What Makes You Push the BUTTON?

Scott Kelby wrote an article about becoming serious with his photography. He mentioned he sometime used the "spray and pray" method, which I guess is what others are up to.

Most amateurs begin by taking pictures like others they have seen. "Oh, that looks just like a shot I saw the other day on FB. If I take it, it will look good too"! Maybe someone will pay me gobs of money for a print of it.

Or they take family and vacation photos. That was not so long ago, a big push from Kodak -- share your memories.

Once you get more serious about your work, you might try some other styles (or copy better artists). That's OK. We have to start somewhere.

But, my question is for all of you...

"What makes you push the button"?

Is it a color, a moment, a smile? Or maybe you create something to shoot, like in a studio environment? Or you're getting paid to shoot it?

C'mon. What makes you think, "This is worthy of my photography skills? I should take the time to capture that!"

No links to follow here. This is my own question for you wannabe's and pros.

_____

The camera gives us a voice that transcends all geographic lines. It's a universal language. Those who say they have a passion for photography are people who wish to speak. "I have something to say to the world"!

Our culture doesn't give everyone that chance. We tend to stifle voices that don't agree with us, or who say things we don't wish to hear.

"See it once through my eyes, and you too will understand."

For many, that only happens in their 2nd 100K.

Matthew

I think I'm pushing the shutter release with very little provocation. Spray and pray works to some extent and I'm forced into it sometimes depending on the event I'm trying to capture. I'm thinking specifically of standing on a street corner and shooting portraits of bikers riding by. They have a second or two to decide what they will offer in the way of expression and I might get two or three shots of them as they pass by. Sometimes you get the back of their head or perhaps the top of it and every once in a while someone looks like they are simply having a good time. My job in the above situation is to give the image the best I can in terms of the exposure and perspective. The rest of the shot often times is determined by simple things like what color the subject chose to wear that morning.

I get lucky sometimes and catch a shot I really like. I tend to try and repeat that experience again. I often copy the ideas of others and many times try to expand on them. Sometimes a specific area of photography will attract my attention and I'll adjust my gear to facilitate that genre - once I get the new gear I then spill over into other ways to exploit the other enhancements that gear gives me. For example... I recently got a 50mm f1.4 lens. I can now insert a fair amount of bokeh into a shot, which might have been the primary reason for getting it. This same lens though will improve my ability to shoot in low light as well as reverse it for more options in Macro.

The learning of all this is not accomplished in any single method. A good shot is the result of all the education, experience, technique, gear, clarity of mind and desire of wanting to express a message or thought applied to it. Or sometimes you just get lucky...

After taking a few hundred-thousand pictures, you will eventually realize that photography is about the "thing" you are photographing -- could be anything. The thing can be more interesting than your technique, and still be a good photo.

To make it a really good (or even a great) photo, is when you get really good at photographing the thing, and add good technique to it. The thing has form, and it is the beauty of the form that grabs our eyes, and connects us to it.

How we feel about the thing transmits itself through the image. If it's spray and pray (as Scott used the phrase), there isn't much thought or feeling behind whatever the thing is. It can still be a good photo. But likely it doesn't have much longevity in the art world.

For example, Weston's bell pepper and sea shells, are all about their beauty and form. He surely took time lighting and studying the subject before committing to the "button". We can feel that when we view them too. They speak to us on a transcendental level, and is why they are now collectable images.

This is true for all things we shoot. If it's our baby or grandchild, there is a heart that goes into the shot -- even when it is just a snapshot. It has stuff in it, that we can see (and feel) when viewed

Hope this makes sense to everyone. Another of my quotes that will help to clear it up (and yes you can RT these) is:

"Photography isn't about the camera. It's about getting beyond it."

Matthew

Another example using Saul Leiter's work. Some of you will see his work as simple snapshots taken in a city. However, if you think about the "thing" and its form, you soon realize that these are important works of art.

www.howtobearetronaut.com/2011/09/saul-l...-new-york-in-colour/

BTW this thread is open for comments. Don't be shy. There are no wrong answers.

To me, pushing that button is an instant stress reliever. The anticipation of capturing time that will never be lost as well as the opportunity to see things through my eyes, and the ability to turn that moment of time into ART, is beyond description in word.

How could you ever put this into words?

Hi Honey,

That's what I wanted to hear! Why do we snap when we do?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

Matthew

For me it's about capturing emotion, whether it's the emotion I felt as I looked at the subject or the emotion the subject was feeling. I do use the spray and pray method when it comes to my boys. Getting them to be still or looking in the right direction to portray the emotion they're displaying is a little tricky. I do not take copious photos of them playing and whip them out to every passer-by and coo about how adorable they are. I pick the best of the bunch and ditch the rest. I may even merge photos together. Sorry, got a little off track there. What makes me press the button is emotion.

