Why Photography ?

[porterd2nz]

Originally Posted by kunaldaswani

"Why Photography?"

Because I suck at art! I can't draw or paint, sculpting is right out, but I can push a little button with next to no effort and I'm sometimes quite pleased with the results.

I also like music, but can't play a note and I sing like a strangled budgie.

[MikeM]

I echo many of your sentiments.

I always had a notion that I'd like photography, but I think expense and film kept me from getting into it.

Picking up my P&S digicam last summer got me going and now I have a K10D.

I suppose I've gotten into photography for the following reasons:

- I'm better at technical things than artsy things. My drawings are clumsy, my coloring outside the lines, and the paper is crooked when I cut it. So although photography is far more artistic than I thought, it at least has a technical part that I can excel at.

- I'm lazy! I can see my images instantly. I can put them on the computer then instantly share them with friends and family. Instant art!

- It's fun to record memories. I gave my parents a set of prints from our vacation to Oregon last summer. It's amazing how much we had forgotten in just 6 months. Reliving the moments is great.

- My creative side is starting to flex its muscles. I can't say they were atrophied, they were never developed to begin with.

- I can play around and have fun and have something to show for it. That doesn't apply to watching TV or playing video games.

- It's great to be complimented on your handiwork. My coworkers stop and look at the pictures around my desk. I took pictures of some friends playing basketball the other day and they loved some of the shots I got of them (something they never would have had otherwise, who takes pictures at a weekend basketball pickup game?).

- I needed SOMETHING to blow $1000 on.

[velvet4269]

My justifcation for buying my DSLR: "Because it's cheaper than therapy, and I get more out of it."

I was only 1/2 joking when I came up with that; but the truth is, since picking up the camera, I've started slowing down enough to actually see the things around me, rather than just look at them.

Since picking up the camera, and making myself go out, I've dropped 19 pounds, picked up a LOT of self-confidence I've been lacking (although I still have a long way to go), and feel ... accomplished.

Of course, I'd love my hobby to start paying for itself, but I think I have a ways to go before that happens.

[chireau]

Oh... so this is a photography forum?

[windrider86]

nope , its all about refigeration

[murfam]

I first got into photography in the late 1960's when I was a student at MassArt. (Massachusetts College of Art) I was a 2D major, mostly as a painter and took up the camera as a tool to help my painting since it would allow me to freeze a scene and then paint at my own pace. (I'm a very slow worker) I would combine parts of two or more photos into one picture which, while possible, was extremely difficult and time consuming with the state of photographic technology at the time. Back then, I thought of photography as a useful tool, but not REAL ART, I was young and quite full of myself at the time.
This changed when I got my first computer about ten years ago and discovered what could be done with a scanned image and photoshop. Now, with the advent of digital photography in my life and the improvements in graphics programs, I use my camera almost exclusively and truly love the freedom it gives me to express my vision of the beauty all around me. For me there is no going back, photography IS indeed "real art' and I wouldn't have it any other way.

[kirbinster]

Cause I can't paint or draw and people say I am good at it, plus I enjoy it. If that is not good enough, then.... why not?

[A Team]

I have been seeing moments in time since I was a little girl that inspire me, move me, or hit me like a ton of bricks. Photography lets me transfer these images to someting real that I can share with the rest of the world.

[sandi]

I can keep a moment in time forever.
The gadgets are fun to use (computers, cameras, lenses, etc) and the learning curve is great, it goes on forever. Lots of fun.
I have purchased a Nikon D40 and I am learning to play again.
I guess that is why I have returned to Photography in my retirement.

[Palooka Joe]

Why Photography? "Take a picture it last's longer" to qoate a famous childhood comeback. On a deeper level though, I will only be able to experiance the world in a small part, but because of photagraphy I will be able to see a larger part of it