TMOP #820

(click > zoom)

TMOP steht für Transient Moment Of Pleasure. In letzter Zeit habe ich immer öfter beim Fotografieren darüber nachgedacht, welche Bilder, Szenen und Motive bei den Betrachtern wohl am besten ankommen. Letztendlich bringt mich das aber immer weiter weg davon, die Freude am Sehen und damit auch die Freude am Fotografieren zu erhalten. Ich beginne Erfolgsmaterial zu produzieren und lande bestenfalls beim kommerziellen Mainstream. Das ist aber nicht das, was mich meine eigenen Bilder lieben lässt und warum sollte ich Bilder machen, die ich selber nicht liebe? Die TMOP-Serie ist Stop und ein Schritt zurück in die Richtung, in die ich gehen will: die eigene kindliche Freude am Sehen, am Staunen, am Entdecken fördern. Viel Spass mit dem, was dabei heraus kommt!:-)

Look beyond the thing. Just let the quality of color, light and form lead your eyes.

TMOP stands for Transient Moment Of Pleasure and it is part of a series I started a while ago in the spirit of finding back to my photographic roots. I’ve been spending quite some time on google+ and facepalm, err, -book and recently I sat back and contemplated about how this so called social media influences my photographic work. I found myself being more and more influenced by the question, what pictures would be received positively, what shots would probably earn more +1 clicks. I see that a certain kind of shots get incredible amounts of clicks and feedback. Even without being addicted to public approval, I noticed how I am influenced by that +1 flood in my own way of seeing the world. In parts, I lost the freshness, the beginners spirit of pure pleasure in seeing and taking photographs. I noticed how I had to steer against the concepts that would make my shots “famous” here too. But I really don’t want big stones or tree trunks in every single of my landscape photographs, totally smooooth skies and water in every second shot or any of those current “winning concepts”. I want my childish pleasure back. That transient moment of pleasure in seeing the world, in discovering wonderful moments, in diving into color or form or light, in being liberated from documenting stunning things and start again communicating with the world and my heart by simply enjoying moments here and there and not care one single fraction of a second how those moments would be received by a broad community.

Do I stop posting shots here? Certainly not. Do I ignore your feedback? Of course not! I value your feedback very highly and I love to share passion and exchange thoughts.

Have a wonderful day.
Roland

Yours truly

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6 Comments

  2. Hallo Roland,
    ich kann deinen Ansatz gut verstehen. Ich bin sehr gespannt, wie sich das entwickelt.
    Gruß
    Wolfgang

    Reply

  3. +1 🙂

    In one workshop I attended, I remember my teacher saying, “I don’t care what you think.” My first reaction was, “Wow, how arrogant!”

    Now, I understand better:

    1. There are moments which touch us visually that resonate so deeply, we *know* they are strong images—whether or not they conform to familiar concepts in photography.

    2. What the viewer “thinks” in response to an image isn’t as important as what we hope they feel.

    I still find it difficult to decide which images to post publicly. The +1’s are seductive, but what is my intent?

    Reply

  4. Many thanks, April. What a wonderful story. And yes, I think we can grow in wisdom and in our photographic work, if we keep asking us “what is my intent?”. This is a very constructive question!

    cheers
    Roland

    Reply