Author Topic: Solitary Pleasure? (Read 6404 times)

Late Developer · « **on:** November 22, 2010, 08:57:21 PM »

I was reading an article somewhere last week (quite where escapes me just now) and it started me wondering whether we prefer to be alone, or a couple, or part of a group when we're out taking photos.

My dad got me into photography but wasn't really interested (or fit enough, sadly) to share my passion for photographing my exploits when fell-walking in the Lake District or scrambling about in other rocky bits of northern England and the highlands of Scotland. So, I got used to shooting alone.

These days, being much older and married to someone who is showing a fledgling interest in photography (albeit digital - for now) it's great to go out shooting as a couple. We've even got a few mates who we meet up with to visit different places, take photos and generally hang out....

Is this typical or is photography a strictly "lone" pastime for many / any?? Do we enjoy the company of kindred spirits when we're experiencing the world via our viewfinders...??

Phil Bebbington · « **Reply #1 on:** November 22, 2010, 09:52:42 PM »

I have pondered this a lot. I need to shoot alone - I'm okay if the other person is a non photographer. My wife is always with me on travels, but, she is happy to sit and read and pay little attention to what I am doing unless I need help, then she passes me things or keeps watch. I put this work flow down to being slow, I spend a lot of time not taking photos, if that makes sense? So having someone with me who is detached from the process helps.

Poorly explained.

original_ann · « **Reply #2 on:** November 22, 2010, 10:12:22 PM »

I'm with Phil. I get so lost in my own enjoyment, hours pass so quickly... I like to think I'm a generous, giving person by character, but when I'm out shooting, that goes out the window: it becomes such a selfish indulgence and I want all the photographic subjects to myself. Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, gimme, gimme, gimme.

Suzi Livingstone · « **Reply #3 on:** November 22, 2010, 10:30:49 PM »

I shoot alone & I like it that way

Photo_Utopia · « **Reply #4 on:** November 22, 2010, 10:41:03 PM »

Photography has always been a solitary thing for me, I'm not sure I feel comfortable shooting with another.
Saying that I've second shot on a lot of weddings working in tandem, but for my own stuff its just me...
Mark

PS I'm a social being in every other respect-just not photography.

astrobeck · « **Reply #5 on:** November 22, 2010, 10:44:08 PM »

I prefer to go alone, mainly because I do pinhole and it's not a fast thing.

Late Developer · « **Reply #6 on:** November 22, 2010, 11:39:30 PM »

Guys, thanks for your candid answers.

I must admit that I am definitely "in the zone" when I'm shooting. I suppose this must be as a result of the time when photography was a very introspective hobby of mine. I'm really fascinated by this and I believe this is because it's impossible to shoot "by committee". Only the photographer can know when it's "right" to hit the button - a fact supported by the fact that although my wife is often with me when I'm taking photos, our end result couldn't be more different.

And yet...... And yet I still enjoy when there are others present with whom to bounce ideas and consider alternative angles. Maybe I just need to spend a bit more time alone with my camera?

Skorj · « **Reply #7 on:** November 22, 2010, 11:40:34 PM »

Rarely do I shoot alone. As I am often in situations where being alone would not be wise. Collapsing floors, deep waters, medical waste, rampant squirrels, mountain paths, falling masonry, naked women, treacherous roads, generally the stuff boys go looking for.

That last one is our Sean, six floors up, in a howling wind over a 100m cliff. It could be worse of course; naked masonry, deep paths, collapsed women, treacherous squirrels... Ed made me say that, honest. Skj.

(Photos of course from Ken and The German.)

sapata · « **Reply #8 on:** November 22, 2010, 11:41:19 PM »

Alone !
Preferably with no one else around...

Late Developer · « **Reply #9 on:** November 22, 2010, 11:44:34 PM »

Hey....

