Why photography?
Inspired by Michael Heilemann, I've decided to post a few photos and try to explain why photography actually matters to me. I'm not talking about your run-of-the-mill family/holiday snaps here, but more like the photos I post on my photo site opticalpork.com
This is extremely difficult to explain. Why do I take photos? Why do I go looking for things to photograph? It's not that I feel a great need to document everything or even anything at all.I think it's some kind of escape more than a need to try to express myself through the photographs.
I refuse to call myself an artist, this isn't art in any way. It's just a way for me to create my own reality. I get to chose what is in focus, how I frame things and which elements I want to emphasize or call attention to.
I just spent two hours walking around the Bergen city center with my camera in hand looking for something to photograph. Doing exercises like this makes me appreciate the small details more. I go around looking for that little special thing that can suddenly appear right in front of you just begging to be photographed.
I still feel like I'm invading peoples privacy and being outright rude when photographing them randomly, so I tend to photograph objects rather than people. I might sneak in a photo of someone randomly though, the 70-300 really comes in handy there.
All in all, I'm not a photographer. I'm not an artist. I just like taking photos, and enjoy being able to use my camera in the way I want to. That's all there is to it. It all boils down to one simple thing; I enjoy it.
Feel free to browse around the opticalpork site as well as browse through my Gallery. I enjoy feedback on all my photos, but remember that most of them are taken without a whole lot of reasoning before shooting.
I don't think, I photograph.
3 Responses to Why photography?:
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August 18, 2008 9:41am
Do not under estimate art, nor your eye for framing your “reality” and it’s relationship to art.
I can relate to the capturing of objects/”things” vs people.
I’d also like to say it’s people like you and your openness to share your images that has inspired me to be more wiling to put images on flickr, as well as your passion (nice tag btw) for photography that has driven me to follow my own secret desires to pursue my own drive to capture my my own reality in the form of the still image.
August 19, 2008 9:45am
You say it’s not art but yet you state the very point of art; creating your own reality, and inviting the world to it.
On a less abstract note, the photos actually look good. Maybe I am not the best critic to artistic photography, but I do think that at least this, this and this do qualify as art. At least that’s how I taste it.
I think you should keep doing what you are doing. Jump in, be courageous and shoot away. Then share your work!
August 21, 2008 8:19am
Thanks Christian for showing us some of your nice photos. Yes, photography is many things. In general we get the best pictures by concentrating on one thing, ‘dead’ or alive, and add some mood to it, and I see that in your pictures.
I am also interested in your engagement in the Habari project as that might be helpful for some of my future development of websites, like the blog Island Vacation Tips
Best
Soren
Denmark