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Different Mentalities
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As a newbie here I hope this isn’t a loaded question or just plain stupid, but I’m just wondering what people’s thinking is when taking a photo as regards:
a) do you take a photo you would like yourself, subject matter, angles etc
OR
b) do you take a photo you take a photo you feel others would enjoy.
I ask because I find a lot of people would find what I take photos of quite boring (maybe they’re just badly taken), graffiti, street art, things that I find a bit odd, like the Chuba Chub photo in STREET forum whereas I look apon many of the landscape or portrait photos people take the same way. In saying that I do realise how hard it is to take a good landscape or portrait shot. But my fear is that as I personally generally don’t enjoy them so if I try and take a similar shot I think of mainstream photos and attempt to emulate them in some way which just ends up looking a bit cliched.
Whether for work or personal reasons why do you decide to take the photos you take?
Ok this thread is going to very busy very quickly.
I’ve thought about this myself at times and at length.I reckon the type of picture you take depends on what the end result is intended for.
If you are taking pictures for your own personal archive then take the shots you want to
And do not compromise. I often take shots that basically break every rule there is on positioning
and third rules and golden spiral, I like them; I print them and frame some of them. They are only for my own viewing
and I get something out of them.If I am taking pictures for someone else or of someone else then I try to stick to the rules but to add my own personal taste to
some of them.I was recently asked to do a wedding for someone. I offered to take some sample shots for free to let the bride see how some
of the generic pictures would come out. At the end of the shoot I shot some the way I wanted to. It turns out she loved the ones
that were my style of doing things.I have posted some shot up here for example that in general did not get very many views at all. It doesn’t mean they are bad shots
it just means that they are not to everyone?s taste.I agree with you on the landscape shots. I find it hard to take them because my interest is somewhat limited. I can appreciate a nice sunset
but photographing does not interest me. I would rather shoot the sunset with someone in front of it, that way for me the picture is entered into a place in time.On the subject of your Chupa Chup picture, I have to say I do like it. It’s an interesting shot that makes me ask several questions. Where is the shot taken, were the chupa’s placed, why were they there.
Just keep taking pictures you want to take. If you are ask to take a specific shot then take it as best you can.
Apologies if there are dozens of spelling mistakes here. Typing very fast
I don’t think anyone can argue that Photography for the vast majority of us is a fun process…a learning process..and a creative process. So I think it stands to reason that you shoot what YOU like, and if in the process, other people like it..all the better. That’s not to say that you still don’t try to follow the basic rules of good photography when composing and setting up your shot. I think if you do that then your shot will appeal to people regardless. A well taken shot with an interesting subject will almost always appeal to someone. I know peronally I prefer street photography..so far..but I also like Landscapes and nature shots and portraits, sport and even Macro…
I suppose if shooting a particular subject does not appeal to you then there is little point in trying..because it will most likely mshow in the final result.
I think in your favoured subject..it is probably quite difficult to present something that is in itself someone else’s art, in an interesting and unique way that adds to the original. But it is what you enjoy…and in the end..that should show through.
Anyway..I’ve rambled on way too long. Have fun and enjoy. That is the most important aspect for me :D
Robbie
8)Thanks guys. Just want to clarify the Chuba shot ain’t mine but is exactly the kind of shot I like.
I guess an alterior tangent to that question though is, as you were saying, if you only take photos you enjoy taking but find it more difficult to take other types are you crippling your learning curve?
For me, I take photos as a hobby so they are mostly for me to see the end results. Sometimes people want me to take photos of their child or an event for them… so in that case the photos are for other people.
If it was my job, then IMO the photos should be what I think OTHER people would enjoy, in order to sell the photos.
If you’re a chef, you don’t cook your steak ‘well done’, just because you prefer it that way… you ask your client! You can suggest, but ultimately they decide.
You do need to be able to take any picture that is requested of you, I was recently asked to take some pictures
in an office scenario for some brochures and web images.
It was cheesy smiles and pointing at pcs. To be honest I was bored senseless and I really
didn’t like the pictures that I took simply becasue they seemed generic.
However the client really liked them and used them for the product brochures.
When i look at the images I just see boring pictures but they saw their staff and their product perfectly
represented, that was enough for them.
I was also asked to take a sunset shot that an interior design company in wexford wanted transfer to bathroom
tiles ( dunno how or why ). I took it they like and it worked. I put that same shot up here and it was roasted.
After it was put onto the tiels though it took a new look and did work out. The client knew what they wanted and what the
end result would look like. I could only take the picture as they described it.I consider myself as an artist, so option A is more suitable for me.
