Guelph - The other side of the tracks

Guelph - The other side of the tracks
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

I've been thinking, dangerous I know, but a conversation I had with my friend Doug yesterday as we wandered around Guelph started this line of thought. We were discussing what, to us, makes a good image, why do we like one image versus another?
Is it because we created it?
How do we pass that emotion along to the viewer so that they may see as we do?

All of these questions led to more questions and an inner search for meaning and answers, which led me down this path ...

What drives us?
What sets us (photographers) apart from the rest?

To me the answers lie in: 
We 'feel' the world around us and in doing allows us to see all those mundane things in a different light.
It is this 'feeling' that allows us to see the world around us differently than most people.

For instance, have you ever stood and pondered a scene and had people stop, look, shrug and move on?
Ever had someone ask "what are you looking at?"
I know I have.

That "feeling" is the difference and it drives our desire to share what we 'see' with others.




And that desire--the strong desire to take pictures--is important. It borders on a need, based on a habit: the habit of seeing. Whether working or not, photographers are looking, seeing, and thinking about what they see, a habit that is both a pleasure and a problem, for we seldom capture in a single photograph the full expression of what we see and feel. It is the hope that we might express ourselves fully--and the evidence that other photographers have done so--that keep us taking pictures. 
- Seeing and Shooting Straight by Sam Abell