Your Audience

Thinking of who's looking at your pictures does make you shoot in a certain way, right or wrong?

My wife who is not a photographer BUT someone who does know how to tell a a nice picture from another will never be able to advise me which lens gives a "better" result, etc. But yet, she can tell me which picture she likes best and which she finds there's nothing interesting.

On the other hand, my photographer friends who know more about lenses will start asking me what lenses I used, film or digital, and all the questions regarding the equipment I used when they see some "nice" pictures from me.

So I guess, the "Nice" when my wife said it must have a different meaning to the "Nice" when my photographer friends said it.

So now, what?

Should I aim to please my wife or my photographer friends? (as a reminder, my wife is quite a critic at pictures. She's not very artistic when compared to many others but at least she has some art sense)

When I said, "ART is selfish, you only set out to please yourself, you should only shoot for yourself, you shoot what you feel NOT what you want others to like... etc..." erhem... "Bullshit!" that's what the realists will say! Sometimes, I am a realist too!

We all want an audience, don't we?

But some can go so crazy in "Fans-collecting" that they often lose themselves, lose their own character, lose their gut feeling, lose their moxie in doing what they want, in fear of losing their fans and losing their audience.

If my audience is a bunch of gear nuts, I'll be changing gears constantly in order to satisfy my audience.

If my audience is a bunch of non-artistic business people, I'll only be shooting what makes money, whatever that's "in-season".

If my audience is a bunch of sensitive people who appreciates ART, I'll be more sensitive in the content I wanna present in my images.

So I guess, it's either Change Your Audience (if you find you're not getting the right audience) OR Change You (to suit what's most "popular").

The Fatherly Figure

How important it is, for a dad to spend time with his kid?

Enjoying Photography as Art

Photography as Art is all about emotions, your inner senses, your gut feeling. When you look at an image and can't feel what the photographer is saying, you fail to communicate to the photographer. It's like reading body language. Sometimes, the photographer leaves an open end for your imagination, sometimes an immediate answer to your question. It's pure unspoken pleasure between the artist and the viewers, and willing audience only.

The ones who try to define photography with rationalism fail to communicate with their feelings. They skip the pleasure of the senses. It's hard when photography is so dependent on cameras. It's hard to avoid thinking about the camera and lens behind an image, and the exposure settings, etc. We can go on and on about sharpness, the "right" way or your "preferred" way of doing it, and forget the emotional communication between you and the photographer.  

Try understanding the photographer through his/her images. You'll be a happier person.

Running Away

HINTS

1. Can't wait to get away, far far away... ...

2. Running away from reality

3. Fighting to be in the first place

It's sad that I even have to list out the above to get your imagination running... we seem all dead in our senses living in this part of the world. Photography has become all about cameras and lenses, nothing about imagination anymore. If we can't read images, how can we make images of our own expressions? 

All we know is to ogle at how difficult some images seem to be made by some professionals, how about the tons of hobbyists who make fantastic expressions through images? It surely does not take a pro to make better images... ...

The Child in Me

Can't Stop

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