But I have done some works for someone else too, so sometimes I kinda am able to please other people too.My pics are windows to my world. I try to capture things that I like find somehow special.
:)
Hmmmmmmm…. Interesting question.
I love that when I take photographs and work on images I get to excersise the creative part of my brain… I am still learning about rules and styles because I think if you want to be sucessful in experimenting with the rules and breaking them then you should understand and appreciate why these rules exist and what they achieve with the image first.
I haven’t focused on a particular genre, I shoot everything I get the opportunity to shoot :) and I feel I would be limiting my experience if I ruled anything out. Having said that I had to do some shots of my niece’s Communion last year and although that wasn’t the most inspiring of things I tred to get the most out of it by trying to do something new or slightly different and that worked for me.. and luckily for the parents and the child :)
At the end of the day I take photos of things that appeal to me, I try not to limit myself and if I like it I’m very happy… but its a measure of the “sucess” of the image if it has a more general appeal, and I’m very happy if this is the case.
Good question… thanks for making me think about that ;)
L
It looks like it comes down to wether you hope to make a career of your hobby then, or already have it as a career?
blacktopjunkie wrote:
As a newbie here I hope this isn’t a loaded question or just plain stupid, but I’m just wondering what people’s thinking is when taking a photo as regards:
a) do you take a photo you would like yourself, subject matter, angles etc
OR
b) do you take a photo you take a photo you feel others would enjoy.
Not a stupid questionat all…..dont think that. I would say option A.
When you do it as a business though things change. You see you
must then do what the customer will buy and wants you to produce….
regardless what you think of it …..eg. one job I did some years back
involved taking a family photograph because “their sister had died
and it would be the only time they would all be home and together
at the one time”.What they did not tell me was that she was going to be in the pic also.
It was a stupid picture….but it was what they wanted and paid for.That’s a bldy good story. Reminds me of an article in Bizarre lately on dead children being photogrphed with their mothers. Some also dead!
Yes it happens right enough. Have done it a couple of times but not as stupid as that one.
If it helps, I learned the hard way… I always shot for myself. When a client is paying and you think youi’ve got some lovely portraits and they say…
Why isn’t the head in the middle?
Makes you realise that you have to find out what the client wants and then “Bend” to fit the job. These days, I will take what I consider to be good photographs and what I think they want at the same time. SOmetimes they prefer the same as me, other times they don’t. There is normally someone (a few people) that “Get” the more “Arty” pictures, say from a wedding shoot. All the people that see these pictures are your next potential client, so it’s good to have some variety, after all, the client doesn’t have to choose the arty ones :)
Si
Interesting discussion indeed. I would agree that it is the case of fitting the photography to meet a need; if your need is simply a hobby then you generally shoot for yourself; if it’s a hobby and you’re entering a competition, then you shoot for yourself but within the limitations imposed by the theme and rules of the competition; if it’s a career, then you shoot for yourself but within the limitations imposed by your clients or even with no limitations at all, or quite possibly you shoot exclusively what the client wants without deriving any satisfaction from it at all yourself. Personally, I don’t think this last one is possible because the client has hired you for a reason (a reason other than being the cheapest I hope). You are being hired because they like you work and your style or because you have been recommended to them by someone they trust and who has worked with you in the past.
I think if as a professional, you shoot for yourself, you develop and become known for a style. When people look at your images they identify them as being yours. If they don’t like those images, they more than likely will not hire you. If they do hire you, then of course you’ve got to take the safe shots as well as the creative images – that’s just sound business sense. Quite a few wedding photographers that I’ve spoken to tell me that when they shoot a wedding they do all the safe shots for the album and they do the creative shots for their own marketing because that’s what they get hired on! Bizarre really.
One thing to ask yourself – did any famous professional photographers become famous by simply shooting what the client wanted? I don’t think so. They became famous, and were hired, on the basis of their own signature style and what they could bring to the shoot that was different from the next photographer.
I was reading an intersting article in Practical Photography yesterday morning. The interviewee basically said that if you’re being paid to shoot then you shoot what you’re customer wants. If they want a catalog photo for a flower pot, you give them a basic photo of a flower pot. If they want something glamourous then that’s what you give them. Sometimes the client gives you room to be creative and then you can use your artistic tendancies.
I shoot for me. Simple. I get out to get away from work. Even if I spend 3 hours sitting in a bog and see nothing, let alone get a shot, I feel better at the end of it than I would have sat in the house or working. No one is paying me to shoot. So my only client is me. If I like it I’m happy. Hopefully, if I’m doing things right then other people might like what I’m posting. If they don’t then the C&C will help me learn and I can improve.
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