fahim mohammed
Well-known member
Simple answer...to get to know people and their culture/s.
Photography is just a means to an end. For me anyway. I use it as a tool to get my step in, so to speak. Of course I generally end up with ' people ' or ' travel ' photographs that I share with my family and have a slide show for friends.
But, and crucially, I also invariably end up with having a much better understanding of how others live, think, feel. I have learnt a lot about our differences, but more so about our shared values. Across oceans and cultures.
There is a very interesting and important thread ongoing here re: composition, art and vision. A sub-thread addressing whether artists do it for monetary gain or follow their vision at the expense of all other considerations.
I believe it is equally important, if not more so , to ask why each one of us does photography, or painting, or takes up music or medicine.
In one of my posts to these threads, I postulated that all of us are
endowed with an in-born set of skills..maybe similar or different. God given ( or as some might insist gained as a consequence of evolution ). Irrespective of how these were acquired, one either has them or not.
I have one in-born strength. I can open a conversation with strangers. Anywhere. Anyplace. Irrespective of language or cultural barriers. Do I succeed all the time. Of course not. But I have a pretty good batting average.
I also have a passion. To use this inborn gift to interact with people. To feel with them. To understand them.
And amongst many others, one of my weaknesses is that I am no artist. I do not have the talent. It is not in my DNA. I will never be an artist. I know that.
But I went in amongst the crowd below and learned a lot about unemployment, its effect on these people. I heard about the effects their misfortune has had on them and their families.
Ayesha and I were invited to one person's home for dinner. We got to know the family. We would call each other friends.
That experience, feeling, and gift does not show in my ' travel ' photography. Those who see the photographs, might see the composition, the contrast, the color. On a printed sheet, a monitor or slide screen.
I have felt all of these in my heart. The camera was and is only an enabler for me. Enabler to play to my strengths and exercise my passion.
After my rant, your turn. So, why do you really practice photography?
Photography is just a means to an end. For me anyway. I use it as a tool to get my step in, so to speak. Of course I generally end up with ' people ' or ' travel ' photographs that I share with my family and have a slide show for friends.
But, and crucially, I also invariably end up with having a much better understanding of how others live, think, feel. I have learnt a lot about our differences, but more so about our shared values. Across oceans and cultures.
There is a very interesting and important thread ongoing here re: composition, art and vision. A sub-thread addressing whether artists do it for monetary gain or follow their vision at the expense of all other considerations.
I believe it is equally important, if not more so , to ask why each one of us does photography, or painting, or takes up music or medicine.
In one of my posts to these threads, I postulated that all of us are
endowed with an in-born set of skills..maybe similar or different. God given ( or as some might insist gained as a consequence of evolution ). Irrespective of how these were acquired, one either has them or not.
I have one in-born strength. I can open a conversation with strangers. Anywhere. Anyplace. Irrespective of language or cultural barriers. Do I succeed all the time. Of course not. But I have a pretty good batting average.
I also have a passion. To use this inborn gift to interact with people. To feel with them. To understand them.
And amongst many others, one of my weaknesses is that I am no artist. I do not have the talent. It is not in my DNA. I will never be an artist. I know that.
But I went in amongst the crowd below and learned a lot about unemployment, its effect on these people. I heard about the effects their misfortune has had on them and their families.
Ayesha and I were invited to one person's home for dinner. We got to know the family. We would call each other friends.
That experience, feeling, and gift does not show in my ' travel ' photography. Those who see the photographs, might see the composition, the contrast, the color. On a printed sheet, a monitor or slide screen.
I have felt all of these in my heart. The camera was and is only an enabler for me. Enabler to play to my strengths and exercise my passion.
After my rant, your turn. So, why do you really practice photography?
