The Object becomes a subject and gets transformed by the very act of pointing a camera at it and pressing the shutter. Now the object and subject go their own ways. The subject initially sits on the sensitive media and then is presented in various forms, colors, context , reasons as a visual design . The subject in the meanwhile is living its own journey completely unchanged by the act ( unless it was touched or plucked ) . Nobody is actually interested in the actual object in many cases unless it is for some natural history or scientific reason .
So your "Act" is the action and controlled by you everything else is happening as per nature or laws of physics . Just my rambling thoughts !

Agree with you Raj on an object becoming a subject. However, my problem is choosing a 'favorite' in this process.

Agree, the very act of thinking of making a frame is the act of choosing a favorite. Deciding to exclude something is the act of having prejudice.

Deciding to exclude something is the act of having prejudice.

But then deciding to include (or frame) something is also an exclusion (of other nearby elements) and hence a prejudice too. Unless you decide to throw your camera up in the air with with timed shutter releases which randomly clicks something. Or you may want to close your eyes, move a few steps here and there and make an image still closing your eyes and then see what you got. That would be real "it is there, I am here too!" with no prejudices. Will that work any better or do you need the process a bit more conscious? What you think?

Interesting in painting / drawing there was /is a movement where the artist allows the hand to take the lead instead of too much thinking, conscious approach and pre-planning. What is the photography equivalent I wonder ?

Completely agree Ganesh. It is impossible not to have an opinion when we choose to frame something.
This process is very complex and tricky.

And this is one of the reasons I am shooting less and less.

However, I try to include less of my opinions ( Not sure how much of it makes sense) and make images that are 'aesthetically' pleasing.

On a related note, during the 1920s and 30s in Russia writers thought literature should be as close to reality, it shouldn't have romanticism. Literature should write about the lives of people as close to reality as possible. How to achieve this? Many people went to the extreme that they took their diaries out in the street and documented whatever they saw. They termed it their 'story' /'literature'. At hindsight, these are all just 'experiments' and do not carry any major significance in the literature history.

At times I feel I am doing the same thing and then I give myself the justification that " I want to have aesthetically good-looking images too..." . (Again, not sure how much of it makes sense)
And then comes the question, "what is aesthetically good-looking"? Then this question takes us to have opinions, unless I have an opinion I can't have a good-looking image.

At the moment, I can just say it is a balance I am trying to achieve. ( From being just a spectator, not shooting and shooting with my minimal interference. )

After reading your comment on the first image in the series ,

That is what I call "Ascetic Nature Photography

I think I can say "refraining from self-indulgence" might be the explanation I am looking for.

Raj,

Interesting in painting / drawing there was /is a movement where the artist allows the hand to take the lead instead of too much thinking, conscious approach and pre-planning. What is the photography equivalent I wonder

At its core photography itself is designed in that way? Not thinking much and deciding to freeze the moment? Or the moment asking us to make the image unlike a painter decides to create a moment?

Yes and No. We do think it is spontaneous. At the same time our head is full of all the images we have seen, what we liked, our favorite photographers . Our choices are done by this conditioned mind. So the tough journey is to unlearn all that we learnt and see fresh - Like one artist said - We need to take the world apart and assemble it back in our own way . Not that I achieved all this. Only a note aloud to myself to imbibe and remind

Very thoughtful discussions here.

Adithya, to be very honest, I feel the image is the weakest link in otherwise a beautiful thread. Please ignore, it's my frank view. I can understand about the thoughts/questions you have raised but the image fails to live up to that level.

Best Regards

Prashant to put down exactly why you feel that way is very important and will contribute to the discussion.

It is impossible not to have an opinion when we choose to frame something.

That is why I have been thinking we should explore portraying the 'truth' (I often tend to use 'art' and 'truth' interchangeably). Truth lives on, opinions perish. But then making 'truth' interesting as an image amongst 'all truths' is a very creative exercise which needs to focus first on 'framing a subject' itself. It may result in more questions than answers.

Raj,

I'll just try to explain why I felt so. I was expecting this question from Adithya though.

