Photographs why do people want them?

I love the art of photography. 

A beautiful shot I can gaze at for hours and it inspires me to want to paint or draw. It could be the textures, the colours, the motion, the way your eye just wants to explore everything. It just gives me so much joy and wonder. A good shot will make your others senses tingle. Clever shots that show you things you might not notice in life, like the individual barbs on the feathers on a little bird that are too quick to see up close, or the pollen on the legs of a bumble bee. The dragonfly in flight when they hover for a second, the shapes the water makes splashing around an osprey as it makes a catch. Sometimes I see things on my phone and I take a screen shot so I can keep looking at it. 

I have an old DSLR, I love getting to capture these kind of shots myself, as by doing you are learning, discarding the bad, ranking the best so you can see what works for you most. I'd like to do it again when I have the time.

I do also take photos of my kids, but I prefer a quick shot that tells a story of what they are doing, their interests in that moment, more than a posed 'smile at the camera' shot. It's when no one is looking at the camera that's more interesting, as that will tell you a story when you look back at it. My daughter's not that keen on being in them, I do ask permission from them now they are older. But we take photos for reasons now, like to show off something they've made and proud of, or a capture a moment of a good time -but importantly I then put the camera away as one or two pictures is enough. The memories should be about what we were doing, not a memory of a camera.

Sometimes I think pictures are for those that come after. Maybe down the line, people trying to trace their ancestors. You can see features and family resemblances then, which can be surprising.

But I think people who walk around looking at a smart phone screen all the time miss real life. A good photo can remind you of a moment, but not if the only thing you remember is taking photos (this is different from special trips out with a good camera, I mean the people that walk around the Louvre filming but not looking). It's funny when you go places like museums these days, and everyone has their back to the artwork/place/person so they can get a selfie of themselves not looking at the artwork/place/person. Special sort of irony there.

Cinnabar_wing said:

A good shot will make your others senses tingle. Clever shots that show you things you might not notice in life, like the individual barbs on the feathers on a little bird that are too quick to see up close, or the pollen on the legs of a bumble bee. The dragonfly in flight when they hover for a second, the shapes the water makes splashing around an osprey as it makes a catch.

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Cinnabar_wing said:

A good shot will make your others senses tingle. Clever shots that show you things you might not notice in life, like the individual barbs on the feathers on a little bird that are too quick to see up close, or the pollen on the legs of a bumble bee. The dragonfly in flight when they hover for a second, the shapes the water makes splashing around an osprey as it makes a catch.

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