For the last 3 years I have been taking photographs for a B.A. the last project being along the bus route in to town. Now I am thinking and considering potential future projects, I require a good proposal as part of the application for an M.A.. I tend to focus on the urban environment, with a preference for the more everyday over the 'spectacular'. Quite often it is these that will disappear from view with little or no ceremony.

I first knew that I had to take pictures, when I had a talk with the re-up Sgt about staying in the Army if I could go to photo school. This all took place at the bottom of a fox hole with incoming rounds going off. Something like this. "I will stay if I can go to photo school when this tour is over. Sgt., "you can only stay in your own position." I said I would be going in home then. That was in 1965, in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, while serving in the 1st Cav.

I went to school, became a draftsman, later a CAD designer, and always was shooting on the side. I took a lucky shot that the daily newspaper didn't want to pay for, and so I sold it to a weekly for $5. I ended up working as a stringer for that paper for 10 years. I never became that full time photographer, but something better. A good day job and a wonderful weekend fun job. I shot everything, circus, events and I always got in free.

Today, I try and sell my work to magazines. Every so often I do. What do I shoot? I read what the magazines are looking for, and then try and figure out if that is something that I can do. I love working with people, and used to shoot weddings. When the magazines started not using stringers so much (they hired their own cheaper photographers) I had to ask what is it I want to shoot? That took me to the street. I try to take pictures that I hope others would like. But I am also trying to record history. I go uptown and there is a very busy intersection there, that is just action packed most days. I take a lot of photographs at that intersection. Then there are the re-enactors. I sold a set of those to a magazine that almost paid for a camera. I just resold many of the same pictures to another magazine, and this time my wife wrote an article to go with it. But why do I shoot? I have to. I can't think of my world with out my camera. Crazy? Maybe, but having the time of my life now that I am retired, and can take that camera with me everywhere.
photosbypike

For me I think HCB said it best when he said "To take photographs means to recognize -- simultaneously and within a fraction of a second -- both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one's head, one's eye and one's heart on the same axis." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

I think it's that moment when shooting that I feel aligned, centered & whole. If I can conjure the image that's taken hold in my mind and harness the light to seed that image on the film/sensor then I feel I've captured an original piece of myself and the world around me that couldn't have come to fruition through any other means.

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- Frank

Actually, I'm not all that interested in the subject of photography. Once the picture is in the box, I'm not all that interested in what happens next. Hunters, after all, aren't cooks.
Henri Cartier-Bresson

What's circulating use in my bag right now...
Nikon F100 | Nikon D700 | Olympus E-P2

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41568712@N08/

I take pictures because I enjoy it. I've always enjoyed it. Right from my very first non-descript 126 camera I got when I was about 10 years old, through to the EP-2 I have now. I like taking pictures. I'm not going to deeply analyse it, because I don't want to destroy the magic that I still feel when I take a picture I'm really pleased with.
I take pictures I like, right now that is landscape blurs, last year it was railroads, before that something else. Next year who knows? As long as I like what I'm doing that will be enough for me.

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Ian
http://ismypenmightier.blogspot.com/
Image editing OK

Don, Of course you are right, but by being aware of it / focussed on it, you get more personal photo's. I kind of "hate" the identical photo's some/many tourists take a popular site. Every photo is unique, but I especially appreciate those which stand-out even more. Composition (using sharp eyes) is to me the most important parameter to determine the quality of a photo, but using techniques also helps.
Joep

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Joep

PS: Try to catch a laugh every day

For me, its all about environment. Sometimes I take photos to capture a memory. Sometimes I take photos because I see something that will translate to a photo well. I think most importantly, at least looking at most of my photos, I take photos to bring me to a new place. I enjoy taking photos, but its not something I "have" to do. I get an itch to do it, and I go out and do it. If its traveling or going to some sort of event, the camera is always with me.

Thing is. I never consider my event work to be my personal work.
I did Al's Funeral Mission yesterday. The photos captured a place in time for those present. We had 500+.
it seems that a few thousand have viewed the images. Many commented that they felt they experienced the event thru the images.

Maybe I'm wrong on thinking this is not my personal work.
Maybe there does not exist a line between what we do for ourselves and what we do for others.
I guess it's all personal work.
Life is a fleeting moment. As photographers we are lucky to be more aware of that single, important issue. Memories.
In the end, that's all we have ever made. In the end, that's what we become.
Luckily our images will live on to show those after us what we saw and felt about our time on this earth.

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"If you don't stand for something,
You'll fall for anything."

http://www.streetshooter.us

~ Shooter's Flickr photostream

Beautifully expressed, Don. I agree with you.

I've been reading this thread religiously and trying to come up with what I'd write. I think everyone has touched a chord with me with what they've written, so I really could pull bits and pieces from each post. I'll only add for now that there's a magic in photography for me, and when you're in the zone, you feel it. Even if I never printed another photograph, I'd still be releasing that shutter.

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**An evolving camera owner.

~ BB
Flickr photostream

I think a lot has to do with mans quest to be immortal.
Photography is about death. what I mean is, once the image is captured, it marks a point in time that no longer exist. I'm always reminded of this when I view images from the Civil War here in the USA. Theres one in particular that is etched forever in my brain. It's, "The Traitor John Payne". He's sitting against a wall staring to the lens. I see his eyes looking at me and realize, he's been dead for 150+ years, so is the shooter.

The image not only marks their life but marks their death. Photographs are not living things but live after we are gone. So, in a way, they mark our time. I guess that's what we are trying to do...to find a way to freeze time.

In my other post...I said that I didn't feel my event work was like my personal work.
What that's about is.... I am totally aware of what I wrote in this post for portraits, events etc. For my personal work, there's a different thing going on. I don't think about memory or time...just the image.
Sometimes, I'm more crazy than others.... This is one of those times....
shooter

__________________
"If you don't stand for something,
You'll fall for anything."

http://www.streetshooter.us

~ Shooter's Flickr photostream

I'm not a professional, so I don't take photos typically for other people. But at events with friends and family, many times folks want me to send them my pictures. Sometimes I end up being the designated picture taker, LOL. I sorta believe that its always personal look, because at the end of the day, the photos I take are still from me, which includes my own creativity, biases..etc. Its like an artist creating a work for a client.

Dj