This is a question that i asked some kids in my photography classes. Its a difficult question with many different results.
Why do you take pictures and what do you like in photos? Do you like taking photos of great times in peoples lives? Do you like taking photos of nature and wildlife? Why do you take those photos? Strictly money related? your own enjoyment?

I love taking photos that people find out of the normal. I did a series at school thats in the displays of different views that people dont normally see. Like dog eye view photos... the public find those really interesting just because they dont see from that view much in their life because they never think to. set your camera on railroad tracks and shoot down the track instead of standing above it and shooting down the track. instead of standing behind parents at a soccer game and shooting over them... try laying infront of the bleachers with your lens an inch off of the grass blades... I shoot to get a shock out of people... water drops also add into this... everyone sees them daily.. but when you freeze them in mid splash, then people are blown away by them.

So my question is... why do you take pictures?

The simple answer is because I like doing it. (How's that for deep? ) I take various kinds of photos, but in particular I am a fan of the National Geographic magazine and the old Life magazine style of photography. Sort of street/travel photography with a photojournalistic style. I post photos here on this forum often, but you can also see some on my website:

http://www.bakubo.com

Not much interest in your thread so far. Maybe you will get more responses soon.

Henry, everybody still thinking what to answer.

I guess there's no just 1 straightforward answer.
You might sometimes document personal celebrations/events (e.g. birthday, New Year, Christmas...), might shoot some historic events (e.g. riots, war, political meetings, fights...), you might even include weddings in both mentioned categories......
It's quite a possibility to shoot for a show off (why not? lots of people do, attaching their longest lens in a place where you could hardly use it). Moreover, using their camera as a tool to begin a conversation (i.e. shooting not for photography but to make acquaintances)...
And the list goes on and on... science, technology, innovations etc, etc, etc.
But let us not forget that some, if not most of us here, shoot to express their feelings, express their views be it in moments of happiness or even sorrow.

OK, OK. we like doing it and it's fun sometimes.

Very well put Doc. I'll add +1 to that. It is a very interesting area for me, where tech meets art. One thing that I never expected was to meet so many online friends around the world. An unexpected bonus .

i like what you have all said. i mainly just started this to see your responses. i found a new hobby im trying to start.... Urban Exploring. its been around for a while but still new to me, so i may have some new types of pictures soon. Im trying to plan a summer trip to Chernobyl, Ukraine so that i can get some pictures of that area because i love photographs of abandonment and war aftermath (years and years later). And chernobyl has over 9 miles in diameter of a city frozen in time.

Detroit is very close to you and it probably would, sadly, be good for that type of photography too.

Hi raustin09a330, : )

Wecome to the forum.

I found about myself that I like keeping a photo track, diary of everything that comes my way; I like registering things that in time is bound to change, so until it changes I try to have that recent look in my archives. I can also create a 'timeline' out f these shots, that are taken sequentially during a walk, a trip or an event: a diary of times in the move.

One of the reasons I started the thread 'Weather Today-In your Vicinity' in the last year. It enables a chronological registration of weather and some events from different parts of the planet Earth as much as possible. : )

I like the challenge of containing a certain subject or event in a single frame which improves one's ability to assess a certain situation.

I believe that there's a story in each subject, be it a plant, a human being, an animal / bird or structure of sorts and try to follow its story, its agitation, happiness and moods..then again through a timeline.

That Optical Viewfinder or the LCD screen gives a new sense of reality to what is worthy of a capture and what is not. : ) Or the challenge of 'if one can make something more interesting by giving it a whole new meaning and look through that frame'.

Thanks,

Yildiz

For me photography is first a incredible way of reaching memories ... So, most of the time, the picture I take is to stamp in my memory at the same time a moment that later I want to make back the feeling I had at this moment.

Artistic idea and creation come in second, where I try to play with the physic environment like LEGO.

I first start with video in my life ... and by the end en realized that a good picture can easy in a few second give you the same feeling of a good 15 minutes of film ...

Regards,

Frank

I shoot whatever I find interesting, mostly, as Frank says, as a way of remembering it. Photos can, years later, bring to mind much more than just talking about it can.

Sometimes, in photographing nature, I do it just to capture a piece of beauty, not to capture the moment, but the beauty of the moment.

And sometimes, I'm just a guy with the camera that everybody expects to document the moment for them, since they can't do it as well!

Dusty

Right now, I tend to take pictures because I think the picture has a use or can earn something. A 'use' for me could be to illustrate a photographic technique, or maybe even to show a really good picture. So I might take the same shot someone else takes because they think it will be their best ever photo, to illustrate a typical example of what people want to be their best photo.

Originally I took pictures because the world surprised me by creating unexpected light, contrasts, shapes and moments. I think at some point I'll return to doing that again.

David

I remember an article on PopPhoto with the very same question 'why do you take pictures". Their survey shown that most of the people take pictures because they want to master the technique... and a very little percentage took pictures because they want to "express themselves".

Why do I take pictures? by chance. I got a job at a photolab when I was 17. it was easy for me. I bought a camera, I start taking pictures in order to make more money. It was easy for me. I spent about 4 years in this process before I asked myself if I wanted to be a photographer. And I decide I wanted to be a photographer...

Why do I take pictures today? I do mostly events and portraits for work. I like the challenge of a job done properly. And I like the adrenaline involved on the events. Then, today I understand photography with a big sense of history, and my ego help me to visualize the people I'm photographing now, showing those photographs to their daughters and sons, grand-daughters and grand-sons, grand-grand... whatever. I see my photographs bringing me to life in 150 years thanks to the regard of the others.

And I pay the rent with it.

I guess for me, one reason why I photograph things is too see what something looks like after I photgraph it, I don't particularly care what it is, nothing in nature is safe from me photographing it, flowers, trees, macro of small things, spiders, frogs, birds, lizards, snakes, insects, horses, cows, crocodiles, kangaroos, possums, also scenes, buildings, trucks, trains, planes, ships, cars, sunsets, sunrises, even people and family reasonably often.
Another reason is there is a faint possibility that someone might be interested in seeing what I took a photo of.
And still another is there is also a remote possibility that I might sometimes actually take a decent photo.
And as Birma said there is the bonus in this day and age of meeting other people who take photos, many of whom I now include in my circle of friends.
Greg

i love the responses i have gotten so far.

I take pictures because it gives me something to do while I'm looking at interesting stuff.