What photos are you tired of seeing?

[theantiquetiger]

I'm not talking about on this forum.

I am a member of several Facebook Louisiana photography groups and a member of a brick and mortar photography club here in Baton Rouge. With all the great stuff to photograph in Louisiana (swamps, New Orleans, plantations, etc), it seems 95% of the images posted are of a bird, butterfly, squirrel, or flower in their backyard. It's seems to be the same people, who post more photos than most, and that's all they shoot. I don't understand this.

I know, get out and shoot what you want, but it gets ridicules sometimes. I just feel like if you want to photograph birds, expand beyond your fence. We have some majestic birds here in Louisiana, bald eagles, owls, etc. And don't get me started on flowers (what you do, have to low crawl for miles, slowly sneaking up on it?)

Ok, I will get off my soap box now.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, because everyone here seems to have a wide variety of images they shoot.

BTW, if you are looking for a good photography group on Facebook, my favorite is "World in Black & White". They have some amazing photographers on there.

[Marko]

There is no subject matter that is overdone. ... everyone shoots what they want for different reasons.

What is overdone though is mediocre, boring photography.
It's a friggen plague. People with zero skills propping up others with mediocre skills. "Great shot" (yeah except it's pure crap)

Most people just don't hone their skills or show creativity, so what they are showing you is.....meh.

Show me a great squirrel/flowe/baby shot - I'm happy.
Show me something different though. Change your angle.
Make it compostionally interesting and technically good.

[theantiquetiger]

That's part of my gripe as well. The photos of the bird, squirrel, butterfly, or flower looks like they are shot in automatic, nothing fancy, no composition, creativity, etc. The mod of one of the pages (a good friend of mine) asked me why I don't post/comment that much on the page I told him this reason and knew exactly what I meant. He felt he same.

[Barefoot]

Photography is not about the thing photographed. It is about how that thing looks photographed. - Garry Winogrand

Jeff Curto in his History of Photography podcast has been emphasizing that there is nothing left that hasn't been photographed. To me, were left to create if we want to be unique.

[theantiquetiger]

Last week, I was all excited about shooting the eclipse. I did practice runs, etc. The day of the eclipse, I said screw it, I knew I wasn't going to get anything different than anyone else's, so I didn't shoot it. I just simply enjoyed the eclipse, and just as I expected, most eclipse shots I saw where no different than what I would have taken. The member here, JustinRyan took a very good one, I wonder why he hasn't posted it yet. He did it differently than I was going to do. He didn't use a filter (I believe).

[Barefoot]

This is something not relevant, isn't it? Preference and choice of photos differ from person to person as every individual shot for different purpose.

Maybe you could explain that? I'm not sure I understand your thoughts.

[Marko]

Photography is not about the thing photographed. It is about how that thing looks photographed. - Garry Winogrand

I agree with that at about a 75% level. If it doesn't catch your eye on some level, you will not photograph it.

Jeff Curto in his History of Photography podcast has been emphasizing that there is nothing left that hasn't been photographed. To me, were left to create if we want to be unique.

It's all been painted, photographed, written.............your job is to make it your own.

You can't 'make it your own' on average, with automatic settings in identical environments.....because there are billions of people in the world that shoot that way; at eye level on automatic settings....so their shot is nearly identical or identical to millions of other shots. These are snapshots. Usually they are no more creative than painting by numbers.

But slow down, change angle, focal points - spend a minute thinking about distractions...composition, the light, the aperture.....this is where the uniqueness lies.

Creativity never had and never will have any limit which is why we are still blown away and will always be blown away by great photography or other great art.

[Runmonty]

Marko makes some good points here. That alternative view is something I strive for but is always a challenge. I must also agree with Rosh that people shoot for their own reasons and that is great. However that is not to say that I have to like them.

I too am sick of seeing snapshots of the ordinary. I also get sick of whatever trend or technique is happening that week and is then done to death by everyone.

Some examples are:

Long exposure for blurred water motion eg creeks etc. Dont get me wrong, some of these can be great - but many more are boring and just show that the photographer has a tripod and the water is moving.
spun steel wool on fire that is creating sparks - I am so over seeing these
Boring street photography that pretends to be artistic or tell a story simply by converting to B & W


more from the past and are not as prevalent these days:

overblown HDR
B & W with selective colour for no real reason
homeless people or people down on their luck if the photo doesnt tell a story

[Runmonty]

I might add though that I am guilty of at least some, if not all of these.