Week 2: Why People Photograph

Art is, inherently, a personal endeavor. History puts emphasis on the artist. Why the artist made his or her art is as important as what it actually contains; the two are inseparable. Most (if not all) artists put their soul, their mind, thoughts, beliefs, worries, and their love, into their work in order to make it truly meaningful.

Photographers are artists. The above statements apply to the group no less than they do the fine artists. Photography is, of course, a different medium with different practices, but this is a discussion for another time. As is consistent in Robert Adams' Why People Photograph, photography is driven by personal interests: home, family, political-social beliefs, activism. Few can make a comfortable living solely on their photography, making it a labor of love. Why else would a person throw themselves into uncomfortable situations and even harms way ("Two acquaintances have while working been injured my livestock, and one when he fell from a railroad car.")?

It is not always love that motivates photographers. The best word I can muster to describe my motivation for photography is feverish. I first took up photography to replace a sense of longing I felt (and frankly, still feel) upon seeing certain things in the world. To quote my previous blog post, "Looking out the window of a car, I am fascinated by some of the things I see, and I feel the need to harness them. Like if I don't capture it somehow, it will build up and drive me insane." These scenes share similar characteristics, and more than likely have the same mood as each other. For deep psychological reasons that I cannot begin to understand, I am attracted to them and photography is seems like the best way to capture them. Let's say that I am enamored by an abandoned warehouse (as I often am, cliché as that may be). To photograph it means to be at the location, to be there, until I believe I have taken sufficient photographs. It is an experience that also yields an end result.

A photograph of mine, taken (more or less) with the above in mind.

I know this one breaks a few rules of photography, but when I am photographing for myself, it does not matter whether it is a "good" photograph. What matters is that I capture what I felt when I saw the subject.

My apologies if that was long-winded; I still have yet to find the right words to describe my inspiration. Let us return to Robert Adams. "Your own photography is never enough." A very true statement in a number of ways. One, it serves as inspiration. This time last year, I had a lot of fun making a photograph inspired by cinematic lighting - the project wouldn't have been conceived had I not seen the work of numerous other photographers and filmmakers. Second, (and maybe this is primarily true for me, a student) we base our perception of great work off of previous masters. The history of photography - what has been done already - informs and influences the photography that we make. Every time I frame a shot, I briefly consult this archive to judge the success of what I am about to take. The question, "is this a good photograph?" however improper, is based off of the photography of others.