"The NPN website is intended to serve as an online resource for nature photographers of all skill levels, from beginner to professional. Our focus is on the art and technique of nature, wildlife and landscape photography." That sentence is in About NPN under the About menu. I find that sentence to be very clear and absolutely true.
I've realized that my own passion is, and has been since childhood, simply the love of nature, with the love of nature photography coming in second, and that the love of nature photography is almost entirely to bring the awesomeness of nature to other people. I have almost zero interest in non-nature photography. I don't try to and never will make money at nature photography. I just love seeing the virtual smiles on people's faces and knowing I have made people smile and have a better day.
NPN is exactly what it says it intends to be, and I know of no site that does what NPN does better. NPN has given me the ability to photograph things in ways that I never would have been able to without it. But with my passion being for nature rather than for photography itself, I don't think I will get much better than I am. If it doesn't involve walking through the woods or at least on NWR trails, or driving on drive-through sites, it's not what I love doing. Maybe at whatever age I can't walk anymore I will feel differently.
I intend to remain a member of NPN, and I intend to post, sometimes more than others, but there may be long periods that I don't post, and I just wanted to let you know that I'm still taking pictures, but I'm posting them not for critique but to make people smile. Some images can't be "fixed" enough to post them for critique, but there are people who still love to see them.
I feel much better now that I have realized what has been going on in my brain and where my passion actually is. I hope to remain friends with those of you that I consider friends. I still welcome help from all of you either privately by email or in critiques when I do post. And I thank you all very much for being who you are.
Posted by Igor Doncov on December 3, 2017 at 10:51 PM
Barbara, I hope you reconsider your decision. I would argue that love of nature and love of nature photography are the same thing. The camera is just a vehicle to be used to love nature. I personally have never appreciated nature as fully and as completely as when seeing it through the lens. That may not sound right but the fact is that the sensibilities required, the awareness required, reveals nature at a greater depth than any other way of experiencing it. If you're shooting to make others happy, while a noble deed, you're not getting the most out of photography. Photography is essentially like the zen of seeing. All other thoughts are blocked from your awareness as you fully absorb your subject with all your faculties. The making of the image is secondary. To my way of thinking there is no stronger way to experience nature. My advice is to look at photography in a different way. Rather than putting effort into creating a product through the 'art and technique of photography', just enjoy the subject and shoot what you like about it. It's a process of discovery, the discovery of the natural world and the discovery of one's self.
Posted by Sharon Lane on December 4, 2017 at 8:47 AM
Barbara,
I agree with most of your post. I don't post often but read and study the images frequently. I will never be a professional and that isn't my intent. Like you I want to tell stories with my photos, to evoke emotion and thought; to tell great stories.
But in telling stories, isn't it better to "tell" a story with James Earl Jones reading it than a Pee Wee Herman? For me, learning to take better photos, better composition, getting the lighting and exposure correct is Mr. Jones reading my stories.
I enjoy "reading" your photos and give they me hope that I can reach your skill level. So please, don't go to far away and keep telling your stories here and making smiles.
Sharon
Posted by John Tobias on December 4, 2017 at 10:03 AM
Hi Barbara,
I think I understand your post, but I would urge you to continue photographing nature and to continue posting on NPN. But, as I try to do, don't let the technical aspect of photography interfere with your taking photos. I think we all want to have a certain level of proficiency with our photography, but that should not become the be all of our photography. I believe what NPN does is provides a forum for sharing our nature photography experiences. I find that if I do not get outside with camera in hand on at least a weekly basis I suffer mentally. I look forward to seeing your post, and do not want to miss your photographs.
Thank you for your thoughts, Igor, Sharon and John.
