on the capacity of our photograph to rouse a similar emotion when viewed by an observer.”
Daisy Wu, Hong Kong 1958

My question is can I make an image that will evoke an emotion that I desire? I know that there are legions of folks out there with whom I shall never share the same feeling, never evoke the same emotions - and that isn't important,as I who is the creator, that I must please! If I would shoot for a commission, then I must find a way to evoke the emotion desired by my client.

[Brian C. Miller]

... makes one curious if a photographer might approach someone, ask what they want to experience in a photograph, then head into the field to compose such a shot...

The method I’ve just described could not be more absurd, of course, and no photographer would go about their work this way – but it’s in the interest of suggesting what I think is a plain truth:...

Actually, that happens all the time. Back "in the day" of Arthur Fellig, many photographers headed out to get photographs which would grab newspaper reader's attention. Dead hood on the sidewalk in a pool of blood, etc. And if a dead hood couldn't be found, then scenes were "recreated." Shock! Rage! Anger! Get those readers riled up! (Their First Murder) And still we have the paparazzi who try to follow in the footsteps of the fictional Paparazzo.

It would also be a good exercise to do what you suggest. It would be tough, though. Just about everything would have to be staged. But a number of photographers do stage work, and people pay big money for what they produce.

[Brian K]

Many years ago I got some very sage advice from Duane Michals, he said," the best work you'll ever do is the work that means the most to you."

Unless you're doing a commercial assignment where you are intentionally, and in fact obligated to execute an image with the client's requirements in mind, I think you should shoot photographs that mean something to you. To not necessarily care about what other people think.

If you are attempting to make a living through the sale of your prints, you come into a gray area. The trouble with that is that you are torn between pleasing yourself and producing work that others consider desirable to own. My process in this area revolves solely about shooting the images that I would want to see and live with. The compromise to the marketplace is in choosing which image I chose to make available for sale. I don't need to own 80 prints, comprised of up to 4 sizes, of everything I shoot. So the only images that I release for sale are ones that I think will sell.

I think if you produce work with feeling, that the viewer will catch on to that, so simply put, shoot work that elicits emotion in you.

[Greg Miller]

Well said, Brian. Thanks for sharing your insights.

[BrianShaw]

Well said, Brian. Thanks for sharing your insights.

Indeed.. and well said Duane Michals!

[Bruce Watson]

others[/i] will think & feel about your image?

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

When I'm making photographs, I'm trying to capture that which interested me at the time -- that made me stop and look, or gasp in awe, laugh, shrink back in terror, bliss out at the beauty, whatever. If the photograph I make can cause some part of that reaction again in me when I look at it, it's a good photograph.

What other people think or feel when they look at my photographs, if anything at all, is beyond my control. So I don't worry about it much.

[paulr]

This is a question for anyone photographing for the purposes of advertising, propaganda, or any other kind of persuasion. If you're trying to make art, this kind of question will lead you down a distracted and manipulative path. The viewer's feelings are their own business, not mine. I don't expect any work that's remotely complex or interesting to arouse the same feelings in everyone, so I don't even know what I'd do with the information.

[Robert Hughes]

Its like thinking about hitting a golf ball, good idea when practicing but when you are playing you think about nothing if possible.

Was it the great cellist Pablo Casals who said that he practiced for hours every day so that he didn't have to think about his technique while performing?

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

Second guessing the market can be self destructive. Taken to its extreme, that activity brings on focus groups and pie charts, and their inevitable result, a loss of creativity. Do we really want to do the same thing over and over? If so, why not work in a factory, where at least they pay us for it?