Why take photos

It’s a hard and easy question, depending on how deep you want to go.

Many people want to capture a moment, archive a memory. Some people want to express themselves or other peoples stories. Some want to show you something, be it a travesty or crime to a shiny object to entice you to buy it. For others capturing a photo is meditative or therapy. We all have our own reasons to capture a photo.

What someone else gets or sees from our photos is out of our control. We can demand or force a reaction to our work and some of us don’t want that. But one thing to take into consideration is that images speak to us and the viewer. Photos convey something more than just an archived moment, pixels, light, chemicals or ink on a page.

I’ve been wondering what is my drive to create, to constantly push myself to capture a moment and try and share it to the best of my ability. What is my ambition? What do I care about, is its recognition, money, satisfaction, love, desire, peace? I can’t quite figure it out.

I’ve been reading books, not so much to figure out why, but how. How to keep going in the face of adversity. How to push beyond the creative block. To climb the mountain knowing there is always another mountain behind it. Do we have destiny, or mean to our lives? I believe the reason we are here is in our own hands. We choose what gives meaning to our lives, what is important and why we are here. No one or no greater power is going to tell us, that’s the privilege of free will. So I keep asking myself what do I choose to give meaning to my life, to my work, to my photography.

What is your purpose? What gives meaning to your work?

A.B Watson

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