Thread: What Do Your Photographs Say About You?

Interesting topic...I don't think about what my photography says about me. Not that it doesn't reveal a lot about me (perhaps it does) but then again I have never been particularly guarded about myself so I reveal a lot about myself in a simple conversation I suppose. It's too much work to hide anything so why bother?

It's like any art the doing is the important part and not the result.

Much of what a photo reveals is subtle ... but it is there:

This was for publication and the editor and I had a brief discussion.


The first thing he mentioned was my angle - eye level, he said most photogs wouldn't drop down with the subject for that eye level, eye contact.

So firstly, I think looking someone straight in the eye displays a self-confidence, self-assurance even a confrontational manner ... in this photo I went for eye-contact, which in-turn outwardly states I am unafraid of confrontation and when the subject lowered himself I dropped with him to maintain a direct eye-level, confrontational contact in my image.

This was in public, shooting a person I've never met before, which says I'm not shy ... or perhaps I am willing to overcome my personal shortfalls to satisfy the requirements of my task. This, if I recall correctly, was cropped 100% in the camera (back I rarely printed anything which required cropping in the darkroom), which says I am a bit of a perfectionist and confident with my camera to the point of being a jerk about my photographic ability. I burned-in around the subject (excessively by today's standards), reflecting my need to make the image as good/perfect as I can.

I can probably go on, but my point is that one's photographic 'style' reveals much about the person behind the camera. As much so as a writing style reveals the person behind the words. Not having any psychological education or training, I cannot speak to the depth of what a photo reveals, (if anything beyond the obvious), but photographs can tell us much about the photographer. Hell, even people walking by trash on the ground and one person stops to pick it up speaks to the nature of those people. Albeit a very limited characterization, but something is revealed, same too with photography, some images may speak volumes about the photographer, while some images may be merely a whisper, but a photog cannot help but leave fingerprints with every release of the shutter.

Gary

Gary,

Really nice story. I'm probably a little too lazy to bend down to take that shot, but then again, I don't shoot people. However, I've gotten myself in trouble before trying to take photos of waterfalls or scenery. I will go out of my way(sometimes dangerously so according to my better half) to get a better shot.

Originally Posted by Gary

Nope, everything you do and everything you communicate says something about who you are.

Then why don't my photographs say I am Cary Grant?

Originally Posted by Gary

I can probably go on, but my point is that one's photographic 'style' reveals much about the person behind the camera.

I think your style is directly related to who you are, but it does not define you. I enjoy taking environmental portraits and do it with normal to short lenses. It is very much a style of engagement. However, I am a shy/private person. My photographs do not reflect that. Since I like to sing in the shower, perhaps the noise in my photographs reflect the quality of my voice...

A more interesting exercise would be to ask other people what the image conveys about you before providing your own analysis. What has been revealed in this case has not been revealed through the image but through your text.

Going back to Ed's quoted text, I wonder whether the author is putting on the rose-tinted glasses by intimating that an image needs to have a concept or contain a deeper meaning. A photograph doesn't have to be art. But then, maybe every image does have a concept. Is "at this place, at this time, through this lens, this is what I saw" an acceptable concept? That's usually all that I want them to say. I'm just the guy who presses the button.

Originally Posted by Hikari

Then why don't my photographs say I am Cary Grant?

1) because you don't shoot like Cary Grant; and/or because
2) you're not Cary Grant

Originally Posted by Hikari

I think your style is directly related to who you are, but it does not define you. I enjoy taking environmental portraits and do it with normal to short lenses. It is very much a style of engagement. However, I am a shy/private person. My photographs do not reflect that. Since I like to sing in the shower, perhaps the noise in my photographs reflect the quality of my voice...

I don't believe the OP nor my commentary ever stated that one's photographs define's the photographer. In my case, as a photo journalist (has been), I think it may be a 50:50 proposition of, moi defining the photographs and the assignments/photographs going a long way in defining moi.

While your images my not reflect that you are shy, they do illuminate that you feel photography is of such importance in your life, that you are willing to overcome an inherit physical trait of shyness to create the images you desire. And that reflects upon who you are in a very defining manner.

Do you really sing in the shower?

G

Originally Posted by olli

A more interesting exercise would be to ask other people what the image conveys about you before providing your own analysis. What has been revealed in this case has not been revealed through the image but through your text.

Yes my text, because the editor who discussed this image with me is not privy to this thread. Much of what I wrote was the spoken word of a third party. Terry Redknapp, where are you?