I will have to think on this and come back to it. For right now I am just feeding my addiction

I think its a lot like the thrill of the hunt but where thankfully nothing needs to get hurt ,or maybe freeze a moment in time which whenever you go back to it still makes your hart jump....

Love all the answers. Thanks everyone for contributing.

Give me MORE!

Had a nap and now I am back. For me it is about it not letting me go until it is pushed. One day I was sitting on my deck waiting for the birds to do something that would get me to push the shutter and I looked over and the dew on the grass looked like little diamonds. Back to my birds but I kept on looking over at the grass and said to myself Jeez Jo just go get your tubes and something to lay on and shoot. My mind was having a fight with my lazy self to get off my ---- and see what was 2 inches off the ground. I did and I must have laid their and shot pictures for an hour. See so some things just won't let go until you do it. Another time I was sitting at home and my husband had a friend over and I looked up and we had some water that we had just bought sitting on the table. I got up and started arranging the water bottles and taking pictures from this angle and that and this friend said 'you must see something in those bottles that I don't' I just smiled and kept pushing. I thought-Yes I do, YES I do.
It is my passion, my hobby and I am able to see things that no one gets but me and thats ok, its what keeps me going every day. No one can ever take that away from me.

Wonderful.

Sorry for a late reply but had to work...
Shooting BIF`s is more instinctive but the beauty captured especially at takeoff/landing is very rewarding mentally.Having the skill to capture those images is like a journey up a mountain with hurdles in your path but when you are waiting for the moment to press that shutter and seeing the image popups is priceless,that is fullfilling in it`s self but even more rewarding for me is shooting landscapes or to be more precise Ir cloud-filled landscapes to be converted into B&W.
My life`s quest is to an Ir photographer of the highest order,wildlife came about only because of the abundance of wildlife in Florida and the closeness of so many parks,I shoots visible light images in wildlife and floral everything is is infrared[ir],that`s my speciality.
Shooting landscpes without clouds is like bread without butter,that scenario doesn`t appeal to me.
The beauty of seeing a wonderful cloud formation is a moment to view in awe and for the stress of the moment to disappear.I`m a very instinctive shooter,my mind has to click on an image then shoot that image.I shoot in the vertical mode at 3 frames [bracketing] and then stitch.The moment to push that button is when the beauty of my preconcieved b&w image hits me.
I`ve been doing Ir since 1999 starting with film after seeing a classmate printed an Ir landscape image that blew me away and that started my lifelong journey.Had a darkroom and was pretty good at printing but digital has improved my work so much but still not as good as I want to be
but i`m very happy in that my images are mine and not greatly influenced by anyone.
Thanks Matthew for the chance to have my 'say'
Respect
robbie

Pixelchix wrote: Had a nap and now I am back. For me it is about it not letting me go until it is pushed. One day I was sitting on my deck waiting for the birds to do something that would get me to push the shutter and I looked over and the dew on the grass looked like little diamonds. Back to my birds but I kept on looking over at the grass and said to myself Jeez Jo just go get your tubes and something to lay on and shoot. My mind was having a fight with my lazy self to get off my ---- and see what was 2 inches off the ground. I did and I must have laid their and shot pictures for an hour. See so some things just won't let go until you do it. Another time I was sitting at home and my husband had a friend over and I looked up and we had some water that we had just bought sitting on the table. I got up and started arranging the water bottles and taking pictures from this angle and that and this friend said 'you must see something in those bottles that I don't' I just smiled and kept pushing. I thought-Yes I do, YES I do.
It is my passion, my hobby and I am able to see things that no one gets but me and thats ok, its what keeps me going every day. No one can ever take that away from me.

Yep,I can relate.I shoot with my better half and sometimes I see an image and start shooting,she will be so surprise that she will ask what am I shooting.Keep the faith and been true to yourself.

Spray and pray?? That's a new one on me. Sounds like what dogs do, well the first half of it anyway.

I don't consciously think about it that much, my camera is an extension of myself. I shoot whatever I see that clicks in my mind as 'it'. Sometimes I don't see a shot that I want and turn, and there it is and I just shoot it. And change my stance, my perspective, my vantage point and build on it and keep shooting because there's still something there that I see.... For me it's more an a-ha moment, a lightbulb coming on.

I remember when I took a darkroom course some years ago thru a local university. We went out to a nearby state park to shoot some photos to develop in the darkroom. We all spilled out of the van and scattered in a dozen different directions. We seemed to each go wandering off after whatever caught our eye and we all came away with a totally different photos from that same stretch of scenery.