Forcing oneself to post an image with so many "not conditions" itself fall into the category of opinion isn't it. If the artist, here the photographer, decides that he'll not make an image in a particular way itself is biased isn't it.
How to make a random image, may be closing the eyes and clicking with just dialling some buttons altering the settings and clicking eyes closed without knowing the subject. May be posting without even looking at it. I'm not sure. But still when a particular image is selected to post it's s again not unbiased right. Here enforcing himself with an image which is different, without proper exposure and playing with or ignoring other image characters (knowingly), can we call it unbiased?
Regarding the image, I felt the image is a bit louder than the delicate thoughts associated with this. May be I couldn't connect with the image and associated thoughts with it, or may be there is some connection which yielded this conversation and I failed to understand. Can any other image could've triggered this discussion? May or may not be!

And I know that whatever I've mentioned above fall in to the category of an "opinion"!!

Best regards

Raj,

Yes and No.

Agree, that's why my emphasis there was "at its core "

We had a similar conversation about the points you have raised a couple of years ago. ( I tried to search for it, but couldn't get it)

Here is an article by Nirlep about the basic nature of a photograph.

And here are a few lines

Compare this now to a picture. Leaving aside some assignments where there is time for a photographer to pre-visualize, most of the photography work comes as a surprise to the photographer. There is a strong element of serendipity involved in this pursuit. A shutter release stamps the instant state of the photographer. And because the instant is not evolved at all, it is terribly alone, cut off from the continuum of life which we inhabit. This slice of time has no meaning. It is an absurdity to be more extreme for nothing in the real world exists bearing resemblance to it. The absolute un-meaning is the value of a picture. The pictorial is a façade. The picture lies elsewhere, in contrast to a painting which lies ‘there’.

I was ( and still am) greatly influenced by this article and was thinking what's the place of 'visualization' in a photograph? The moment you visualize something, aren't you replacing the very essence of photography,' moment, and replacing it with 'thought' which you can achieve in a painting? Why should HCB wait for his 'decisive moment'? Can't he just paint it (of course in an ideal world where his painting skills are equally good) ?

However, over the course of years I am starting to feel, it need not be so. A photograph starts from what is in front of you. Even in conceptual photography, something may change at the very last moment, just before the release of the shutter button.

At the same time our head is full of all the images we have seen, what we liked, our favorite photographers . Our choices are done by this conditioned mind.

Agree, We have our opinions, prejudices etc

Note: This conservation might not be completely related to the main discussion we are having. Pardon me for dragging the discussion too long.

Prashanth,

Yes, as discussed in previous comments, bias is an inevitable and obvious thing.

There are two aspects here that I am trying to convey

1. An action series - Perhaps it is my reaction to all the 'action' shots that we see every day. How can anyone consider the 'actions in my image' to be inferior to an image of a tiger hunting a deer? (It is a very crude comparison) And of course, there are many other aspects like visual aesthetics, subtlety, etc. which this image may be lacking.

2. Then where do you achieve the inspiration for this 'anti-action' series? I drew ( or tried to ) from my experience of refuting self-indulgence or just being there. Trying to be just a spectator.

Then, your question comes " how can you be just a spectator"? "the moment you pick the camera aren't you having an opinion?" Yes, true. And in a perfect setting, I would just take the camera and come back without pressing the shutter. But, this crosses the realm of photography, and it's another kind of journey altogether. To be in the realm of photography we should have a photograph, right? I have chosen this particular photograph to say so because this is the last point where I held the connection between me and the subject, and shot a few images. After that, I stopped clicking. I felt this point where I still was a photographer is important.

However, I might have completely failed, as you said, in my photographs. I am ready to take the punishment

Interesting you brought up HCB and painting
"In 1966, Cartier-Bresson quit Magnum and began to turn his focus to where it had once been: on drawing and painting. He disdained doing interviews and refused to talk much about his previous career as a photographer, seemingly content to bury himself in his notebooks, sketching out landscapes and figurines "

Adithya, my only concern was I felt it's bit forced. I might be absolutely wrong. And I clearly understand you are on some new journey. I hope you get what you are looking for.

Best Regards