Comments on: A Photo Made Me Do It

By: What Makes a Nature Photograph “Real”? - Gaiam Blog

What Makes a Nature Photograph “Real”? - Gaiam Blog — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:23:46 +0000

[...] even these manipulations “ruin” a nature shot? Should we be interested only in pure documentation of what’s out there? Or should we, rather, be [...]

By: John Thomas

John Thomas — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 18:47:51 +0000

I while back, my wife was toying with the idea of taking a trip to Churchill to see polar bears. We usually travel together, but this trip took place at a time that I couldn’t really get away. One evening when I came home from work and found a photograph taped to the door, showing a polar bear lying in the sun with her cub sleeping on her back, I knew someone was taking a trip! Later, I was able to experience some of what she had seen through the pictures she had taken. Those pictures were worth many thousand words.

By: Nine Quiet Lessons

Nine Quiet Lessons — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:45:09 +0000

I often find a story set in a real-world location makes me want to travel there. For example, I never really thought about going to the Antarctic before I read H.P. Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness.”

By: Paula

Paula — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:08:50 +0000

We (my husband, daughter [in high school] and son [in college]) went to France in June. My husband and I had both been there, but the kids had not traveled internationally except to Canada. So, why France? I was a French major (among other things); I love Paris, and our daughter thought she would, too; the kids have studied French since they were in grade school, so we figured they would have the best shot there at speaking the language; my husband really wanted to see Provence because he had been to Paris several times but not other places; and, we’d been meaning to do this for years and figured this would be the last realistic chance we’d have to take our son with us before he got too far afield in his college pursuits. Plus, he had just completed a college French class and had all kinds of current knowledge about cultural issues and such.

I really longed to go back to Paris, and it was great!

By: Christy O'Brien

Christy O'Brien — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:52:28 +0000

While images, films and music can certainly spark my interest in a place, my real inspiration comes most often from the people around me – the look in their eyes as they return in their minds to the places they have loved. Seeing a person’s enthusiasm about a place and knowing that the beauty of their experience still bubbles up within them…that sparks my interest.

By: Megan

Megan — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:09:13 +0000

Like you said, Candy: “The photo was predominantly red in color and showed the sharpest, jaggiest mountain peaks I had ever seen. It had been taken at the time of day when the light was sultry and soft — a time of day I don’t believe we have in Wisconsin; or if we do, I’ve never seen it.”

I think that’s the key. A photograph of another place usually calls to me because of some element that exists in the photo but DOESN’T exist in my own day-to-day environment. It’s intriguing and it makes you want to go there and see it for yourself, to see if it does in fact exist!

By: Travis

Travis — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:47:08 +0000

Film hits me. I still want to go to Peru because of Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo.

By: John Howard Gaukel

John Howard Gaukel — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:31:49 +0000

A picture or pictures, I think, are probably the most influential determining factor in making a decision to vist a certain destination or ” I wouldn’t go there on a bet”. A beautiful picture in a brochure surely is worth a thousand words and those words speak in all languages. They can invoke thoughts of romance, adventure, relaxation, or just wonderment. I known a picture or pictures have influeneced my desire and destination to travel. John Howard

By: kit Nordeen

kit Nordeen — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:07:15 +0000

Many of your suggestions have made me and , I know, others in our group, think about a particular trip. And we all had fun and learned a lot from them. What great memories! Thanks to you, my travel partner, Helen, Eric Rock, and our travel group. Kit