Igor, I have a sister and brother-in-law who illustrate something of the difference in how deeply different people see nature with and without nature photography. They live in the Great Smoky Mountains, about a half mile from the Blue Ridge Parkway. My brother-in-law has a long history of camping, including back-country camping, very long hikes, etc. He loves topology maps, etc. He is not a photographer, but he knows so much about nature, at least the nature that he is familiar with. He is not a birder, either, but he can identify pretty much any bird I send him a picture of that spends time in that area. He knows as much as you could ever read about black bears, foxes, bobcats, etc. (I know I keep saying etc. I apologize for that.) They have a motion-sensitive camera in their driveway that comes on at night and takes pictures of what triggers it, and there have been bears, bobcats, coyotes, and whatever other animals are around there. He enjoys looking at my photographs, but I don't think they really mean much to him because he's so involved on his own in nature.
My sister hasn't accompanied him on his camping and hiking, isn't "in love with" black bears, etc., but loves flowers and gardening instead. But she absolutely loves my photography, because she sees things in a way that she has never noticed them before, flowers included. She is sometimes stunned by a close-up of a tiny bird or by one of her garden flowers. I think she gets much more out of nature because of my nature photography than she can get otherwise.
I love your last three sentences, and I love each of the three sentences more than the one just before it.
Sharon, I am always stunned when somebody says anything about my skill, and people sometimes do. I don't feel confident at all. But I really appreciate your saying that. It's a good thing to be stunned sometimes. :) And yes, everything else you say is true. My stories are a long, long way from James Earl Jones but I hope a long way away from Pee Wee Herman, and I have NPN to credit for every bit of that.
John, your post makes complete sense. I definitely understand especially the part about suffering mentally if you don't get out at least once a week. Right now when I home (I am in Georgia with my daughter and her family now) I can only go out on Saturday morning, and I am really vigilant about doing that. I can be feeling confused, disoriented, anxious when I get wherever I go, usually to Gainesville, which is an hour away from me, but I can feel those feelings seep away as I spend the time in nature. Sometimes I can tell that it's an actual physical change. My heart can be beating fast from anxiety when I get there, and then after a while I'm feeling totally okay. I really appreciate and will keep in mind your saying that you look forward to my posts. Your own love of nature really shines through your own posts.
Posted by Igor Doncov on December 6, 2017 at 8:30 AM
How do you know when you have something meaningful?
There will be a shiver that starts at your lower back and runs up to the back of your neck with rising intensity.
Forget the art and technique of photography. Trust that shiver.
Posted by Barbara Graham on December 6, 2017 at 10:15 AM
Igor, thank you.
Posted by Igor Doncov on December 16, 2017 at 9:52 PM
Posted by Barbara Graham on December 17, 2017 at 7:39 PM
Igor, that definitely gave me chills, as I'm sure you knew it would. But honestly, while I appreciate the unbelievable range and depth of opera singers (and I didn't look up the correct words, so forgive me if those are wrong), I don't live my life to opera. Even though I'm 70 years old, I live my life to some Latin music, some jazz, some folk music, some Queen, some dance music, some hip-hop, totally love percussion and drum lines, and more. That may explain something about my photography. But I do sincerely appreciate your advice.
As far as your feedback on my red berries, I looked through your gallery and your images are incredibly beautiful. I am not in a location to capture those kinds of images, and even if I was I highly doubt I would have the skill to even begin to do so. I usually post only very occasionally in Landscape, although I do plan to post a few snow images from the pretty unusual amount of snow we had here at my daughter's house in Decatur, Georgia a few days ago. I do often see chaos as beautiful, and my snow images probably bear that out, but I fully understand chaos is not beautiful to everyone. I do usually see a pattern or design or direction of some kind in my images, though, if I'm going to post them. But that just may be my own vision.
Anyway, thank you again very much for your feedback.
Posted by Igor Doncov on December 19, 2017 at 6:38 PM
I don't listen to opera myself very much any more. My parents weren't rich so we often lived with Italians. Opera was everywhere every day. It was not uncommon to see our landlords ironing their clothes with tears streaming down their faces. That has an effect on you.
