I've always been intrigued by the process that photographers go through when they take their photos. What goes through their mind when they shoot? Why do they compose a shot a certain way? How did they mean for the shot to be interpreted?

I decided I was going to find out. I contacted several friends and asked them to choose a photo from their gallery, then share the story behind it. The responses I received were more than I could have hoped for: not only were the photos incredible (of course that was to be expected from these talented photographers), but the stories that accompanied them were incredibly insightful. I enjoyed reading each and every one of them, and am extremely grateful to them for their help. I hope that you will enjoy these stories as much as I did



"Gone in January"
by *LutherBash

"At that time a friend of mine was in hospital fighting cancer. It was clear that he's going to die, he was on heavy morphine already. I visited him about one week earlier, basically to say goodbye. After seeing him, i knew that it won't take very long, it could happen tomorrow or a week or two later.

The day the photograph was taken, it was one of those dark misty days, I thought of him a lot since I woke up. I love misty days and it matched my mood very well, so I had to get out and shoot; what I like about photographing is, that it relaxes the mind.

The location I choose was a little lake that I haven't visited for quite awhile. The first thing I stumbled across was this scene, which strucked me with its clear symbolism. That's it, the next day I got a call that he passed away the day before, he was 38."





"Free mind."
by *ashtapot

"This photograph has a funny background..I was there with the 9-10 friends to get this photo. When the model friend threw the the papers,other friends chasing around the papers to catch them and bring them back..so a lot fun we had, every photo has interesting stories actually..."





"catch the dying light"
by =blushark

"After returning from a hard day on the beach, heh, we went straight for the fridge to replenish our energy. We were just eating at the table when I noticed beautiful warm rays of light on her face, of outworldly coloration to say the least. I told her to "wait and not move" and ran to my room to get the camera, put film in it while running back, knowing that these rays will last for a minute at best -- sun had already touched the sea and rays were coming through dense palm leaves in front of my door. the interplay of angles and reflections gave us this exclusive opportunity, but only for a short time... so I guess this is a very spontaneous portrait. No one saw it coming until a minute before, and a minute later I was already putting down the camera and going on to eat whatever it was we were eating..."





"Vintage Kiss"
by ~cande-knd

"Esta foto es muy importante para mi ya que fue un poco dificil lograr este momento, tuve q poner la cara en disparo automatico y correr inmediatamente a lograr lo que queria en la pose, Esta foto me transmite muchos sentimientos al verla." El color, la intencion, el medio que rodea la foto, toso esos factores hacen q me inspire melancolía y al mismo tiempo elegancia, talvez la espera de algo que nunca llegará o esta muy cercano a lograrse."

English translation by ~Fee-Creations:

""This photo is very important to me because it was a little difficult to achieve this moment. I had to put my camara in automatic shot and run inmediately to get in the pose. This photo transmits a lot of feelings when I see it. The color, the intention, everything surrounding the photo, all these factors produce sadness and elegance at the same time...Maybe an endless wait for something that never would come or that is soon to be achieved."




"i still can't believe it"
by ~super-glue

"It's all about love and junk. All that confusing ewwy stuff that always has 2 sides. (at least for me) like good and bad, right and wrong, pleasant or painful, easy and difficult, happy and miserable. It's about how love can change you. The left side kinda representing the good side of love. (The balloons were from Valentine's day) and the crying eye.. well, obviously. It's about how love finds a way to break you and set you free at the same time. It can destroy you, or it can be the most beautiful and powerful thing in the world. It can be all you crave, or it can be all that you regret. Either way, it will always change you."




"Modern Exterior"
by *Aukon

"So my Father and I were planning a trip to Vietnam for one week, spend the weekend in Malaysia, and then another week in Vietnam from Australia (my Mother didn't want to go). I was browsing through some images of some stunning architecture, when I found one picture I liked, which was the Pertronas Towers. The architecture to me looked so beautiful, and I loved the modern look and feel to it. And I really wanted to photograph something like it, and to my surprise, it was not far from where we were going to stay, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

When we got to Malaysia (after the week in Vietnam), we took a city tour and which gave me the chance to photograph the towers. I got out of the car to get a good view from the entrance. The towers were huge, and so modern like. I felt a little bit of excitement, as I saw what I saw in photographs, in real life. So then I was getting myself into place, and took photos in all different angles. I took photos standing up, keeling down, twisting and turning my arms, just to get the shots I wanted.

