Just a ramble from me

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Dominic
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I'm just going ramble on, so ignore when you're bored.

I've been looking at my flickr and lots of my photos on the PC and have come to the conclusion that I take too many random photos. I seem to flit from one genre to another, without really Concentrating on one or two different types of photography.

I love wildlife, but don't really have the money to spend on kit that I feel I would need to get the shots I envision in my head. Every now and again I might get lucky with what I've got, but it's few and far between.

I really like still life (mainly close up flowers etc), creative and abstract and feel that the kit I do/would use for this is achievable.

I like landscape but rarely have time to travel to the places I want to go.

And my last love is horses and again feel that what I already have is fine for this.

I keep my Tamron SP vr 70-300 lens just on the off chance I stumble across some wildlife, I use it for shooting (not literally) horses but most of my equine photography is either in an arena or close up. So rarely go over 135mm. I have considered selling this lens on many occasions but just can't bring myself to do it. It's not even that great a lens, yes it's not a bad budget lens, but at the long end it's a bit soft.

I've been doing photography for about 4yrs so not really a beginner, I thought I could have settled on a genre by now.

Oh well that's me done. Have a happy Monday :)

Ps. Having re-read this, I think I need to sell the Tamron lens.
 
Why do you feel the need to concentrate on one genre? Is it the challenge of getting really expert at one genre?
 
Why do you feel the need to concentrate on one genre? Is it the challenge of getting really expert at one genre?

Yup. I've been taking random pictures for well over 40 years now :D

I can see how the idea of concentrating on one thing and getting reeeeaaaalllly good may appeal but until / if something really grabs you passionately and you want to pursue it above all other things just be random and happy :D
 
This is why the post is more of a ramble, I think I need to convince myself that I need to drop wildlife and get rid of the Tamron and invest some money into equipment that will allow me to improve my other intrests (still life, creative etc). :)
 
nothing at all wrong with being random tbf. I started off using a bridge camera mostly for taking photos at music gigs and my interest stemmed from there, i primarily did landscapes for a few years because that is what i was (and still am really) passionate about although some of that is the love of being outdoors in the hills etc combined with the final image. In the last 2 years or so i have moved away from that a little partly through time constraints and other life priorities taking over and partly through a conscious decision to get better at photographing people and i've discovered that i actually quite enjoy doing so in the process. Currently my kit enables me to do a bit of both but i don't have enough kit to do people shooting extensively (could do with an additional lens or two really) but i will keep saving up and keep building on the kit i have over time. That is something i do love about this hobby, you don't have to have everything all at once and often it actually works in your favour not to have all of the kit because you are forced to learn to use what you have and also to improvise when you are missing something.
 
Hunt down a used sigma 150mm 2.8 macro. It'll cover all your needs by the sounds of it. Great for close up and macro, obviously, it's tack sharp at every aperture, it's brilliant for portraiture and casual wildlife, sometimes both at once :D

There's a few versions, the cheap one will not have OS, but it's the best value . The OS versions are beasts, bit tricky to use without a tripod for extended periods, over 1kg :wideyed:
 
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I'm probably even more random I have that many hobbies ( photography,bicycles,motorcycles,caravaning,wild camping steam punk,dog breeding,ham radio plus many more) this means I have neither the money or time to really concentrate on one subject. I try to incorporate multiple hobbies together and photography seems to be one that fits with most of the others. With this in mind I have gone with a relatively cheap bridge camera which is compact enough to carry and if I destroy it I haven't lost too much. I would love to have a go at wild life but as I normally have dogs with me when out in the wilds I would stand little chance even if I had the right equipment. One day I will concentrate on one thing, Thats my ramble done with !
 
I find that doing the 52 challenge tends to encourage randomness. Last year I started out trying to do the 52 with an over-all aim, which was to shoot everything in and around the local villages, I felt this was a good way of getting a set of local photos as well as doing the 52 but it just proved to be impossible for some themes so I went back to randomness.

That said I often feel the same way as you and think I really ought to get better at one thing before trying something else but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen for me, I am too easily tempted to try something new and anyway it is a hobby so having fun with it is as important to me as being good at it.

As for getting rid of a lens, again, same, I’ve got a 150-600 which hardly gets used and is just too big to lug around just in case I need it. Somehow though, I just never get around to putting it up for sale and that I think one of the things that puts me off selling is the depreciation. Not that any of this helps with your dilemma, other than to say you are not alone :)
 
Take random photos in a foreign language and become a sophisticate! I am a pêcher d'image. or even a pescatore di immagini
 
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I nearly always take a camera with me when I go out. Mostly it's with nothing specific in mind, just with one general purpose wide range zoom just in case something interesting turns up[ while I'm out. Usually it doesn't, but I hate it so much when I leave the camera at home and find myself in front of a great photo opportunity. Sometimes what I take are experimental notes for a photograph that I will return to later at the best time of day and with the best lens etc..