I find it really important to make your point emphatically in your image. Hit the viewer over the head with it. If it's the curve of the neck of a swam that you like make sure the viewer knows it. I felt that the bush with the berries didn't clearly state what you liked about it and what you wanted us to like about it. I guess that's where the 'art and technique' comes in. You like the bush so you show a picture of the bush. But that's not enough. You have to emphatically show what qualities you liked about it, why you liked it. That's my opinion.
Okay, this is for now the decision I've come to. In my attempt to come to a happy agreement (for me, anyway) between what I would LIKE to do and not do and what is usually expected on NPN in the various galleries, I have decided to process and post as I would like to, and not as you might expect.
This doesn't mean I don't want your feedback. I will try to say what I didn't do and why I didn't do it so you'll see when it was a decision and not an oversight or lack of knowledge, but feel free to comment on anything either way. Please understand that this approach does not mean I am not reading and thinking about what you say. But I'm the one who needs to be happy with my own photography, understanding that my photography will never be at the level of most of you.
This means I just posted a wild morning glory without cloning out a piece of grass or the less appealing vegetation around it (it's cropped as a square around the flower). It may mean that I will post a bird on a manmade object, and not even a pole or a power line. If any of this is against the actual rules of NPN, please let me know. If it's general preference, I think I'll do what I prefer rather than try to make anyone else happy.
Have a wonderful new year! I have high hopes for 2018.
Discussion
10 repliesI've realized that my own passion is, and has been since childhood, simply the love of nature, with the love of nature photography coming in second, and that the love of nature photography is almost entirely to bring the awesomeness of nature to other people. I have almost zero interest in non-nature photography. I don't try to and never will make money at nature photography. I just love seeing the virtual smiles on people's faces and knowing I have made people smile and have a better day.
NPN is exactly what it says it intends to be, and I know of no site that does what NPN does better. NPN has given me the ability to photograph things in ways that I never would have been able to without it. But with my passion being for nature rather than for photography itself, I don't think I will get much better than I am. If it doesn't involve walking through the woods or at least on NWR trails, or driving on drive-through sites, it's not what I love doing. Maybe at whatever age I can't walk anymore I will feel differently.
I intend to remain a member of NPN, and I intend to post, sometimes more than others, but there may be long periods that I don't post, and I just wanted to let you know that I'm still taking pictures, but I'm posting them not for critique but to make people smile. Some images can't be "fixed" enough to post them for critique, but there are people who still love to see them.
I feel much better now that I have realized what has been going on in my brain and where my passion actually is. I hope to remain friends with those of you that I consider friends. I still welcome help from all of you either privately by email or in critiques when I do post. And I thank you all very much for being who you are.
I agree with most of your post. I don't post often but read and study the images frequently. I will never be a professional and that isn't my intent. Like you I want to tell stories with my photos, to evoke emotion and thought; to tell great stories.
But in telling stories, isn't it better to "tell" a story with James Earl Jones reading it than a Pee Wee Herman? For me, learning to take better photos, better composition, getting the lighting and exposure correct is Mr. Jones reading my stories.
I enjoy "reading" your photos and give they me hope that I can reach your skill level. So please, don't go to far away and keep telling your stories here and making smiles.
Sharon
I think I understand your post, but I would urge you to continue photographing nature and to continue posting on NPN. But, as I try to do, don't let the technical aspect of photography interfere with your taking photos. I think we all want to have a certain level of proficiency with our photography, but that should not become the be all of our photography. I believe what NPN does is provides a forum for sharing our nature photography experiences. I find that if I do not get outside with camera in hand on at least a weekly basis I suffer mentally. I look forward to seeing your post, and do not want to miss your photographs.
I do hope this makes sense.
John
Igor, I have a sister and brother-in-law who illustrate something of the difference in how deeply different people see nature with and without nature photography. They live in the Great Smoky Mountains, about a half mile from the Blue Ridge Parkway. My brother-in-law has a long history of camping, including back-country camping, very long hikes, etc. He loves topology maps, etc. He is not a photographer, but he knows so much about nature, at least the nature that he is familiar with. He is not a birder, either, but he can identify pretty much any bird I send him a picture of that spends time in that area. He knows as much as you could ever read about black bears, foxes, bobcats, etc. (I know I keep saying etc. I apologize for that.) They have a motion-sensitive camera in their driveway that comes on at night and takes pictures of what triggers it, and there have been bears, bobcats, coyotes, and whatever other animals are around there. He enjoys looking at my photographs, but I don't think they really mean much to him because he's so involved on his own in nature.
