The goal of your photography?

[texasbb]

Remembering. Bragging.

[mdvaden]

Artistic, recreational, and documentary.

For example, the print I sell of what was the largest coast redwood, called by some as the "lady in red", was both documentary and artistic. I wanted to document the redwood's setting now, should boardwalks be put in place someday. And the woman in red dress was for scale, artistically.

With portraits, I just enjoy capturing an angle of someone at that point in time that hopefully captures the best of their expression and features. I enjoy reviewing the photos, knowing that I shared one point in history with each one of them.

[RobFromRedland]

Having thousands of hiking photos rotating through a screensaver at the office or in the living room offers an incredible way to go (back) where you'd really rather be, while you're doing what you need to do to facilitate that.

This. Completely.

I'm not a great photographer, but seeing those photos helps bring back the memories of the trips.

[scole]

I've always taken photos on my hikes and certainly doing so for posterity is one of the reasons. But, apart from that, I really want to document and promote the beauty of the Pacific Northwest found in lesser known areas. Sure- some of what I shoot won't be "unknown" to people that hike (or possibly other photographers) but, to the average Northwesterner, may be unknown. Our region has so much more than just Multnomah or Punchbowl Falls, and I'd like to shed more light on that. Photography gets me out of the house, makes me research maps to find new places, and provides the challenge to make order out of chaos.

I photograph for myself, first and I'm humbled that my work can resonate with others.

[jdemott]

What constitutes high quality? Can you show some examples of the same subject matter that says something and one that doesn't say anything?

In that context, I was using high quality to mean that the technical aspects of the photo are properly executed with high quality equipment. The photo is properly exposed, with an accurate white balance setting. The camera is on a decent tripod and properly focused so that everything in the scene is sharp. The camera and lens (and film in the case of my early photos) are high quality, so there is freedom from aberration and distortion. Etc. Etc.

Here is a photo taken of the canyon in Zion National Park, using a pro Nikon camera, tripod, etc. The location is quite awe inspiring, with brightly colored canyon walls towering above you--one of the most stunning locations in the U.S. in my opinion. The photo is a nice postcard shot--it shows what the canyon looks like, everything is in focus, you could print it 24 inches wide and all the detail would look great, the colors and contrast are accurate... and it is very boring.



Here is a photo taken in Zion Canyon a few years later with a Canon Powershot compact camera, handheld. The Canon has a relatively small sensor so it doesn't have great dynamic range--the shadow areas are quite dark and if you try to lighten them up you will see a fair amount of noise. Because it was shot handheld, I imagine the details wouldn't look as crisp if you tried to print it large. Technically, it is not of the same quality of the first. But I find it much more interesting.

The Canon photo has dramatic lighting that highlights the scale and ruggedness of the towering canyon walls rising out of shadowed areas below. The sense of repeated geometric forms gives depth and visual interest. There is a very clear center of interest framed by the dark foreground.



I'm not claiming this as a great photo--I picked these because I happened to have shots from the same location, shot with very different equipment and demonstrating very different visual interest.

Here is another comparison, in this case shot with an iPhone (hopefully illustrating that equipment and careful technique aren't everything). Both shots were taken within a few feet of each other. The first shot shows some lupines in full bloom in an oak woods near Lyle Cherry Orchard. The flowers are very pretty and the shot is very ordinary. Although there is color and contrast, there isn't really a strong visual statement--the elements of the photo don't seem to hang together visually.



The second shot has more dramatic lighting and the inclusion of the trail in the scene pulls the eye into the scene leading toward the light; the trail also allows the viewer to imagine himself or herself in the scene walking on that trail. There are strong visual lines leading the eye from the corners of the frame and into the scene. The composition makes sense.



I'm certainly not saying that technique and equipment quality are unimportant. In each of the cases above, the second shots would probably have been improved with better equipment and taking the time to put the camera on a tripod. Hopefully, however, they illustrate what I mean by "saying something."

Edit to add two more thoughts:

First, "saying something" doesn't have to be a message that can be expressed verbally (like hiking is fun) but it can be. Saying something can also be a purely visual message about color and form and texture. Here are some examples: http://jdemott.smugmug.com/Photography/ ... &k=c7MHZSL

Second, here is a link to a gallery of sixty-odd photos that I shot all within a few hundred yards of one another, "saying" very different things. I'll leave it to you to decide what you think they say and which ones don't say very much at all. http://jdemott.smugmug.com/Local/Lusche ... &k=fQRWm7m

[Chase]

Wow, thanks for the thoughtful responses! Short and long, they spark things in my mind and help me see things from your perspective in words.

I know most of us photograph for different reasons, but do any of you have specific (maybe idiosyncratic?) things you want to see in the frame? Do any of you place constraints on what/how/when/where you shoot as a hobby? For example, I've heard of a person who shoots the sun using the crappiest cameras he can find. I'm sure that's not all this person shoots, but it is an ongoing project and has turned into an artistic journey.

One thing I think about a lot is how images are tools to project a certain reality of a place. But that "reality" maybe existed for one brief second, or, one could argue, never existed. When I look at the thousands of images of trips I've taken, the aggregate of them helps my memory, but also alters it. I think about the amount of time on a trip was just walking through miles forested land with a same-ness to it all, even though each spot is unique. I think about how I don't have many pictures of those Douglas Firs, but might have 20 photos from lunch that day where there was a creek of unspeakable beauty. But the firs were so much of that trip and the creek was a brief amount of time. The firs were walked under with a certain mental drift; the creek with the eye of camera, composition in the forefront of my mind,posterity on a screen a big thought.

Know what I mean?

[rainrunner]

My goal is to try to reproduce the beauty that I see in nature for my own enjoyment and to share with others who might not be able to get out there and enjoy it.

[BurnsideBob]

I take photos to:

Bring my adventure home

Help me remember

Show and tell

Capturing miracles

Sometimes it just feels right. Like I'm not sure I consciously registered the flock of birds in the photo below, but, to me, they add a lot:



Clicking away!

PS I don't do much digital darkroom work. If it was meant to be, it turns out. But I admire and am frequently awed by the masterful work of others. But somehow if it comes down to tweaking images or getting out and taking new ones, taking new ones wins.

[Chase]

PS I don't do much digital darkroom work. If it was meant to be, it turns out. But I admire and am frequently awed by the masterful work of others. But somehow if it comes down to tweaking images or getting out and taking new ones, taking new ones wins.

Love this quote! I don't adhere to many "it was meant to be"-type philosophies, but this means something a bit different to me. Those birds did add a living, moving, compositionally intriguing element to the image. They give the monument scale (especially because the monument soars above them) and thus the monument is all the more impressive. They break up the geometry a bit. They make me wonder what the wind was like at that moment.

[retired jerry]

It would be useful to, in a high contrast situation with a sunny area and a shady area, to take two pictures with different exposures, and digitally darkroom combine them.

Easy to take with point and shoot - point at shady area, push button half way to set exposure, then center on the picture you want and take picture, repeat for sunny area.