Rampant squirrels and naked women. Now you're talking my language. These are clearly major hazards to mind and body. I'll be your bodyguard. Trust me, I'm a photographer...I'm just not that good with heights, though....

vicky slater · « **Reply #10 on:** November 23, 2010, 11:50:13 AM »

I can't multi task...looking/seeing takes all my concentration, there's nothing left to talk to people, unless they're sitting for me in which case I probably talk rubbish :) (more rubbish than usual i mean).
So it's one or t'other, never both.

jojonas~ · « **Reply #11 on:** November 23, 2010, 01:48:31 PM »

I do both. I quite enjoy being alone, taking my time but being with someone can really trigger some ideas. great if you need help to pull a certain experiment off too, I've noticed.

I also find it very interesting how other people go about taking their pictures. the styles and methods can be widely different, and inspiring too!

I guess I like shooting with others cause I notice things that I might have missed on my own. but that goes both ways of course as I can concentrate more when I'm alone. anyway, it'd an interesting question

Miller · « **Reply #12 on:** November 23, 2010, 01:59:53 PM »

Solitary pain!

I've always been Hans Solo but last Summer I met a young Italian who'd just got an SX70 and was playing with it in Spitalfields. I asked for a look and gave it the once over... He then asked if I knew about these cameras as he'd just bought it and not even shot any film yet...

To cut a long story short, soon we were out doing late night Pola shots as he learn't to use my 180 and G00SE. Great times but as Chewie has recently returned to Milano it's Hans Solo again though my nephew shoots film and we are planning some stuff soon. That G00SE is heavy with Manfrotto on your Jack Jones (alone)...

Rgds

Mlr

Windy · « **Reply #13 on:** November 23, 2010, 02:11:31 PM »

Quote from: Late Developer on November 22, 2010, 08:57:21 PM

I was reading an article somewhere last week (quite where escapes me just now) and it started me wondering whether we prefer to be alone, or a couple, or part of a group when we're out taking photos.

Possibly an article on Fay Godwin in Black and White Photography magazine? It mentioned how she was a solitary photographer and how, as a keen walker, never took a camera when walking with a group.

I think i do my best pics when wandering alone, I also find that I 'warm up' in that the longer I'm out the more I 'tune into' the environment around me.

I do take snaps when out with other people, but tend to get easily distracted and don't have the same focus.

Heather · « **Reply #14 on:** November 23, 2010, 10:43:46 PM »

From shooting with models a whole 3 times in the last year, I think I did my best work when there was some interaction but not too much. Knowing when to not talk and just work is worth a ton of gold. Being too chatty and having too much fun seems to result in not so awesome pictures to me. It's a very fine balance.
I go photoing with the husband but we photo different things. Solitary togetherness

Late Developer · « **Reply #15 on:** November 23, 2010, 11:56:11 PM »

Quote from: Windy on November 23, 2010, 02:11:31 PM

Quote from: Late Developer on November 22, 2010, 08:57:21 PM
I was reading an article somewhere last week (quite where escapes me just now) and it started me wondering whether we prefer to be alone, or a couple, or part of a group when we're out taking photos

Possibly an article on Fay Godwin in Black and White Photography magazine (or amateur photographer)? It mentioned how she was a solitary photographer and how, as a keen walker, never took a camera when walking with a group.

Windy, I think you got it in one....!!

Fay Godwin was (is) one of my heroes. She produced some of the most beautiful bu least romanticised landscapes I've ever seen. Your very astute deduction has reminded me that I need to get myself up to Bradford to see her retrospective sharpish and to obtain a copy of "Land" (my original one went the way of my files of negatives when my ex and I went our separate ways - and I have never got over the loss of the negative or the book....)

calbisu · « **Reply #16 on:** November 24, 2010, 12:05:57 AM »

Cool to have "observed" other people shooting.. I tend to shoot either alone or with my wife, Elena (in fact she was the one who introduced to photography, but I AM THE FREAK NOW). I can be quite annoying while shooting as sometimes I really take my time, and for very few shots but sometimes I get frenzy... Last couple of years I made one photo-courses, and main reason was to be with other photo-fellas. Went shooting with them to abandoned factories and alike, it was cool to share photography with others; everybody would just wander around the place, taking their time... that was cool.

