p.9 #2 · Getting the photo vs the experience of getting the photo
Manual focus isnt always fun. Im at the beach, sun is scorching and im barely seeing anything through the finder on the a7c2. subject moves or i recompose too much and have to do it all again but results (thankfully) at least come out nice.
Experience would have been much smoother with AF but perhaps the results less good than with the size of lens id carry. Except when all that manual focus struggle resulted in missing the good moment.
But for non people shots its always funner with mf, dialing it in rather than hoping it gets it right. Like driving stick right.
Unless theres eyesight issues, then who cares really. And if youre responsible to someone else with the photos then takes a bit of priority.
Im always missing shots sometimes because i cant be bothered, the moment passed quickly, didnt have the focal lengrh... its okay.
One thing that has been helping with the experience on sunny days with people is that magnetic nd filter. And that small wotoncraft bag for taking the camera out and putting it back away quickly and easily.
p.9 #5 · Getting the photo vs the experience of getting the photo
Over the past few years the experience has become much more important than getting the photo. I’ve never been a tele guy but over the past five years or so I have shed my big cameras (Nikon D3s, D810, D500, D7100 and fast heaven lenses) for the tiny Ricoh GR iii and iiix. Gone from carrying 10 pounds around to under 2. Do I miss some shots? YES. But I really enjoy creating film simulations in the GR—first by copying what others have done and then developing my own version of films I remember: Konica Impresa, Agfa Optima, Kodak Vericolor, Kodachrome etc. the colors I get sooc are what drives me. I very rarely shoot in raw any more. And I’m using my camera 2-3 times a week vs 2-3 times a month with the old gear.
p.9 #6 · Getting the photo vs the experience of getting the photo
I only occasionally do photography for business these days (real estate interiors), and mostly take images for my personal enjoyment. We travel for pleasure (tour or family) and an iPhone just doesn't do it for me so I take my A7Rv and a pair of telephoto lens to record our travels.
I guess I come down on the "experience" side of the discussion 98% of the time.
p.9 #7 · Getting the photo vs the experience of getting the photo
While I agree that there is pleasure in the operation of a fine machine, and the final image means a great deal to me, the main reasons that I carry a camera and shoot is that it changes the way I look at and think about the world around me. It's a far more active and analytical way of being, not being one of these zombies that blunder about with their noses in their phones. I'm looking for light, color, patterns, juxtapositions and actions that interest me.
I like having a photo on the wall and the memories they provoke, but I'm not putting in the effort to get anyone to pay for my photos. I don't give a damn about likes on social media. I'm doing it for me.
p.9 #8 · Getting the photo vs the experience of getting the photo
The final image is more important to me at this stage of life.
When I was younger, when I went out, many times I was seeing things I hadn't seen before.
Those experiences have become less frequent, so the thrill of the chase isn't there.
Now I go to places that I've been a hundred times to photograph something I've photographed many times before,
Just to see if I can get something a little bit better than what I got the last time out.
p.9 #9 · Getting the photo vs the experience of getting the photo
davev wrote:
The final image is more important to me at this stage of life.
When I was younger, when I went out, many times I was seeing things I hadn't seen before.
Those experiences have become less frequent, so the thrill of the chase isn't there.
Now I go to places that I've been a hundred times to photograph something I've photographed many times before,
Just to see if I can get something a little bit better than what I got the last time out.
I can relate to what you are saying about the transition from seeing places and things that you were seeing for the first time to looking in often-familiar places for now ways to see them.
The first time you see Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View (to use an obvious illustration) the scene is astonishing, almost no mater the season, time of day, and conditions. The 100th time you see Tunnel View… you begin to be a bit more selective. :-)
p.9 #10 · Getting the photo vs the experience of getting the photo
The experience of taking the photo is important to me. I shoot 75% of my photos on the X100V more or less because I like how the camera looks and because I like that other people comment on it. I have an R5 II with an L series RF 35, I'd certainly get *nicer* photographs if I used that exclusively. But it'd also be much harder to dip in and out of a dance floor, or reach across a restaurant table, or sneak a camera into a concert hall, if I used that setup exclusively. Plus, it just doesn't look as cool. Cameras are fun toys and handsome accessories as much as they are imaging tools for me.
That said, I'm in a different phase of life than a lot of people in this thread. I'm in my 30s and on the go all the time. Photography is an additive to my life but it is not the most important thing (no disrespect to those who are more committed - one day I plan to retire and shoot pictures 24/7!) Also, purely pragmatically, I'm 6'6" and about 215 pounds; using small "retro" cameras makes me a little bit less intimidating to those I'm photographing. The experience is no fun at all when people see you as a big ogre with a "pro" camera.
p.9 #11 · Getting the photo vs the experience of getting the photo
The 'phase of life' paradigm is society's way of pigeonholing you, and preventing you living your self-chosen life. I don't buy it and nor should you. To not stand out - I am around other-looking people all the time - just dress like the locals and act friendly. Good people are everywhere. Plenty of tall ones all over too.
