Hey, while I'm sittin' here suckin' suds - I'm curious as to what is everyone's favorite subject to photograph? Personally, if I had one roll of film to shoot, i love to get ou early in the morning on an early fall day to shoot dragonflies and butterflies captured in early morning dew. I'm a close-up nut, but what about everyone else?

People! I think I've said this before, I wanna do street shots (but am too scared to do it). (*

Don't know if this is pertinent, but when i was first getting into photography, I got lucky to be able to shoot for a home-town paper (primarily for my school's sporting events). I took this "responsibility" to an extreme, shooting anything from car accidents to aerial photos from an illegally-climbed water tower. Point is (and here's where the "people" thing comes in), my editor noticed a sign on the side a a building, big letters spelling "NUTS" - he wanted me to stage a photo of a guy slipping and falling from the rear of a delivery truck - with the big "NUTS" showing behind him. Would have been great if caught naturally, but I couldn't bring myself to fake it. Since then, I'e never been able to really shoot people (I've shot two weddings - my first...and my last!). Maybe working twelve years dealing with the public at a retail level (selling cameras, no less) has made me a bit of an anti-social...?

Well for me it's obviously nature stuff....

but I would love to do this. I literally sat and cried at some of the images I saw here. This would be the ultimate and most satisfactory thing I could ever dream of doing....

I love shooting people. Right now, 90% of what I shoot is street or event (parades, gatherings, etc) photography. I really want to do some portrait and glamour type photography. Will be taking a Form and Figure class in a month or so. I've had several ladies who've volunteered to model for me, but up until now I haven't had the confidence. Hoping the class will help with that. Star - It really is an intimidating thing to do (street photography). I'm a big introvert when I don't know people, so it was doubly tough for me. I think one of the reasons I started was for that reason; to face my fear. Here's a tip for starting, go to places where people don't mind/notice being photographed or are even hoping to be seen and photographed. Parades are great for this. Also, SciFi/Fantasy conventions - shooting someone in costume is so much easier than shooting someone in everyday life. It's sort of like dangling your toes in the water. Getting used to shooting strangers. A couple more tips: - When you're out, keep your movements normal. Don't look like you're spying on people or being sneaky. Keep your movements smooth. Fast, jerky movements (like bringing your camera up, taking the shot and then dropping the camera back down just as quickly) actually draws attention. - Wander around the area you want to shoot in. Take a couple of shots of the street, buildings, etc. People in the area will get used to you and you'll slowly slip into the background. - And what I consider the most important tip, -always- pay attention to your surroundings, where you are and what is going on around you. The last thing you want to do is wander into a dangerous situation because you were so into your photography. -=>Donald

Hmmmm... Mostly "places" (landscapes & architecture) and the odd portrait (nothing fancy though; no studio work). Guess I'm very fortunate to being able to travel a lot through Europe and I firmly believe that "holiday" or "tourism" photo's can be something more than mere "snapshots". I'm still training my eye for that "perfect" framing, razor sharp focus and "just right" exposure and enjoying every bit of the learning curve.

@Wolf -So that's your secret for getting the little buggers to stand still! @Donald --Wonderful list. I smell an illustrated tutorial for Star... [But you did forget the Ray-Ban sunglasses and black suit...] @Michelle --Very powerful site. I could not imagine myself making images like this... ...same with street photography or erotic/glamour. I'm too shy, and unrelating to people. Or, I relate too much. End up donating the cameras to buy food. I'm in pig heaven when I get to a new place with rocks and trees I haven't seen before. Or zoos.

all of the above are excellent choices, as for myself it varies quite abit. I started out doing street scenes because of the wide variety of situations you can find yourself in. Then I started to experiment with abstract images, slices of reality as seen from an odd perspective. Old buildings excite me visually, (our friends in the UK, Europe and other wonderfully exotic locales bring out a jealous streak in me, sorry)but unfortunately, here in Nashville we don't have a lot of them left. Nature pics of a different sort interest me(i.e. the frost picture). As of late, unusual subjects catch my eye (mannequins anyone?).
I'm trying to find my "eye" in everything and not pidgeonhole myself into one genre of image. I go through phases where the mood is "go shoot a statue today" or another building today. I am very interested in doing some major photo manipulations such as (forgive me as I'm not sure of the spelling)antoonio has exhibited here.
I guess, I really want to be comfortable is all aspects of this "hobby" regardless of what I'm shooting. I think that is the real secret to being "sucessful" in taking good pictures. I still have a long way to go with it and still don't have a clue as to all of the technical aspects of taking pictures, (I basically shoot and hope for the best, change a setting and shoot again), but I think the number one thing about it is to have fun with it. Whether it's shooting bugs, or people or trees, enjoy it. uh sorry to be so long winded....