When I started I kept being told that I must focus on a theme, develop a style, pick a genre, and so on, because nobody can be good at everything and exhibitions and photobooks have to have a theme. I tried hard to develop a style, pick a theme, etc., but after a while I always get bored. I'm interested in far too many different kinds of things. So I've ended up with a huge collection of random images of all kinds. So if a gallery owner were to say to me, "That's a great photograph! If you've got more like that I'd like to do an exhibition!", then whatever the photograph is, a flower, a tree, a bridge, a street candid, a staircase, a hole in the ground, I've probably got a few dozen others.

In other words, just keep taking random images and you'll end up with plenty of themes, styles, topics, etc., to choose from. :)
 
When I go out with a camera, it's with the sole purpose of photographing whatever attracts my interest and attention. This means that the subject matter is determined to a large extent by where I am. The only exception is when I have to take specific photographs for a specific purpose.

A couple of years ago I went on a "Building a portfolio" workshop, and took a selection of my "random" images. What became clear when the prints were laid out on the table was that random they weren't, because there were actually a few well defined topics. My interests had resulted in a number of coherent topics.

Unless you're setting out to produce a book or an exhibition, why force yourself to photograph things that don't appeal very much? Stick to what you like, and the collections will form themselves.
 
Thanks for taking the time wade through my rambling.

I probably need to sort my flickr photos into albums to give me more of an idea of what's what.
I still prefer still life, horses and creative styles of photography. Part of my preference for still life and creative photography is, I like the whole planning, making stuff and setting up side. I always endeavour to take my camera with me whenever and wherever I can. If I concentrate on these things, I wouldn't just stop taking photos of other stuff, just I would put more effort into my main intrests. :)
 
I've been doing photography for about 4yrs so not really a beginner, I thought I could have settled on a genre by now.


Why?

I understand when someone goes for a genre when the market
can support it like food, wedding, cars, fashion etc. Or when one's
personal penchant goes toward a given subject like macro, astro
or whatever — specially when this is restrained by physical limits.

I would not dream of such idea as to settle for one type of work.
I started in scientific photography, went to geo-politic reportage to
image hunting in the first years; and this is what I will always be, I
think, an image hunter at heart working on everything imaginable.

In studio or on location, I enjoy the freedom to explore our world in
all aspects, all scales and time.
 
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Pêcheur d'images? Isn't it called
"chasseur d'images" image hunter? :cool:
I like Pêcheur (I had Pecher which I suspect is not correct French) as I like the idea of sitting there with a line in the water with no control over who or what bites. Chasseur suggests intention and control. Actually, I have many approaches depending on mood, health and weather.
 
Chasseur suggests intention and control.


Intention for sure but control, in no way… Real hunting!
Like in a crowd, an event, in wildlife… :cool:
 
Ok, so I'm not trying to settle on just one type of photography, just things that intrest me (wildlife intrests me, but to achieve what I would want, is out of my budget, but I can live with that).

I've come to the conclusion (and I think I've known for a while) that taking photos for the sake of taking photos is not the way to be engaged with photography. I love photography (I'm never going to be great, but I feel happy when I've used my camera). @Phil V said in a thread a long time ago (it wasn't a thread by me, I can't even remember what the thread was about), he is a people person, he likes taking photos of people and not much else apart from a bit of rally car racing (there maybe more, but that's what I took from the post).
 
to achieve what I would want, is out of my budget, but I can live with that).

I know plenty of people that love music
and are in no way musicians. :cool:
 
It's taken me 15 years, and I can still smell the fresh paint... only kidding, but it has taken me 15 years to realise the false economy in selling and re-purchasing kit. I now keep most things and try and be a little more patient when desiring a lens that gives me a different focal length/aperture.

Although people will often say photograph what you love, I found myself at a rugby match with only my 135mm, it simply wasn't long enough to produce the shots I know I can get with the long lens, and I was disappointed with the shots. I think you're right to aim for a style you enjoy, with the kit to get pleasing shots.
 
The joy of being an amateur is that you can shoot what you want with no customer to please!

Although I’ve photographed all manner of stuff - often simply because I had a camera and because I could - but am happiest photographing what I find interesting. While not exactly an earth shattering insight, it took me several years to realise, but since then have devoted my time photographically to just shooting in a narrow field and have achieved a modicum of success and recognition. This isn’t why I do it and wasn’t the objective when I started but has been rewarding nonetheless.
Sure, I still have a camera on days out with my family and when I travel, but for me, dabbling in different fields for the sake of it was unrewarding.
 
This is how I'm starting to feel.

It’s fine for many people. It’s a good way of discovering what you like photographing if you’re not coming into it with any strong prior preferences both conscious or unconscious. For example, I’m not a ‘people person’ and although I can photograph people (I’ve done wedding and other functions), it’s not a natural fit for me and I’d happily not do any more. But for others it’s all they would want to shoot and would get bored rigid doing what I do.
 
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