Why do we shoot? Who do we shoot for?

[Scaglietti]

I think in all forms of creative works, there is always an inner desire to present you creation to an audience or spectator whoever that may be.

I believe that is almost no one who takes a photo entirely for oneself. There is always a desire to show your photo to someone. It will be even better, if that person can relate to or appreciate the photo you have taken.

If you are one that take photos entirely for personal viewing and totally have no desire to show it to anyone else and do not have the desire for others to appreciate your work, I would be very interested to know your views.

BC

 

[angiee]

If you don't see it online, you'll see it in their closets:bsmilie:

 

[XiaoMiaoWang]

I think in this discussion, the definition of art is the critical variable for the basis of swaying the motion. That being said, if we base our defintion of art to the Oxford American Dictionaries as follows, it will be all the more easier to follow the arguments.
art 1 |ärt|
noun
1 the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power : the art of the Renaissance | great art is concerned with moral imperfections | she studied art in Paris.
• works produced by such skill and imagination : his collection of modern art | an exhibition of Tibetan art | [as adj. ] an art critic.
• creative activity resulting in the production of paintings, drawings, or sculpture : she's good at art.

So in that retrospect, there is a certain pre-requsite for art to exist on the condition that it has to be recognised as a outlet of expression of creative imagination in the first place. But the phrase:
art for art's sake: used to convey the idea that the chief or only aim of a work of art is the self-expression of the individual artist who creates it.

states that so as long as ONE person appreciates for what it is and what it stands for, THAT is considered art. So do we define the 'success' of a work to be one that is recognised by many? That is a highly disputable matter.

 

[pai]

i shoot to impress chicks.

doesn't seem to be working leh.

maybe i need a bigger camera. or a longer lens. :lovegrin:






***

aiyah, it was a sincere question, i should at least try to answer properly.

i take pictures for a lot of reasons, some more important than others. as time passes, the balance between what's more important shifts back and forth.

to remember things/times/people. to share moments with friends. to avoid talking to people at parties. because i like handling my camera. to give me something to do on weekends. as a prod to make myself explore new places. i shoot to create something beautiful, if lucky, even meangingful.

i hope that the pictures say what i try to say about how i see the world. but just like not everyone agrees with what i say or what i write, or interprets it in a different way, the pictures take on a different meaning out in the wild. that's part of the fun and frustration of the process.

i think that maybe there are other ways to frame the question than "do i take pictures for others or for myself". it's both. the more pertinent thing is what sort of balance to strike. and the question arises when there's a conflict between what i think of my picture, what i want out of it, and what someone else does.

then it becomes a question of submerging the ego and asking myself... this person dislikes the picture for a certain reason. do i feel that reason is valid? is this new input worth changing for? or do i disagree not because i am stubborn but because i am right?

it's a test of both humility and of conviction

 

[Kinano99]

i shoot becoz of passion...i shoot becoz i enjoy shooting pictures...i shoot becoz i like to preserve tat instant moment in picture...i shoot becoz i am influenced by my family since young...also by pictures, family & friends gathering & talk about those days in the photo album...photography is wonderful!

 

[excelglsi]

DP are u trying to tell us somethin?... ;p

 

[Deadpoet]

DP are u trying to tell us somethin?... ;p

It's not what I want or try to tell. It's what we as photographer want and try to tell ourselves.

At the end of the day, it's ours "meaning of life" and "reason to exist" questions.

No right answer. But I feel, in the process of finding the answers, we can and will become better photographers.

All along, I had been telling myself, I create beauty. All along I thought I had been satisfy with this answer. All ong, I told myself, I create beauty for myself and for the subject. But as times goes by, I became unsatisfied wth my answers. I found them incomplete, lacking in something.

 

[Kinano99]

It's not what I want or try to tell. It's what we as photographer want and try to tell ourselves.

At the end of the day, it's ours "meaning of life" and "reason to exist" questions.

No right answer. But I feel, in the process of finding the answers, we can and will become better photographers.

All along, I had been telling myself, I create beauty. All along I thought I had been satisfy with this answer. All ong, I told myself, I create beauty for myself and for the subject. But as times goes by, I became unsatisfied wth my answers. I found them incomplete, lacking in something.

is it you forgotten the simple joy of photography? or like taking photograph in order to survive? or like cannot capture the essence of the picture?

 

[fotoudavid]

i shoot to earn money, i very seldom shoot for my own collection, since when, dunno....................pretty sad as passions are dry up to my chest level.:cry:

 

[Deadpoet]

is it you forgotten the simple joy of photography? or like taking photograph in order to survive? or like cannot capture the essence of the picture?

I don't shoot for pay, so, I shoot only for fun and passion.

I think I am still having fun, otherwise why should I shoot?

However, other than for fun, why am I shooting? Whom do I shoot for? 2 questions that had been haunting me for a while.

Maybe you are right, it's just a "simple joy".

