An old blokes perspective.

Getting old is illness nobody can't avoid - Try some heavy metal music, which can make you feel better
We' maybe get into 2nd recession since 2008. If Countries can get the wrong with experts' advice, we can also get the wrong advice in POTN.
Take an easy...

x_tan wrote in post #12989234
Getting old is illness nobody can't avoid -

Getting older is inevitable growing old is optional.

One trend I'm seeing more an more of is "I want to run before I can walk." Far too many people just want to pick up a camera, mash down on the shutter button and call it all art.

No desire to know about or understand composition. No desire to study any other photographers. No desire to establish a firm foundation of technical understanding. No nothing...

<Thumping Chest> I Am Artiste! Get Out Of My Way! I Must Create!
Exactly what I'm creating, I haven't a flipping clue...

I know that this has been said before and at the risk of boring everyone to death. Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst (the list goes on and on) whilst being famous for being ground breaking in their vision and art were or are all amazingly competent artists / draughtsmen in the more traditional sense as well.

Knowledge will seldom hinder and will often help.

neil_r wrote in post #12989498
I know that this has been said before and at the risk of boring everyone to death. Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst (the list goes on and on) whilst being famous for being ground breaking in their vision and art were or are all amazingly competent artists / draughtsmen in the more traditional sense as well.

Knowledge will seldom hinder and will often help.

Kind of a weird analogy (ok, it's a really weird analogy): The circus often has a Clown that does a routine where they pretend they're drunk or get hit over the head or kicked by a horse, etc. Invariably, that clown stumbles their way around the arena and ends up on the highwire where he/she absolutely terrifies the audience by weaving all over the place leaving everyone convinced that the clown is going to die at any second.

Of course what people don't realize is that the clown is the senior-most member of the high-wire troop and is far and away the most skilled and grounded in high-wire techniques. He knows how to bend the law of gravity but not break it.

Same with photography. Until you understand the "rules" and know why they exist and what dynamic they're intended to induce, you can't really know why or when one is a hindrance and needs to be altered or broken entirely.

If you prefer music analogies, Keith Emmerson and Victor Borge come to mind. Both very out there on the edge in the realms in which they were best known but both could bring granite to tears if they played a piece in the traditional fashion.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #12980491
Your sentiment is wonderful Mo and I agree in terms of family member to family member but honestly, to a wider world, the digital shoebox of images should stay under the bed...

Little Suzy potty training or Little Johnny's first visit from the tooth fairy had no meaning to me on film and it sill has no meaning to me in 1s and 0s. However, with digital, people seem to have developed a need to broadcast their lives to everyone.

Not a step forward in evolution IMO...

Well for some, it is important. My photos document the fun times and my grandkids activities and I put them in scrapbooks and journal them. Names, dates, what is happening, etc. I am hoping that one day their spouses and children will enjoy looking at them. My vacation photos go into books as well... an overview of our trip that also are named and dated.

yogestee wrote in post #12981768
Maureen,,so true. My wife and I live continents away from our family. Photography is one of the best ways to keep in touch with our loved ones. Skype with webcam is also great.

We have a grandson who we rarely see (another on the way any time this week). Every few days our daughter sends us photos or video clips of our two year old grandson. We can look back on all the photos and videos and watch him grow up.

Isn't technology grand?

Yes. My mom does not have a computer but she loves to see pictures so I make sure I always take some to show when I visit. The photo books and scrapbooks she especially loves to browse through over and over again.

neil_r wrote in post #12982739
Mo this is a little off topic but please indulge me. You are spot on the images that everyone produces make the world a smaller place, but does it have permanence.. A few years ago my wife's grandmother died and we were sorting out her house, in various places we found hundreds of photographs going back nearly 100 years, even the oldest ones were in near perfect condition and as a bonus written in perfect copperplate handwriting in pencil on the back of each picture was the names of the folks in the picture and the date it was taken. I wonder I'd we will lose this permanence in the current disposable world we live in.

I am a little obsessive. All my photos go into named and dated folders so when the time comes that I am no longer here, people who go through my computer will be able to find everything in an orderly fashion. Hopefully there will be no surprises.