On the experience of getting the photo, do you look back on images of loved ones from 10-20 years ago and instead think to yourself: 'man, I remember how good it felt to press that shutter release in that shot, how comfortable the camera was in my hands'? It's like a restorer remembering turning the torque wrench on his now pristine 70s' Ducati.
Photography has the unique ability to stop the passage of time in an instant, and make it potentially visible forever. And time is the great mystery, and all photography eventually becomes nostalgia. Don't get sidetracked by trivia, by mere process. I think it also helps to see your photography as highly personal. I don't care what people think of me, why give them power over oneself?
p.9 #12 · Getting the photo vs the experience of getting the photo
nightnight wrote:
The experience of taking the photo is important to me. I shoot 75% of my photos on the X100V more or less because I like how the camera looks and because I like that other people comment on it. I have an R5 II with an L series RF 35, I'd certainly get *nicer* photographs if I used that exclusively. But it'd also be much harder to dip in and out of a dance floor, or reach across a restaurant table, or sneak a camera into a concert hall, if I used that setup exclusively. Plus, it just doesn't look as cool. Cameras are fun toys and handsome accessories as much as they are imaging tools for me.
That said, I'm in a different phase of life than a lot of people in this thread. I'm in my 30s and on the go all the time. Photography is an additive to my life but it is not the most important thing (no disrespect to those who are more committed - one day I plan to retire and shoot pictures 24/7!) Also, purely pragmatically, I'm 6'6" and about 215 pounds; using small "retro" cameras makes me a little bit less intimidating to those I'm photographing. The experience is no fun at all when people see you as a big ogre with a "pro" camera....Show more →
I do different kinds of photography: when I’m doing photojournalism, I’m an old geezer in the crowd but when I was doing bird photography I was a youngster. It doesn’t matter.
And camera size works in different ways, too. You’re right most of the time, but when I shot a beach party, I took a Canon 1D series and a large zoom, so they didn’t see me as some creep. I wanted to be conspicuous. And that was 20 years ago, when my hair wasn’t that gray yet.
p.9 #13 · Getting the photo vs the experience of getting the photo
nightnight wrote:
The experience of taking the photo is important to me. I shoot 75% of my photos on the X100V more or less because I like how the camera looks and because I like that other people comment on it. I have an R5 II with an L series RF 35, I'd certainly get *nicer* photographs if I used that exclusively. But it'd also be much harder to dip in and out of a dance floor, or reach across a restaurant table, or sneak a camera into a concert hall, if I used that setup exclusively. Plus, it just doesn't look as cool. Cameras are fun toys and handsome accessories as much as they are imaging tools for me.
That said, I'm in a different phase of life than a lot of people in this thread. I'm in my 30s and on the go all the time. Photography is an additive to my life but it is not the most important thing (no disrespect to those who are more committed - one day I plan to retire and shoot pictures 24/7!) Also, purely pragmatically, I'm 6'6" and about 215 pounds; using small "retro" cameras makes me a little bit less intimidating to those I'm photographing. The experience is no fun at all when people see you as a big ogre with a "pro" camera....Show more →
I’m not so sure that age (poster* writes: “I’m in m 30s and on the go all the time) is all that relevant.
I’m, uh, a bit older — probably like many on these boards, as you write. But in many ways I’m more “on the go” now than I was when I was in my 30s. But beyond that, I took your post to ask myself, “does this describe what I was like in my 30s?”
No, it doesn’t. While I enjoyed owning a good camera and lenses, too, it was then (and is now) fundamentally about making/getting photographs. Can there be a kind of pleasure or joy in the process? Sure, but I’d frame it more as “satisfaction” with a process that produces the work.
If I could go out on the street and operate a camera but never see the photographs, would I even bother? Absolutely not. I’d head out with no camera and just enjoy being out there. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but it feels to me that the only reason to go to such places and do such things with a camera in hand is to… make photographs.
YMMV, i guess.
* CRITICAL EDIT — In my original reply I made a typo that turned the word "poster" into "poser" — which made it sound like I was insulting the poster (who is NOT a poser) that I referred to. I want to apologize for that good, and assure you that it was my poor typing that created the goof.
p.9 #14 · Getting the photo vs the experience of getting the photo
I've often wondered about people on these forums who rhapsodize about "the shooting experience" with certain cameras or lenses. As long as the tools get the job done, without getting in the way, I'm happy. For most of my photography, which involves hiking/climbing/skiing that means lighter cameras are better, and zooms give me more options for the weight, in addition to not wasting time changing lenses.