Late Developer · « **Reply #17 on:** November 24, 2010, 12:19:42 AM »

Calbisu, I'm with you on this one. In my opinion, we are all "alone" at the point when we pull the trigger. However, I think its pretty cool to discuss the aesthetics with like-minded fellows along the way. Okay, it's not for everyone, but I welcome the company and the discourse.

CamerAsian · « **Reply #18 on:** November 24, 2010, 01:45:09 AM »

Alone. Surrounded by strangers.

Mojave · « **Reply #19 on:** November 24, 2010, 06:05:12 AM »

Wow, that was a great read. Skorj, love the story and the pix. You have been in some incredible places. Makes me wish I was more adventurous.

Heather, Solitary togetherness is a great way to describe how I feel when I am out shooting with my friends. So for me, its both. When I am out shooting with friends, I shoot things I wouldnt normally shoot and I enjoy that. We talk and then we dont when we are shooting. Its fun. But I do my best work when Im alone. Im a frantic shooter and have realized that when Im out shooting with friends, I never take my time with my shots. Its only when Im alone that I take the time to really "see" what Im shooting. To put more thought into why I'm shooting what Im shooting. I still shoot from the hip far to often when alone, but Im getting better at that. Maybe because Im going broke from wasting too much film.

jojonas~ · « **Reply #20 on:** November 24, 2010, 07:21:21 AM »

skorj, I have so much respect for how you carry that 600se around now that I've gotten a feel of it!
nice shots btw. I like the grass one

(and the silhouette!)

Suzi Livingstone · « **Reply #21 on:** November 24, 2010, 09:14:37 AM »

I should expand..

The only time I'm not shooting alone is when I'm doing portrait projects.. some shoots are more enjoyable than others... when I'm working with close friends who are performers/artistes its fun and usually goes smoothly.

LT · « **Reply #22 on:** November 24, 2010, 09:49:15 AM »

on my own, in desolate places at the break of dawn. that's when I get my best pics.

stevesegz · « **Reply #23 on:** November 26, 2010, 09:07:21 AM »

Am afraid I am with Leon on this one.

Solitude for me heightens the senses and sharpens the thought. Hence creativity and the experience of it is intensified.

Francois · « **Reply #24 on:** November 26, 2010, 04:13:32 PM »

I'm afraid I'm in the loner's camp too... not much by choice though (there aren't that many photographers in the region)...

Somehow I find Skorj lucky to have all there dangerous shooting possibilities... I never had to shoot a place where there are rampant women and naked squirrels (

)

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #25 on:** November 28, 2010, 12:18:10 AM »

On my own. Absolutely. Very rarely get that these days as I usually have family in attendance, but back when I last took a half-decent photograph (which would be sometime before April 2005), I always used to ramble around on my own, snapping away.

That said, I do like being out with other photographers, just tooling about a pressing 'Go' every now and then. Usually find I take photos of the other photogs more than anything else on those occasions.

Karl · « **Reply #26 on:** November 29, 2010, 11:03:34 PM »

Here's my usual scenario

CamerAsian · « **Reply #27 on:** November 30, 2010, 06:22:51 AM »

Karl, that's funny! Made me laugh anyway.

vicky slater · « **Reply #28 on:** November 30, 2010, 08:36:32 AM »

heh. me too :))

LT · « **Reply #29 on:** November 30, 2010, 08:52:31 AM »

Karl - do you always take your long-horned sheep with you on location then?

Karl · « **Reply #30 on:** November 30, 2010, 09:00:47 AM »

No, they usually stay at home but needed the exercise. They're terribly unfit as you can see.

Francois · « **Reply #31 on:** November 30, 2010, 03:20:39 PM »

But the added weight on the back must make for some incredibly stable shots

Author Topic: Solitary Pleasure? (Read 6404 times)

astrobeck