My sister hasn't accompanied him on his camping and hiking, isn't "in love with" black bears, etc., but loves flowers and gardening instead. But she absolutely loves my photography, because she sees things in a way that she has never noticed them before, flowers included. She is sometimes stunned by a close-up of a tiny bird or by one of her garden flowers. I think she gets much more out of nature because of my nature photography than she can get otherwise.
I love your last three sentences, and I love each of the three sentences more than the one just before it.
Sharon, I am always stunned when somebody says anything about my skill, and people sometimes do. I don't feel confident at all. But I really appreciate your saying that. It's a good thing to be stunned sometimes. :) And yes, everything else you say is true. My stories are a long, long way from James Earl Jones but I hope a long way away from Pee Wee Herman, and I have NPN to credit for every bit of that.
John, your post makes complete sense. I definitely understand especially the part about suffering mentally if you don't get out at least once a week. Right now when I home (I am in Georgia with my daughter and her family now) I can only go out on Saturday morning, and I am really vigilant about doing that. I can be feeling confused, disoriented, anxious when I get wherever I go, usually to Gainesville, which is an hour away from me, but I can feel those feelings seep away as I spend the time in nature. Sometimes I can tell that it's an actual physical change. My heart can be beating fast from anxiety when I get there, and then after a while I'm feeling totally okay. I really appreciate and will keep in mind your saying that you look forward to my posts. Your own love of nature really shines through your own posts.
There will be a shiver that starts at your lower back and runs up to the back of your neck with rising intensity.
Forget the art and technique of photography. Trust that shiver.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru8Lf_SAPIo
As far as your feedback on my red berries, I looked through your gallery and your images are incredibly beautiful. I am not in a location to capture those kinds of images, and even if I was I highly doubt I would have the skill to even begin to do so. I usually post only very occasionally in Landscape, although I do plan to post a few snow images from the pretty unusual amount of snow we had here at my daughter's house in Decatur, Georgia a few days ago. I do often see chaos as beautiful, and my snow images probably bear that out, but I fully understand chaos is not beautiful to everyone. I do usually see a pattern or design or direction of some kind in my images, though, if I'm going to post them. But that just may be my own vision.
Anyway, thank you again very much for your feedback.
I find it really important to make your point emphatically in your image. Hit the viewer over the head with it. If it's the curve of the neck of a swam that you like make sure the viewer knows it. I felt that the bush with the berries didn't clearly state what you liked about it and what you wanted us to like about it. I guess that's where the 'art and technique' comes in. You like the bush so you show a picture of the bush. But that's not enough. You have to emphatically show what qualities you liked about it, why you liked it. That's my opinion.
This is your best image on the subject: http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/ic.cgi?a=vp&pr=247737&CGISESSID=5ac889a4b05e653484f2401ab847edbf&u=13707&title_action=
Here I clearly understand what you liked about these trees. Your point has been clearly made.
This doesn't mean I don't want your feedback. I will try to say what I didn't do and why I didn't do it so you'll see when it was a decision and not an oversight or lack of knowledge, but feel free to comment on anything either way. Please understand that this approach does not mean I am not reading and thinking about what you say. But I'm the one who needs to be happy with my own photography, understanding that my photography will never be at the level of most of you.
This means I just posted a wild morning glory without cloning out a piece of grass or the less appealing vegetation around it (it's cropped as a square around the flower). It may mean that I will post a bird on a manmade object, and not even a pole or a power line. If any of this is against the actual rules of NPN, please let me know. If it's general preference, I think I'll do what I prefer rather than try to make anyone else happy.
Have a wonderful new year! I have high hopes for 2018.