Why did you take "THAT" picture?

I have been searching for the answer. Everytime I ask it, I get little to no response.

When you set up your camera, and point it something, anything, and take that photo, why? Why "THAT" photo? What made you trip that shutter for that subject.

We see so many photos in the forums, some run of the mill, some very unique, some don't seem to have any ryhme or reason. I question myself about almost every photo I make, and I have been wondering this with regards to others for a long time.

So what's your answer? Think of your latest photo posted in any of the forums and answer that question. I am fascinated in your response to it.

It's a very good question Youssef, and one I try to ask myself every time I'm composing a shot. In fact, I ask several questions, why am I taking this photo, what is it I am taking a photo of (if the answer is as simple as "it's a nice mountain"... then clearly this is not going to be a meaningful image, it should take a paragraph or more to really describe whats going on... the story, the emotion, the aesthetics, etc.), how, where, and when should I be taking this photo, if not now and here. What will the title of this photo be? etc. All of those questions help inform me as to whether I'm taking a "worthwhile" photo, and if so, how I can emphasize the aspects that make it special. I strongly recommend anyone who hasn't tried that approach, to try it. Having the answer isn't important, but asking the questions and thinking about them is critical IMO.

I get asked that with just about every photo I take!

I guess the answer is "it seemed like a good idea at the time." At least I no longer have boxes and boxes of aweful 35mm slides (the keyboard delete button and camera format function have become my best photography friends).

Interesting topic, thanks for that Youssef.

I'm not so much interested in producing high-quality photography (I'm hobbyist, anyway), but rather getting some sort of proof that "I've seen it". Of course, it's great when the result pleases others (that's why I'm here), but that's not my main motivation, not really.

Many of my images have stories behind them, but often the story comes from the subject itself, not from what I was up to at the time, and I found the story only once I got home. My last photo "Disguise" in the Macro gallery was exactly like that. I thought I knew what it was (a nice Bumblebee), but once I got home, the story became much more interesting (it wasn't all that nice, it was a parasite!). Things like that are the icing on the cake, if you ask me, and you never know beforehand where the story lies, so I just keep shooting.

So, here are my different reasons I can think of for taking a photo (any photo), in no particular order:

I took THAT picture

...so that I could show the subject to my friends.

...so that I could later remember I saw it, and how it looked like.

...so that I can go home and ID the subject, and hopefully learn something new.

...so that I'd see whether I can get a passable shot.

...simply because I could!

Why not!!!!

Instinct, pure instinct... know a good subject and comp instinctively, know your camera so there are fewer techinical errors (this is what I have to work on) and enjoy the process and results. If someone else enjoys it too, then even better.

Don't over analyze the whys, they are not important.

For me it is because the scene speaks to me in some way. It resonates with me emotionally.

For me, the short answer is "it depends" on the specific image. In the most meaningful sense, what I'm trying to accomplish with the framing of each shot is guided by a specific set of goals. (Whether I'm actually successful in my attempts is another matter altogether, and a dubious one at that.)

And yet, there is an overarching ambition that nurtures each attempt. I wrote a blog entry about this six-odd weeks ago which lays out my thinking more thoroughly.

Unless I am making a photo for journalistic purposes, I don't think about why I am making a photograph. When visualizing a photograph I do think about what I want to show. Each photograph I make is a combination of particular elements that say something about my encounter with the world, and above all, say something about me as a person. In essence, my photography is about exploration and discovery.

Here is the photograph that that led me to make my comment:Three Stones In Blue

Your question is an interesting one, Youssef. I hope others will give their thought, as well.

-P

I guess my short answer is because the subject fascinates me, at least at the time I click the shutter, and I want to preserve it.

Don

I agree totally with Patricia Brundage that each image you make is largely a matter of instinct. You take it because you somehow see the possibility of an image that you, and hopefully others, will find beautiful, interesting or satisfying in some way. But I also think it may be useful to question your whole practice at some point - to review the range of your work and think about how it might be developed.

Self discovery. While it always depends on the situation at the moment such as whether I am learning a new technique to shooting for a client, the overall theme of why I take a photo is to take notes on how I see and relate to my environment at any given time in my life.

Sometimes I'll be somewhere and I will feel that it is a truly amazing place because of the way it looks or the lighting or the weather conditions. I want to create a picture that will capture that feeling and hopefully communicate that feeling to other people.

Sometimes I just think a subject is interesting or would be more interesting from a different perspective (such as close up or from a different angle), so I try it from that perspective and see how it comes out. Sometimes it comes out great and other times not as good as I had intended it to be. Either way I've lost nothing (especially since I don't need film now.) and I had fun taking the pictures and seeing how they came out.

Interesting thread Youssef.

The short answer; my reason is an instinctive sense that the conditions and elements before me have potential to combine into a good photo.

All too often my instinct comes close but there is something missing in the two dimensional result that keeps the image from ever seeing the light of day.

Nevertheless, the process of composing and capturing the image enhances my experience in nature. Instead of just seeing the scene, I am more inclined to experience the subtle nuiances of light, form and relationships.

So the next time I'm out in nature and I get that instinct, I'll set up, compose and trip the shutter on the next "that" picture. The only thing I have to lose by not taking it is the experience.

"There are no answers. Only the search." - Grandma Ivy - Movie, "Pure Country"

Ultimately, it really is about the "search" or the process of finding, creating and capturing little moments in time to be preserved forever. I'll echo Patricia's post about it also being instinctive. Of course we don't always know and can't predict how an image will turn out after that shutter has been clicked... but for me it is an instinctive process where somehow I can just recognize something that makes it worth setting up the gear; in a sense, the scene speaks to me in a figurative way.