 

[Deadpoet]

i shoot to earn money, i very seldom shoot for my own collection, since when, dunno....................pretty sad as passions are dry up to my chest level.:cry:

Yes, that is sad.

 

[eikin]

The key to Enchanted's and Ortega's thoughts is the word "Expression".

To express, we need something to deliver the message, and for us, is medium is photogrpay.
T0 express, we need something to talk about. For alot of us, the subject is the reason of our expression.
To express, do we need someone to express to?

type 1: when you desire to express, your intention is to express, you seek an audience to understand your expression.

there are people who create art just to express things to their ownselves so that they understand themselves better. there are people who create art to express to other people so that (the artist hope that) other people can understand them. in both cases, art still remains as self expression.

art that's purely type 1 are either seldom seen or commonly labelled as being too difficult. public acceptance/appreciation is seldom guaranteed, although not impossible (even if they are not accepted/appreciated within the lifetime of their creators)

type 2: when you desire to impress, your intention is to impress, you seek an audience to agree with you (in most contemporary situations, to consume your product)

when a person create art to impress, the person will either consciously choose his/her audience, or consciously allow himself/herself to be manipulated by public opinion. art becomes a medium to reflect the liked.

art that's purely type 2 are very often either consumable art for the masses or salon art for the elites. sometimes they can appeal to both the masses and the elites. the keyword here is consumable. those that incorporate some amount of personal ingenuity usually last longer or fetch more market value.

i would say that most art lies somewhere inbetween type 1 and type 2.



not sure about the context of the first quote, but and since it has been quoted

..... I think the statement of creating art not to appeal to anybody is a self defeatist statement.
If art is created not to appeal to people, then who is art created for in the first place? Why do we even bother showing it? Art is a form of expression, communication and it is created to appeal to, and communicate with people. If that function is lost, so is the intergrity of art.

the artist has to first find the thing that appeals to him/her in order to create

but art created to be appealing to others is fashionable art, and art does not need to be fashionable

so art needs to appeal, but only to the artist (pre-requisite for art to occur)

to say that art that does not appeal to others is art that has no integrity will be insulting to a very large group of artists who work not to make fashionable art.

 

[Kinano99]

I don't shoot for pay, so, I shoot only for fun and passion.

I think I am still having fun, otherwise why should I shoot?

However, other than for fun, why am I shooting? Whom do I shoot for? 2 questions that had been haunting me for a while.

Maybe you are right, it's just a "simple joy".

perhaps u tink too much...haha!!! shooting picture doesn't has to be for anyone...sometimes it's not for yourself too...tink like mayb...i shoot becoz this world is beautiful! short n sweet

 

[Kinano99]

i shoot to earn money, i very seldom shoot for my own collection, since when, dunno....................pretty sad as passions are dry up to my chest level.:cry:

the harsh reality...

 

[catchlights]

.................................
Why do I take photograph? Who do I take the photograph for?
...................................

I shoot cos I like to shoot..
but I can't always shoot what I like to shoot.. cos I shoot for money.



.

 

[Sion]

Why do I shoot?
Si Beh Sian with life.

Who do I shoot for?
Mainly to amuse fellow Kopitiam kaki who are also Si Beh Sian.

:bsmilie:

 

[Sion]

but I can't always shoot what I like to shoot.. cos I shoot for money.

I can't shoot for money. So I shoot money:

:bsmilie:

 

[Gunbucker]

First of all, I need to thank Skye Tan's statement in another thread that got me thinking.

Why do I take photograph? Who do I take the photograph for?

I don't have an answer. I will come back to post my thoughts here on this topic, if I can put something coherent together.

What are your thoughts?

I once asked myself the same thing. So off I went to the neighbourhood library to read some books on basic critical theory for photography. Man, it was one dense, depressing piece of work, which also made me realize how shallow I am, hahaha!

After many excruciating pages of it, there's basically expressive art, and self-indulgent art. Ok, what's the diff you say? I'm still a newbie in photography, so let me give you an easy comparison in terms of music. Listen to Miles Davis, or Duke Ellington. That's expressive art. Now, listen to Scott Henderson's Tribal Tech band, pure, freaking self-indulgence, playing those crazy arrangements because "they can", and they don't give a flying rat's a** if you cared.

Then I stripped bare all unnecessary thoughts and came back to the original question. Why do I shoot? Besides the fact that I have two 350GB hard drives for me to chunk down my thrashy shots in :bsmilie: , I shoot because I see. I shoot because I like what I see. I shoot because I love the life in what I see. I shoot because I love life itself. I shoot because I love living life. And I shoot because I want these witnesses of living life through my shallow eyes to be seen, witnessed, and communicated to others in hopes they might see the same joy. That's all.

 

[catchlights]

I shoot money also...

long long ago.

 

[Sion]

I shoot money also...

long long ago.

So you now must have few millions of these dollar notes. :bsmilie: