Why are we here? - by Steve Mutch
Well why are we here? This is not a philosophical question about life on earth but a question as to why we are here on this website. We all share at least one common interest, our love of photography be it the professional, the dedicated amateur or the beginner. We all enjoy getting out in open air and snapping away with our cameras to capture that perfect moment. We all aspire to be better than we are at present and want the critical acclaim for the work we do.
So how do achieve our aims? This website has many members ranging from the very good to some who are not so good (I count myself in the latter group). Through our submissions we normally get some good constructive advise, through the articles we get to learn the best techniques and through viewing other photographs we get the ideas on how to accomplish what we desire.
There is nothing better than a work along a beach or through the mountains to capture what we hope will be a truly great picture. Once we have captured the moment what do we do? Is just posted in the PoM or do we try and improve our work? I have seen a number of comments that, why not criticising a member’s work they have questioned the motives and indicated that these pictures are not real. In response to this it must be remembered that the photographer has been manipulating his work for decades. However, in the day’s of film this involved painstaking work on negative film? We have come a long way since those days. In this digital age we have Photoshop, Paintshop and other software programs capable of remarkable results. All we doing are is the same only it’s more high tech now. Of course these programs are a lot more powerful and capable of producing better and faster results but we are still doing what countless photographers have always done before.
Even the basic crop or straightening of a horizon is manipulation. It is very enjoyable to manipulate our pictures and all of us do it to greater or lesser degree. Some are very good and have spent many hours learning the technique and their results are outstanding to these people take my hat of to you?
What do we get out of it; the winners get their critical acclaim they deserve and pass on invaluable advice to us, while us other lesser mortals get to improve. But this is the answer to question why are we here? We are here to improve our technique and therefore our results. But we can only do this with the help of all our members. Keep posting your pictures, keep commenting and we all improve.