This weekend my wife and I will be in a 5k race/walk fundraiser for cancer research. With the bummed up left big toe I will be walking, very briskly. On my shoulder will be my little carry camera and likely photography of the event will take precedence over the actual short walk. So, torn beween the images and the "walk", I attempt to do both and suspect I will stop and shoot more than pay attention to walking. What drives you to take the pic in the first place? DHolman shoots many neat events...it is the event in the fist place and a chance to get some images or the image possibilities first that takes him(you if reading this) to these events? Fun and photog do go together as do a camera and serendipidy..which is not to be missed or seen again. I for one am anchored to a camera like some folks are have cell phones superglued to the ear! I won't have a cell phone but will have a camera. This little camera goes everywhere I do. So, how about you? Is the camera a part of your life, all the time? I am attached to the camera, much rather miss a cell call than miss an image. Blessing and Peace to All. TomDart.

fantastic thread, Tom! first...i'm exhausted. ready to fall asleep. i will write this then take nap. i may not express my sleepy self well! i do my best! i WANT to take my cam everywhere, but i don't. i am driven to take photos. i like to photograph everything...concrete, dirt, clerk in grocery store. doesn't matter. i just feel huge need to capture what i hear and see around me. why don't i carry cam everywhere? long story i keep to myself. i am usually very open..but i will be silent about this. sorry. events??? cocert? go to hear music...photos are secondary. being in nature...just for the thrill of it! photos are necessary though. if i don't have cam in nature, i am saddened and feel like i lose my thrill. capturing what i see and feel heightens my awareness. everything becomes much more stimulating! cell phone vs. cam.??? people VERY important to me. what if i missed my parents' call? or my girlfriend? relationships more important that photos to me. if i don't have relationships then sharing images...well, it loses its thrill for me. people and photography go hand in hand. i can live with missing a shot. but my friends and family. i don't want to miss out of them! and cell phone is that link. Thanks again, Tom!!! This is fabulous thread!!!!!!!! much peace and joy to you and the rest of the gang!!! sheila

Well I would love to have it with me all the time,but dont. I do make sure to try and take some photos each day. To be honest up till about August I had stopped taking photos, before that it was in 96 really. I stopped cause I was taking up to 6 rolls a week and it was costing. Well recently a good friend talked me into joing here and showing some of my work, mostly my paintings. She talked me into showing my photos,and I even found 6 rolls to be developed. Well to make a long story short,she talked me into getting back into taking photo's and so I got a good digital camera to learn with. From then I have taken shots each day, even if I had to do it in the dark,lol. Currently I am almost to my 3000th capture with my new camera I got in August. Can we say addicted,lol. So I am really driven to take photos. Even a day that I didnt have my camera with me, I did have my moms and used it to take photos that day,just to take some.So I guess that I am attached to my camera mostly.

Apophis906, and some really wonderful images your gallery provides! Seems you like the macro. Great shots...like I would like to take sometime like the ladybug and the bees. Thanks for your comments. PS. My wife has the cell phone and uses it only to call AAA if the car breaks down. That is how addicted we are to the phone. As for photos, it has really gotten under my skin. Digital makes it easier to shoot and delete and that is part of it, for sure. Peace. TomDart.

Excellent thread. Is my camera a body part? My family and friends would say yes. Me? It used to be. I have owned digital cameras since 2000-2001. Since that time (according to the count(same as file name) that my Olympus 360DL and the count on my C4040), I have taken close to 20,000 shots. I would shoot images just to be shooting images. Everything was an experiment. I'd shoot 20-30 images of some things just to make sure I had 1 good shot. In recent months I find that now I'm more selective about what I shoot. I started branching out in my artistic endeavors by taking up painting again. Now I find that I shoot images more for reference for a painting. Although there are times when I still shoot for the "artistic" image. But those shots I think are better at least visualy and to some degree technically than this time last year. I guess I'll finish up with I don't think it matters if you have become addicted to the camera, there are worse things you could be doing. And if you can spread a little joy by sharing your images, what's the problem? Jack

My camera is a body part! The one time in over 3 years that I left it behind, it got stolen. never again. My wife accuses me of even taking it to the bathroom with me. sad to say it has been known to happen! Look at my gallery. What motivates me? Life. Plain and simple I see things that it seems others don't. I want to capture the way i see the world. I want others to understand what I see and maybe why I see it. If they don't that is fine but it is a lot of fun trying to catch it all! Miss a call for a shot? Dude, I have missed sex to shoot. Nuff said there. Magick Michael