Why did I take "THAT" picture? Well, because it's beautiful (to me) and it simply just works.

Lon

I could be wrong - but I think this doesn't apply so much to wildlife photographers, as usually we are photographing something that either IS moving or WILL move. But, the question still can, will be, and is asked.

For me, there are a few reasons. As I'm still fairly new in the game, a lot of photographs are simply trying to get a good or decent photograph of that species. This is my first winter with my new camera gear, and I'm trying to get respectable photos of all of the wintering waterfowl. As an amatuer, I take photos for others to see them. I recently sent some photos to a co-worker of an American Coot. She e-mailed me back saying she never noticed the stripe on the bill or the red eye (she is an avid birder so she's viewed coots many many times before).

Anyway, that's just one reason why I take a certain picture. Plus, they're extremely easy to delete!

- Luke

I really appreciate the answers and its helping me answer "THAT" question. I particularly find interesting what Preston said

"Each photograph I make is a combination of particular elements that say something about my encounter with the world, and above all, say something about me as a person. In essence, my photography is about exploration and discovery."

Beacuse this is in essence what I think. In fact to elaborate on Preston's words a bit from my perspective, I think the exploration and discovery is really of the self. I think what we see and photograph elucidates who we are. Two people could be at the same scene and both come away with totally different photos. We each see the world through our own eyes and hence through our selves and hence if we are technically successful at producing THAT photo they way we saw it then we have managed to replicate that facet of ourselves at that moment. And since we are beings that are constantly evolving, then our photos and what we take will evolve as well.

Your thoughts much appreciated.

I don't think about what drew me to a scene and motivated me to set up the camera. The scene generated some emotion in me, be it excitement, fascination, melancholy, delight, etc. I generally run with the emotion and set up. It needs to be enough emotion to justify spending the $5.50 per sheet of processed 4x5 film!!

I think there are different "triggers" for each person. One might respond to the light, or some design of lines or form in nature, or like me, their first response might be to the color. I find most of the time when I set up it's because of color. Then I try to find some comp to translate that response in me. We do react emotionally to color, and in fact differently to each color. Anyone attending a fireworks display will hear the emotional responses to the color and of course light. Ooohs and ahhhs, and other exclamations are made constantly. So the scene that makes you stop and focus may be your emotional response to the color in it. Of course light can also draw you in and is inherently necessary for good photography. So it seems we have identified emotional connection, light, color, and for preserving our experiences as responders so far. Are any of these yours, or perhaps it's something entirely different.

Most of my landscapes are very local, and most contain the hand of man or are dominated by it. I'm very familiar with my subject, my local landscape, and I have pre-visualized quite a few scenes, that I return to time and again. They change day by day, season by season and are affected by the light, the sky, the water and by the works of man. I choose my location based on where the sun will rise, or the tide, or the azimuth and phase of the moon.

I recently compared two photos I made that had a very different look, but were made at the same location with similar compositions. I was amused to notice that they were both made on the summer solstice exactly a year apart, and only ten minutes different in time.

I made that picture because it is in my mind's eye. But man and nature constantly are constantly changing it which makes it kind of like what Forrest Gump said about the box of chocolates.

Morris,

Thanks for sumarizing what we have so far found as the answer to this question.

I take an image because I see Beauty in the scene in some way, whether it be the light, the form, the colors, a pattern, a texture, or a combination. I typically will see something in a scene and quickly take a photo. I then look in more detail and ask myself what element of the scene I find appealing and try to compose another image(s) based on that. Interestingly, I think I end up liking the first instinctual shots more often than the more deliberate shots.

Youssef, I'll confirm your comment on two people being at the same scene and coming away with different photos. I shoot regularly with my brother and we are often taking photos side by side, but we very rarely come away with "duplicate" shots, in fact we usually come away with totally different sets of photographs. We all "see" differently and one of the things I enjoy most after a trip is to look through my brothers photos to see what he saw and what in the scene caught his eye. I often find that he saw things that I hadn't even noticed even though we were feet apart.

For me, simply put, it is the mindfulness of the photographic process. Since taking up photography it has helped me to see what I took for granted in my younger days. Whether it is camping in the North Maine woods or observing a beautiful sunset off the coast of San Diego - I am mindful and truly enjoying the experience of whatever I am photographing. It is a wonderful form of meditation and an artistic outlet I don't think I will ever get bored with.

- DMP

Because I had to.

Because I don't want to lose sleep over NOT having photographed it.

Because it's a challenge....how can I capture that in the best way possible? I may never get it right, but it's a challenge to try.

Referring to my latest post in the Man and Nature Gallery I thought the main subject of the scene was the snow clinging to every twig and branch to produce the winter wonderland effect. While that may have been interesting enough from a " this is what it was like in Jasper" point of view, I would not have taken the shot if it wasn't for that patch of light and the misty background. It gave the photo a mood. So that is why I took "that" photo.

So the main subject has to be enhanced by the quality of the light, such as the alpen glow on a mountain, before I am interested enough to take the shot. Pyramid Mountain in Jasper is often photographed because of its beauty and the way it enhances the beauty of the lake whose name it shares. But a mountain and its reflection is not enough for me any more. There has to be the good light and/or something to give a mood such as a mist, a dramatic sky, before I want to take it. After that it is a matter of composition to get it "just right."

Will
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada