Which is more important to you the feel and process of shooting or the results of the final images.

I think it is both. There is the magic of shooting a scene that moves me, and then there is trying to get the final result to resemble what you saw in your mind when you took the shot.

A difficult camera can ruin the first part and difficult software can ruin the second.

Cheers, Jock
 
There have been some occasions where I am so "in the zone" that I can't imagine anything more enjoyable than seeing and capturing photos. It hasn't happened any time in the last 9 months or so so I haven't been shooting much. I wish I knew what triggered it or how to make it a repeatable occurrence.

Lately when I grab my camera, I feel like I'm going through the motions and the results show it.
 
For me it's all about the result. But as with any art, your mindset at the time of creation plays a very large role in determining the end result - it's your mind that has to recognize the potential, feel compelled to make an image, and come up with a composition that pleases you.

For me, the type of shooting largely determines what camera allows me to have the right mindset. For landscape or wildlife shooting, having a small, light camera that doesn't limit my freedom to walk / clamber about - basically a camera that i can forget about carrying - is more important than having any kind of physical / handling "connection" to the camera. I just don't want to be "only" a photographer; i prefer to experience things first and foremost, and although my eyes are always looking for - and finding - compositions, in the vast majority of cases I just admire the scene without taking a photo. If I finally do see something that I want to take a photo of, I'll make it work even if the interface is crap (focal length, dof control, dynamic range and colour range do limit what I can do ofcourse, but none of those are related to process as discussed here).

For street or people photography, the same applies (small / light), but the camera should ideally also be unobtrusive and be equipped with both a viewfinder and a tilting / rotating screen, to help me stand out as little as possible and overcome my shyness.
 
very nice perspective in shot #2.

about the samurai charge, thats about as far from zen as one can get and about as close as one can get to cultural perceptions of honor. perhaps this misperception is where the disconnect begins. imo, zen is ultimately about achieving Quality in a task by putting quality into the task through the concept of unifying yourself with the task. properly done one has a positive experience achieving a positive result. the process and result cannot be seperated from each other nor from the joy they bring to the individual.

The Samurai reference had more to do with someone giving their all to something that had past its time. Better tools were available but because of doing things in that traditional way, it turned out to be poor choice.


My basic point is one can slow down or reduce the quality of the latest digital cameras but you can never speed up or increase the resolution of the older digital ones. It has nothing to do with zen or western philosophical thought.
I understand shooting with something that makes altered, off color, even soft images if that is what one is looking for. In the old days we would search out old view camera lenses without coatings because of the cool flared images they created. They were never used for the everyday, though, not versatile enough We also spent an awful amount of time with a lupe checking the focus on negs and transparencies, because even with our best skills at manual focus we missed.

Shoot what you like, I do not see any disconnect, we just look at the way to capture an image very differently
 
bob almost every point you make has not the slightest connection to anything i said anywhere in this thread. contrary to what you said, i made no mention of 'slowing down vs speeding up'. contrary to what you said, i specifically said the results i get from the rd1 are not 'off color, soft' or anything else that provides a lesser result than most if not all 12-16mp 'modern' cams. and contrary to what you said, i made no mention of the 'old film days'. the reason i persist in this back and forth is that you insist on either basing your replies on things i never said, or insist on claiming my points are the very opposite of those i in fact made.

lets be clear: i'm not asking anyone to agree with where i came out, and honestly dont care if anyone does, as it was my journey i posted about. but i do care when my views, opinions and conclusions are repeatedly misrepresented. i thank you in advance for not doing that anymore.
 
There have been some occasions where I am so "in the zone" that I can't imagine anything more enjoyable than seeing and capturing photos. It hasn't happened any time in the last 9 months or so so I haven't been shooting much. I wish I knew what triggered it or how to make it a repeatable occurrence.

Lately when I grab my camera, I feel like I'm going through the motions and the results show it.

luke that is so on point to my original topic. i just took my epl5 to the circus because it was the best tool for the low light telephoto work i needed to do. i'll tell ya' it did a great job, but i had absolutely no fun using it. never do. its slightly less onerous when i have my elmar 90 on it because at 180mm i can manual focus without resort to magnification. but on the whole, it is a 'going through the motions' experience, fully a means to an end.

its much less so with my rx1, because with the grip i have, the fabulous evf and the way ive set it up, i do enjoy the 'feeling' of it, and of course the results are superb.

but thats what was so surprising to me about the rd1. it totally reignited that 'in the zone' feeling. for me it was because it removed every single obstacle between me and the scene, it allowed me to 'see' the scene 1:1, and it almost removed iteself as an intermediary, just kinda leaving me and the scene and my control of the focus. and most surprisingly, i loved the results. that first portrait i posted, i think it is the single best picture ive taken in years. it is perfect to me, just exactly what i wanted in every way.

is it for everybody? heck no! will many react the way i did? i dont know, but probably not. but for those for whom technology has sterilized or removed them too far from the process or from being 'in' the scene, my point was maybe give it a whirl! i waited too long to do so because i was 'stuck' on the mp/old tech thing when i couldve been really enjoying myself! just wanted to provide some inspiration to whomever to not make that mistake.
 
luke that is so on point to my original topic. i just took my epl5 to the circus because it was the best tool for the low light telephoto work i needed to do. i'll tell ya' it did a great job, but i had absolutely no fun using it. never do. its slightly less onerous when i have my elmar 90 on it because at 180mm i can manual focus without resort to magnification. but on the whole, it is a 'going through the motions' experience, fully a means to an end.

its much less so with my rx1, because with the grip i have, the fabulous evf and the way ive set it up, i do enjoy the 'feeling' of it, and of course the results are superb.

but thats what was so surprising to me about the rd1. it totally reignited that 'in the zone' feeling. for me it was because it removed every single obstacle between me and the scene, it allowed me to 'see' the scene 1:1, and it almost removed iteself as an intermediary, just kinda leaving me and the scene and my control of the focus. and most surprisingly, i loved the results. that first portrait i posted, i think it is the single best picture ive taken in years. it is perfect to me, just exactly what i wanted in every way.

is it for everybody? heck no! will many react the way i did? i dont know, but probably not. but for those for whom technology has sterilized or removed them too far from the process or from being 'in' the scene, my point was maybe give it a whirl! i waited too long to do so because i was 'stuck' on the mp/old tech thing when i couldve been really enjoying myself! just wanted to provide some inspiration to whomever to not make that mistake.

If you want to enjoy your "photography" it is important to enjoy your subject and the final result of your work - for me the camera is between both and the lens is more important than the body. You may get an experience of "shooting" because of the gear you use, say a Leica M8/9 for some, a Nikon D4S for others or a SC for many, but it is just a device to capture and bring together the photography experience.
"Playing" with different "toys" can be fun but is not what it is all about and certain body/lens set ups are needed for different subjects, but enjoyment is a cure for "body blues"

Enjoy your subject, get to know your subject, be interested in your subject and your results will be pleasing to you, and as an AP that's the best we can do, IMHO, of course.
 
There are times I enjoy shooting and then am disappointed by the results when I get home. The obverse is also true, although less often. Obviously I want enjoyable shooting and great images.
 
I like to observe and react to what I see. Once I snap, I usually don't take a look see until later, and it does make me quite happy/glad/fulfilled when it turns out that I got what I was after. So it's about the results, though if I hadn't seen that moment/view/whatever, I couldn't have achieved that result. Don't care about the actual camera as long as I know how to use it well enough not to have be aware of it, if you know what I mean.

P.S. The bottom line for me is the art of seeing - and the creativity in the output. I have a friend who swears she can't take a picture but suddenly she has turned into a prolific and very good, predominately self taught, painter. It's the act of creativity and the pleasing results (pleasing to oneself is, I think, the most important) that gives one that jolt of dopamine, perhaps? Isn't that why we keep doing it? Because we like it and it makes us feel good?
 
I guess what best sums up this discussion for me, is if I feel something from what I see, I can shoot it with practically anything and have a great time. On this latest trip here to Japan I have brought too much stuff, too many toys, I like having a choice but most of it just sits in my room. Obviously some tools can do one job better than another, but I can be happy shooting with an iphone or an 8X10. I want to create images not test equipment, I only identify what tools I shoot with because people ask on these forums. I don't care if it is a Leica, Nikon, Apple or whatever lens or camera as long as it can do what is needed at the time. Even after shooting for this many years I still get a rush from shooting and seeing the images, We are talking a lot of years.

For those that struggle to connect with their photography I suggest, that one put the camera away for a little while, just look and observe, if you are going to shoot it will come to you. The eye is far more important than the camera, sometimes we try too hard and the joy gets lost.
 
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