a couple of street shots, I later PS'ed them but these are the originals. To those who mentioned street shots. I just stood around in the same spot for about 20 minutes just watching what was going on and would so often just takes a shot. In reality I find, that in general people don't really get upset with people taking pics. In my case, this is lower Broadway, in the middle of our "Country Music" tourist area here in Nashville. To these folks, I was just another yokel tourist with a camera. If you are kinda insecure about taking pictures of people, just find an area in your locale that has tourist traffic, you will just blend right into the woodwork so to speak.

second street shot

BTW wolfsnap, great topic!

EASY - T&A!!!! Seriously though, While I'd love the serious opportunity to do some glamour work, I've a massive interest in old/derelict buildings, and I am currently working on the structure for my first proper project. When the bike's finished, it's gonna see me out & about a bit more just for the fun of it, and I fully intend to have the camera with me...... @Michelle, great shots - but deep down I have got some sort of loathing for this type of site..... I dunno, maybe I'm just jealous, but if any of us had the money to spend to be able to get to some of these places that are worse off than ourselves, I'm sure we'd come back with some hefty shots too. It's the fact that we don't see this sort of thing in real life that draws us more towards the pictures, imo. Like how a 'good' (technically speaking) picture of a homeless person (there's no such thing as a good picture of a homeless person, in modern society it doesn't need to happen. Building standing empty etc etc...) has the same effect to someone who never sees them, but to someone who sees them often, it's just a street photo. Damn, I'm not saying it right, but this is as close as I can get!! (",)

Great question. It seems as though my natural talent is in nature and ladscapes but in addition to that I want to shoot artistic nudes. Male, female, couples, whatever. I want to show the beauty of the human form. I had a shoot with a model last week and I have alot of post work to do. I also have a lot of learning to do too! An example is here http://www1.photosig.com/viewphoto.php?id=619493 (Nudity!) I got the film shots back and I have alot more learning to do there too! Other things that I like to shoot are castles and architechture and old buildings. last but not least Cityscapes. But then again If I can see it I want to shoot it! Magick Michael

Thanks for the tips, Donald. Most of my apprehension, I must say, comes from my fear of getting mugged. The shots I have in mind aren't exactly found in the most safest of places. I have yet to convince a friend who is gullible enough to act as my bodyguard in exchange for food. Heh heh... sigh (*

jacoggins took my wind...anything!, everything!- living out here in the scraggley hills of nowhere land- I ache to shoot more ppl pics- but anything I can see, if I can capture it slightly differently... seems a lot of ppl get excited going to the country to take pics, I get excited if we go to town... probably the weirdest thing I've taken pics of was the roadkill series (hadn't seen too many ppl doing it...soooooooo...) stopped yesterday on my way back from the weekly grocery run & took a couple of closeup pics of a still intact, deer skeleton I guess the vultures had picked clean- thought it might make a good transparent layer for something else (my more morbid side) I felt a little embarressed when a pickup drove by, probably wondering what the hell I was doing- Took the trash out to the trash pit & the most recent burned trash looked like good subject matter- even went so far as shoot some cow patties (thinking to myself I really need to get out more) those street shots remind me of some of my Grandmothers old photos when she lived in Chicago...think she called them "walking pics"? said a photographer would take pics of them walking down the sidewalk then try to sell it to them...maybe you could try that as a sidejob? hehe :D oh & nice site 'chelle!

ROAD KILL!!! My favorite subject is/are things. Buildings, street, art, BUSTS ect. People are alright if I can get an interesting emotion but that's hard for me to do. Bsteph

what i finally decided to focus on is architecture and abandoned places/buildings. would also like to try still life pictures as well.

Well for me, being where I live, it's hard not to shoot the landscape. But I haven't really decided yet what is my favorite. I just like to get outside and whatever catches my eye, I shoot it.