Back in my 20s, when I was climbing hard, my partners and I debated the merits of bringing along a camera to document our adventures. I had done so since starting out in my teens, but was delving into eastern philosophy and meditation. I found that photos led me to remember those moments more that others, and I wondered if it changed my overall memory/feel of the day. When I couldn't afford film while in college it was easy to get into "the zen of climbing." I was happy to do so, but once I got a real job, and could afford a new camera and film, I got right back into photograph and integrated it into my climbing as an integral part of the whole experience.
On most of my hikes photography is an important part of it, and sometimes the actual goal, but the friendship with my wife and partners, watching the light change, and listening to the desert silence on those lucky days we have a place to ourselves, is more important than the photos I bring back. I also love reliving the experience when processing them back home, and get very happily excited when I nail a difficult shot.
p.9 #15 · Getting the photo vs the experience of getting the photo
Jim Dockery wrote:
I've often wondered about people on these forums who rhapsodize about "the shooting experience" with certain cameras or lenses.
This is an extreme generality, but I've seen an obvious overlap between some of those people and some of the worst photography posted here. There is certainly a subset of folks who value the act of shooting far more than the final result. You can tell this in a number of ways...from basic laziness in refusing to remove dust bunnies from the final product, or a total lack of post processing, or letting AI programs remove all critical detail because they shot at ISO 51,200, or completely uninspired compositions with no actual subject.
Of course anyone is allowed to pick up a camera and do as they please, but the correlation is there if you notice it, same with their never-ending hand wringing about which gear to buy and shoot as if that matters in the least for them, likely because they value the way the camera feels vs the final product.
p.9 #16 · Getting the photo vs the experience of getting the photo
philip_pj wrote:
The 'phase of life' paradigm is society's way of pigeonholing you, and preventing you living your self-chosen life. I don't buy it and nor should you. To not stand out - I am around other-looking people all the time - just dress like the locals and act friendly. Good people are everywhere. Plenty of tall ones all over too.
On the experience of getting the photo, do you look back on images of loved ones from 10-20 years ago and instead think to yourself: 'man, I remember how good it felt to press that shutter release in that shot, how comfortable the camera was in my hands'? It's like a restorer remembering turning the torque wrench on his now pristine 70s' Ducati.
Photography has the unique ability to stop the passage of time in an instant, and make it potentially visible forever. And time is the great mystery, and all photography eventually becomes nostalgia. Don't get sidetracked by trivia, by mere process. I think it also helps to see your photography as highly personal. I don't care what people think of me, why give them power over oneself?...Show more →
I think many are mixing up the experience of using the gear versus the experience of being in the moment when you press the shutter. For me, what gear I have really does not phase me, but the experience I have being immersed into the environment as I press the shutter and capture that moment is what is priceless, if the end result is a wall hanger…all the better, but that pales compared to the experience of being immersed as I look for photo opportunities. The gear matters squat at the time.
p.9 #18 · Getting the photo vs the experience of getting the photo
At first I was leaning toward talking about the experience of taking the photo vs the end result. But the more I thought about it and read some of the responses, I think I was just looking at it differently.
For me, it really does comes down to the end result. What I like about my Leica is the result, and it’s the same with my Sony. I do enjoy the tactile side of using my camera’s. They are different tools that require different techniques on my part and offer me a different way to see the scene.
I think this is where hobbyists and professionals tend to butt heads a bit, perhaps? Tools of a traditional trade are going to have a different meaning to the professional shooting to pay the bills vs those of us with other careers. I know that I'm not very good at photography. Yet I enjoy it anyway.
p.9 #19 · Getting the photo vs the experience of getting the photo
Most should be familiar with Harry Potter books and movies. There is one particular part of the stories that I connected with ever since the first time reading this in the book, and after watching the movie. This is about Dementors. One can say that Dementors personify depression and despair. As you may remember from the stories, confronting Dementors requires concentrating on a single, intense, and vivid happy memory. I expect that every human being should have this experience of confronting their particular Dementors throughout the life time, for all the usual reasons: loss, sickness, financial difficulties, etc.
While I count myself among the happy, and regularly count my blessings, I do have the need to concentrate on a single intense happy memory sometimes, e.g. at night. In the last few years, I tend to think of some recent happy photography experience, as an immediate intense happy thought and memory.
The reasons for doing photography can be different, but I believe I wouldn't be alone to acknowledge that photography is good for mental health. This is in addition to the physical health benefits of going on hikes with a camera, and capturing memorable photos. There's certainly considerably more to photography than just getting the photos.
p.9 #20 · Getting the photo vs the experience of getting the photo
I enjoy the fruits of my labor, as I do the labor involved in getting the fruits. I shoot a mixture of primes and zooms, sometimes gravitating more towards one vs the other. I enjoy the variety a bit I guess.
