Don't underestimate your photos

I have a 90 yr old Italian grandmother who is the creator and keeper of many of the family's recipes. I decided to put together a photo book of her, with shots of her cooking, recipes, and the extended family at gatherings enjoying her food.

I was not very pleased with the shots I got, and I was very close to just scrapping the whole idea. But my wife insisted I finish it up because I had told my grandmother that I was going to give the photobooks out for Christmas. So I put it together. I thought the result was OK, but just OK.

Cut to our family Christmas celebration, where I have numerous relatives crying over the book and thanking me profusely for putting it together. No one else in the entire family has any interest in photography, so they really don't see past what the photos are in their most basic state.

The lesson here for me was a very strong one. Capturing moments and memories is what it is all about. The pursuit of some higher photographic truth can be fun, but will not become my priority. In other words, it's about the photographs, not photography. That might not ring true to many folks here, who have committed countless hours to being amazing photographers. Nothing wrong with that, but I really feel like I have a much greater sense of what I want to do with my camera in the immediate future. And that feels good.

I'd like to suggest that everyone take a moment as the year ends to consider the power and importance their images can have, especially when it is on a personal scale. Share them with family and friends. You may be the only person capable of capturing some of those moments.

mpix345 wrote in post #11516773
I have a 90 yr old Italian grandmother who is the creator and keeper of many of the family's recipes. I decided to put together a photo book of her, with shots of her cooking, recipes, and the extended family at gatherings enjoying her food.

I was not very pleased with the shots I got, and I was very close to just scrapping the whole idea. But my wife insisted I finish it up because I had told my grandmother that I was going to give the photobooks out for Christmas. So I put it together. I thought the result was OK, but just OK.

Cut to our family Christmas celebration, where I have numerous relatives crying over the book and thanking me profusely for putting it together. No one else in the entire family has any interest in photography, so they really don't see past what the photos are in their most basic state.

The lesson here for me was a very strong one. Capturing moments and memories is what it is all about. The pursuit of some higher photographic truth can be fun, but will not become my priority. In other words, it's about the photographs, not photography. That might not ring true to many folks here, who have committed countless hours to being amazing photographers. Nothing wrong with that, but I really feel like I have a much greater sense of what I want to do with my camera in the immediate future. And that feels good.

I'd like to suggest that everyone take a moment as the year ends to consider the power and importance their images can have, especially when it is on a personal scale. Share them with family and friends. You may be the only person capable of capturing some of those moments.

I agree with you 100%. The great photos that photographers post are just a small collection of some of their best. Without a doubt, all of us have taken photos that we are not happy with, we just don't show that to the world. I can't tell you how many photos I have of my family that I have collected over the years. Some will delete them and write them off as "crap", but I keep them as a memory keep sake. Some years down the road, I know that I will want to look at them and cherish the memories of the past and I am glad you see it that way. Sometimes my family members don't as I chase them around the house with a giant DSLR, BTW - great idea about putting together that book!

Wonderful story - and oh, so true. I have lot of pictures of my mother that she hated and thought were terrible. I kept them, however - just on the computer in a file. She passed away back in the summer, and I find now that those photos are some of the most precious I have.

Which brings up another point. If your relative/friend asks you to delete some photos because they're embarrassing/ugly/stup​id... don't You'll regret it later. or at least make sure to keep an undelete program handy.

A buddy of mine hated having his photo taken but I took one on 5/19 at a bowl-a-thon for The United Way and he passed away suddenly week later. It was the last shot anyone took of him and although it wasn't technically a good photo, it meant a lot to me and his fiance and his family.

This is a great thread...you never know how much a photo means to someone, or how rare it is.

Oh how true all of every ones responses are. It is kind of funny how most of us think we need not keep the imperfect photo. I used to delete all of them until I got to thinking about the moment of the photo and what it conveyed. Like yesterday....My 30 yr old daughter was giving her dad a hug and I clicked off a fast shot..of course his eyes were closed but still the emotion was there and you could sense the feeling soooo I kept it. Another shot I tried was a family photo of all six of us. I wanted to be in the shot to so I set the timer ran into place and I guess I has continuous still set from my last photog session. Well when the camera just kept clicking away every one burst into such laughter it was amazing to see the photo's and we all laughed even harder! Now those are the best!!
It can never recreate a moment in time but you sure can remember it fondly through pictures. Good or bad ones LOL!! Then when somebody asks the question "Do you remember when" you can respond with YEP and I have the picture to prove it!

Best. Thread. Ever.

Totally agree with the OP. I'm always for trying to do one's best, and to keep improving one's technique, but when it comes down to it, it is the memories that are paramount.

Unless they're so blurry or so dark/light that I cannot even recognize who is in them, I keep virtually everything. Shoot, I have snapshots of myself and friends & relatives from 30 years ago that bring back the best memories. Technically, many of them are crap... but they're the most valuable and irreplaceable photos I have.

Great thread, some of the best reading for me in a while, makes me feel better about my learning curve anyway. I keep those blurry ones sometime cause you can't replace the moment.

My wife has always loved being behind the camera. Basically just PnS shots, but she captures the moments. I have lived behind the camera since childhood, and was blessed to turn Pro. Some of my finest captures of our family are the worst photos I have taken! Keep all you shoot of family and friends they can be a keep sake for others.

Nice story mpix. Glad you were able to shoot and share what will certainly be a cherished memory for your family. Good on you.

When I first started shooting, (just over 2 years ago) I always felt intrusive about carrying around a camera and taking pics at family deals. Now, my wife pretty much insists the camera comes along. Christmas eve, I got a shot of 4 of 5 of my wife's siblings. She was elated ... and upset at the same time that the 5th left the gathering early. She doesn't have a single pic of herself with her 2 brothers and 2 sisters.

Now, my take is this: get 'em together, I'm happy to shoot pics of your family for you without reservation. These things are really important to my wife and I'll do whatever it takes to provide those memories as you stated. That's what it's all about. Being able to provide memories that live on.

dave

mpix345 wrote in post #11516773
I'd like to suggest that everyone take a moment as the year ends to consider the power and importance their images can have, especially when it is on a personal scale.

Oh, I'm with you on that, brother. I generally don't let anyone see 99% of my images. I primarily do photography for me and no one else. If I happen to do somehing that someone wants to see, that's just a bonus. The vast majority of the time 99% of the appreciation of my images is going to come from me and me alone.

It's like writing a diary or a personal journal. It's for you, primarily. So one should realize that from the start.

photoguy6405 wrote in post #11517223
Best. Thread. Ever.

Ya, this is a welcome reminder of something other than WTF the definition of 'bokeh' is.

ni$mo350 wrote in post #11517050
A buddy of mine hated having his photo taken but I took one on 5/19 at a bowl-a-thon for The United Way and he passed away suddenly week later. It was the last shot anyone took of him and although it wasn't technically a good photo, it meant a lot to me and his fiance and his family.

I think any number of us can be guilty of taking it for granted, that it's not just pixels that are being captured on a sensor, but, forever capturing a moment in time, that'll never be here again...

I'm sure you couldn't count the photos I have taken that were OOF, I still keep them, I have 300 from last halloween, I havn't even begun to process them, but I keep them because I have no idear if there might be some snippet of them just showing the one part that'll make the family members go nuts about them.

A couple of years ago I was talking with a lady at work about her trip to Alaska and she wanted me to see her photo album. The album was full of pictures most likely taken with a disposable camera with a big fingerprint on the lens. Every picture was blurry either from the smudged lens or from camera shake and her animal shots were a dot in a vast landscape but she was as proud of those pictures as if they were all masterpieces and then I understood they were masterpieces to her. She had captured memories of a lifetime and was thrilled everytime she looked at them.

I do love to look at beautiful photographs and I am awed by some of the photographs I see on this site and others. However, I have always enjoyed looking at snapshots and though they may be imperfect they capture a moment in time that is not staged but is real life. While a studio photograph of Grandma may be beautiful a snapshot of her cooking, or washing dishes, or sewing, or sitting in the floor playing with the grandchildren will generally cause more emotion than any studio shot.