[Leica] why we photograph?

[pklein at 2alpha.net (Peter Klein)]

B.D. asked:

>A. Why do you photograph?

Smart-assed answer:  Because I can't draw!

More considered answer:  Because when I see something beautiful, or 
something that evokes a strong emotion, or makes me laugh, I want to share 
that feeling.

Life is usually mundane and sometimes downright ugly. But amongst the 
noise, there are moments of sublimity, beauty, wonder and humor.  I choose 
to capture those moments and share them.

And there's also the simple joy of putting stuff together and seeing how it 
comes out.

>B. What's your primary subject matter?

1.  People and their expressions.
2.  The beauty of nature.
3.  Visual humor

>C. Why?

People:  Sometimes I think I might have something to say, and whatever I 
saw when I pressed the shutter helps me say it.  Maybe it just looks 
good.  There's a constant dynamic in the way people relate to each other 
and the world around them.  If I choose the right instant, frozen in time, 
I've caught an instant when the emotions and the interactions and the 
geometry all create a harmonious unity that says something about the human 
condition.  Or maybe it just looks good.  I share in that instant, because 
I've chosen it out of all the billions of other instants.

Nature:  Because it's there, because I want to see it again, and because I 
want to share it.

Humor:  Because I love to joke, so I do it visually, too.

For a general comment on the "why" of all this, let me share a quote from 
the composer Franz Joseph Haydn.  He wrote that when the going got tough, 
he would say to himself:

"There are but few contented and happy men here below; grief and care 
prevail everywhere; perhaps your labors may one day be the source from 
which the weary and worn, or the man burdened with affairs, may derive a 
few moments' rest and refreshment."

When I read that, years ago, I remember saying to myself, "Yes!  That's how 
I feel, too."  I'm not a famous person, my audience is small, and my skill 
may be less than many.  But I'm going to do it anyway.  And in trying to 
create some "rest and refreshment" for the spirit, I can share in it, too.

--Peter