The ongoing discussion about whether photography is art or not has caused me do some thinking. I posted a rebuttle to my own post and continue to explore this line of thinking. It has shown me that many people have different reasons for pursuing photography.

Why do I photograph? I'm a wanderer. Always have been. And I've often wandered alone. But have always wanted a way to try and capture what I felt about the places I've been and the things I've experienced. Sometimes I want others to gain the same feelings and insights about these places. Other times, most times, it is enough to capture the image just for myself.

-- Jef Torp (JefTorp@aol.com), December 11, 1997

Answers

Because I'm a voyeur and find it fascinating and fun.

-- (Moschika@sirius.com), December 17, 1997.

I take pictures as a way to discover who I am. As a street photographger, it doesn't matter where I go because the visual world is so seductive. Sometimes deciding what to shoot becomes the problem. That is, I need to focus in on a specific theme, like SW 7th street. The decision is made on some deep level in my mind, which is why I say I take pictures to discover who I am.

7th street is the street I usually ride on when we, my husband and I, go home from a visit to the Sylvester Cancer Center. He looks great now, but I can only dream of photographing. What the next moment will bring for him is as uncertain as my knowing what I will need to photograph once I get back outside--or inside.

I need to take photographs, in the same way as I needed to do any of the creative things that have filled my life. That is the way to learn who we are. Where our eye/minds focus, that is the place we need to explore in order to discover the person we are. If we do not speak with our own voice in our art, why bother to create.

-- Norma Martin (d_martin@bellsouth.net), January 18, 1998.

I agree with Norma Martin,so that I have to cote the great Socratise "know thyself".For these reason you have to go closer to other people,compare with yourself.Mixup yourself with gods creation.For analysis you have to take pictures good or bad.

Another thing - if you are professional this is your job -you can't escape and You can't give up your emotions.

Don't think too much "why I take photographs,what will be next".You will be experiene sleepless nights/frastrated.

Thank You Mohammad Irfanul Islam Darkroom Section Drik Picture Library Ltd. Dhaka,Bangladesh http://www1.drik.net

-- Mohammad Irfanul Islam (darkroom@drik.net), May 12, 1998.

Why do I photograph? I have to! Plain and simple. I see a graphic image and I want to copy it and take it home and do things with it. Make it darker or lighter. Harder or softer. I like to make it like a pencil drawing and then see if it looks as good as a soft black and white pastel. I like to show my work to as many people as possible and listen to their vision of it. Is this what an "artist" feels like, versus a person just photographing their kids ball game? I feel compelled to shoot film. I see an old face with lots of character and I want to have a copy of it to look at again and again. Fine art nudes? Love them. Can't be enough of them. Old bolts in weathered wood? Should be a picture of every one of them. I have other "creative addictions" as my wife calls them. But I have found photography to be the one that soothes the creative drive the best. Frankly, if I don't photograph or spend time in the darkroom or in the bookstore looking at photography books, I get grumpy. There. I said it. To those of us about to shoot, SHOOT!

-- james (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), July 25, 1998.

i photograph for a few reasons. first of all it's a gut-level reaction. "Oh! look at that!" i want a record of it, some way i can show it to others and look at it again myself. secondly, i believe that i have something to communicate to others. a way of seeing, a subtle message, whatever. what is or is not art is really a subjective decision, something that each viewer will determine for themselves. for me the point of photographing is creating what i personally consider "art." i am my own favourite photographer. i love photos by a range of photogs, from arbus to winogrand; but no one person, besides myself, can consistently and completely photograph the things i really want to see. in the end that is probably the driving force behind my own work. i'm creating the photography i want to look at. (and hoping it's what other people would like to look at as well.)

-- jeremy beckman (5beckmans@lasercom.net), August 01, 1998.