Greetings!! When it comes to me. It is not just Camera or Photography. I have always been drawn towards visual arts. Having discovered internet and it's range in reaching people across the globe, befriending them and sharing my part of the Globe, I find that my camera helps me a lot. By nature I am an extremisit ( Oh come on, not the terrorist one, heehehehee). Anything I do, I go to the extreme, limited to my calibre and understanding ofcourse. So when it comes to Photography, I find myself in that extreme. Also, having taken up Photography only a year back ( last November was when I bought my digi cam) I have discovered that I had been missing life in it's true form. This one whole year since my camera, I have really come to appreciate the nature around me, understand the seasonal changes and the variety that it brings. It not only made me aware of the change in life form as climates change but has also helped me study the animal/insect life from a closer angle. I honestly believed in Tedz when he used to say, use a hair spray if you wana capture a butterfly, lmao!! but having chased quite a few I have learnt when it is the right time to move in , when this very sensitive insect is totally surrendered itself and is not aware of it's surrounding. Had it not been for my Camera I wouldn't have realised it. Yes, I carry my camera with me all the time. It is a small pocketable digital cam, so it's easy too. Yeah, there are risks in carrying the camera as on a daily basis I have to move in and out of zones where cameras are prohibited but then it has proved worth the risk......... I have not done anything illegal with it. :O)) The reason why I carry my cam all the time is......... a moment in time never repeats. A sunset visible today will not be visible for months to come or maybe only sometime the next year , so, If I miss the chance today, I really miss capturing it. The right mood is another point. Sometimes beauty is there just before you but you are not able to see it. The mind is elsewhere brooding over some issue which can not be solved through my brooding but still I am brooding. There are some downsides to it too. Like for example , if I go out shopping with my family, I tend to forget that I am shopping, instead I am looking at a great composition , resulting in my wife getting irritated with me and swearing not to take me along with her for shopping next time., lmao!!! Yes, this camera is surely an extension of my body,mind and soul. I am able to share the world through me, using my camera and what you see on my images more or less is what I am in real. I am still to learn photography in a proffesional sense as I am not technically perfect. I think I need more time to sit and work it out which unfortunately I am not able to find. Given a choice, I will throw away my cellphone and be with my camera. .........and a final note..... Had it not been for this wonderful site, maybe, I wouldn't be using my camera at all. As much as it is a pleasure to play with my camera and take pictures of things I like......what really drives me is what I can show others. Every pic I shoot I think of the surprise I may bring to many of us here from my part of the globe. Things which are ordinary for me but are novelties for others, I make sure to capture those. I feel very elated when I read the comments latter. For example, Pomigrante is a very common fruit for me which I had never paid any importance in my life and honestly unless cut out, there is nothing photogenic about it but I noticed that many of the members were thrilled to see it. So, the fruit became a special object of shoot for me. Likewise, there are many ancient buildings around where I live and when I find the time, I will positively go and capture them and share them with all. Can you guys imagine this.......Taj Mahal is just a 4 hours drive from my place??? and I am yet to go and capture it's beauty in my digi cam using techniques of presentation that I have learnt here........oh boy, it will be fun. Peace!!! SNAKEY

yes... it always goes with me but not attached :]
as it isn't waterproof & could get roughed up, lol...
no cell phone though, no signal here...
raj, you live in paradise of photo ops! would luv to see the taj mahai, the colors, the people, etc! :]

You know, I had to really think about this question. I would say that what drives me is the possibility of the image. Of capturing something that will probably never, ever be seen again. To create something that is a combination of reality and my vision and will imposed upon reality. Sort of "Here you go boys and girls; Earth seen through my eyes."

As for what drives me to shoot an event, it really depends on the event. Sometimes it's the thought of trying to capture something I really love and sharing it with others who have never seen or even heard of it (ie. Trolloween or the Fremont Summer Solstice parade). The thought that I might, for a moment, transport the person into that world and through my images allow them to experience it. Many other times, I don't know what to expect. Never been to the event, yet it holds the possibility of great images and so I go to experience it and to try and capture that experience for others to share (ie. Gothic Fashion show).

And I think in the back of my mind, there is always the gnawing desire to nail that perfect image. The one that defines an event or moment. One of those once in a blue moon shots (or in some cases, a lifetime) when it all just comes together. You know what I mean? A Steve McCurry 'Afghan girl' shot. Something that just reaches inside and evokes a visceral response.

But in the end, it really comes down to the fact that I don't think I have a choice. I have to do it. Something inside won't allow me to stop. No matter how tired I am, how cold and wet the weather is or if I'm feeling well or not. Once the camera is in my hand, all of that fades into the background. Can I explain that? Not really.

-=>Donald

I see a bit of "don't want to miss the chance" in this. That is part of what drives me and the other personal desire to do something that will stir the senses of the viewer..hopefully in a kind manner. Each photo is a part of me..as in my professional work in jewelry, each piece of that or each photo comes with a bit of shyness, because part of me is in there. Of course, the photography area is one challenging now with much to learn and better equipment to invest in. Not to labor a point, have you been in a situation and really wished the camera was with you? Of course. Imagine sitting in a grocery store lot watching a bunch of guys busy as bees roofing a church house. The dark clouds are coming in and some distant lightning. I watch these guys and wonder about a near lightning strike. No, I didn't want it to happen but "if it did while they were on the roof" I sure would want to try to take a shot of it! My camera was at home. All were safe and the lightning came close only after they finally got down and into the building. Still...no camera, no chance for even an iffy pic. This little "pocket camera" goes most everywhere I do.