Hello!
What's better than getting a free meal and also being paid for taking a photo of it? It feels good for the first few times, it sounds good for some more time but then thoughts start to conquer my mind:
- Am I taking photos to make people want to eat more?
- Who am I helping by taking these pictures?
- How my photos are affecting those who look at it?
- Do I want to help a restaurant make more money?
I don't take these thoughts seriously, but sometimes I think about it, where all these photos are taking me, and I think that's the question I can't ignore, I cant escape from answering. Maybe I can delay it for long enough, until I die, but what's the point?
There are some legit questions regarding this subject, like "do I want to become a good food photographer?" If I don't then I should be careful when I accept taking this type of photography. It helps me to become a better photographer generally, but after a certain point, it might become obstacle on my path. But do I have a path? How can I distinguish an obstacle form the path itself? How should I define a path for myself? Base on what I like or base on what I think is right?
(we didn't get the chance to eat this one, it was the first one I took photos of, I ate the next two with my friend)
What are the questions that come to your mind before accepting a project and while doing it?
Photography can become an obstacle if you can't really appreciate the moment without photographing it. If you have to record everything to be able to tell yourself afterwards that what you photographed belongs to a significant part of your life, you may have a problem taking a moment or a project as it comes and as it goes again. So I welcome your question about this and would say that when I am really engrossed in something, I enjoy it, it gives me meaning, if only for a moment - or for a longer time - I don't need the reminder. What is blurred in my memory, what can no longer be concretized, that is then perhaps not necessarily worth holding on to. It may dissolve in the flow of life and reverberate as an impression or even be completely forgotten.
There are times when I wish I had photographed more, but they pass as quickly as they came. It is a short pain of melancholy. My life in the past is mostly inscrutable and only interpretable. Everything I tell or document about myself is, when I put it into texts and pictures, fixed, but after ten or twenty years it seems strange to me, almost as if it wasn't me who was holding on to something.
What do I accept in a project before I put it into practice? I don't know, I would say I undertake a project when I feel inspired. Inspiration comes from other people and their ideas and actions.
Thanks for taking the time to read and reply.
It gets hard when photography is your job and passion. I need the money, but I don't want to do what ever they ask me to do, because it will eventually turn photography against me (I'll start to hate photography).
Memories are strange, and they get more strange as time passes. Sometimes I can't tell if something in the far past has actually happened or it's just my mind creating something up.
A good approach if you don't need to worry about the money...
You are welcome. I appreciated that you attached questions to your blog.
I agree. If you do something, no matter what it is, for the main sake of money, your work gets corrupted.
I am working as a social counsellor and much of this work contains routine, which is kind of boring as the topics tend to repeat themselves in the most uninteresting way. What I do when I am aware that this happens, is to pace down... seeking for an alternative. I take opportunity to make the encounter into something enjoyable or meaningful. So, for instance, when the paper work is done, I ask my client about his life, like, when he or she comes from a different country, where he/she is from. And so we begin to talk. I am curious about differences and experiences made. Many people have interesting stories to share.
So when a certain task/photography topic does not hold enough interest for you, which chances from the direct environment can you pick up? Like involved people or, if not people, the surrounding objects right there and then? I call this "going with the flow", with the present circumstances offering themselves to you. They can give also inspiration for a project which comes into being when skillful spontaneity is at stake (the Chinese call it the "Wu-Wei").
I can confirm that. Happens to me, too. :) That gives interesting insights, doesn't it?
Has it ever happened, that when you had a boring photography job that something on your way home attracted your attention and you caught something good in front of your camera? Or that you - just so - made a spontaneous shot from a person near you who was not looking?
What are your preferred objects?
Thanks, I like (need?) feedback and I think a good question might bring that.
There were times that I was allowed to go to places with my camera (because of a project) that I couldn't get to even without a camera.
I like objects generally, like toys, tools, wooden handcrafts, electronic devices, but I like nature more. I guess nature is the only thing that haven't bored me yet.
Solo direi che mi mancano i piatti iraniani...
Just Iranian dishes and not Iranian friends... Hmm sounds suspicious
This food looks good 🤗👌 here is warm summer day and it can be good to eat in garden this .
Here also it gets hot during the day, some days even reaching 40°C, yeah, in the garden, under a shadow of a tree is a good place to eat it.
True :)) I have here some very old big apple trees :)