Then, a woman (who obviously tried to sell me something) shouted to me from a distance “Nice shirt”. I replied with a thank you, which then she had the chance to tell me what I could buy inside the store, I paid no attention to it, as I was not interested at all.

After a few more shots, I then realized the tour guide was waiting for my return. I went across the road, took a couple of more shots where I was, and went in the car to explore the city some more. I found myself back there later the same day, to see the insides. The architecture was just as amazing as the exterior, and saw the view of the city from the sky bridge.

It started with inspiration, a dream, and then a reality. Personally, I feel “Modern Exterior” is my best photograph, and I felt it was worth coming to Kuala Lumpur for the photo."





"One Week, Two Days, Four Hours"
by ~Jagged-lil-pill

"My photograph 'One Week, Two Days, Four Hours' is probably the photo in my gallery that has the most significent story behind it. I moved away from home in September to go to university and I only get to see my family every three months. My family are all very close and I have a seven month old niece (she was only a month old when I moved away) who I am totally crazy about, she's amazing."

After coming back home for a month and then having to go back to university I felt really homesick but at the same time I was really excited about the fact that I was living on my own and had total independance. All my friends were feeling the same. I was given a ten week long self-portrait project for university and seven weeks into it I hadn't even began to produce any images for it, I didn't want to photograph myself and I just wasn't motivated at all.

One day I was speaking to my Mum on the phone and I just started to blub, I ended the phonecall and started to take photographs of myself randomly. I don't consider this one of my 'better' photographs but it set me on my way to getting my project done. None of the other photographs in the series were anything like this, they were all quite optimistic and happy. When I went into uni to talk about my work with my lecturers I thought they would totally slate me and hate all that I had produced. I thought they would brand it too literal and 'cheesy' which is how I view it but I actually got the most positive feedback I have ever had from any tutor/lecturer/teacher in my life. That gave me a whole different attitude towards university and right now I am having the best time of my life. After I took this photograph I ran into town and got a tattoo on my left wrist for everyone at home whom I miss which is also very literal and cheesy but I like it all the same. "





"...and she had gone."
by =monstermagnet

"This one has a story, but it's only in my mind..I like dreaming, i like creating characters in my imaginations. This is my princess and she's so far away (there's no relation with real model ) She comes from sea, once every season. We have only a day in each season.. End of the day, she goes where she came from..On this photo, she came next to me in autumn.. It was a rainy day, and we had a beautiful day.. End of the day, she had gone, and i watched her leaving through my window.. But she didn't come again.. That was the last time i've seen her .. (You may think i'm insane It's just a fantasy )

I did this work in such manner, but it's more meaningful now, becouse later, i dedicated it to Asli Göksu ( ~jacmel ) who lost her life becouse of cancer a few days ago.. I've never meet to her, but her death really impressed me.. "




"snaaapshot"
by :devmediocre-matt"

"I took this shot on our boat, just a little bit off the coast of Perth, Australia. We'd spent the weekend at a neighbouring island and were on our way home, 'cause I had school the next day. Ashlin [in the photo] is 5, and she was tired as helllllll. So she'd been lying down and i'd been taking photos of the ocean and etc because i'm cool like that, and then all of a sudden she stood up on the chair she was sleeping on [see this]. I quickly snapped a shot of her and voila, we have snaaapshot."





"Brume de nuit"
by *as2pik

The photo is "Brume de nuit", which in english means "night's fog". My problem was that I didn't have a tripod; in fact with 100 ISO to get no noise on a dark night, the shutter speed was about 5 seconds. So I used a syrup bottle and took 3 photos but none were correct. At about the 4th try, at the end of the shot my camera fell, but the photo was good. I was lucky because I am on the ninth floor and the camera fell to the right side and not in the street...





"SomeThingsMakeUrSoulFeelClean"
by ~inmemoryofher

"This photo is so important to me as I just felt like the lyrics I put in the describtion. I finally had the chance to take a photo that expresses them Also I love the blue dress I'm wearing...It's the first non-manipulation I took with it, though I've had for over a year. I guess I'm just very very proud of the photo... "





"Last Winter"
by ~cosmogurl

"'Last Winter...' is the last you'll see of me. I got a little help with the title from my good friend ~11amsoul. I thought "Last Winter" fitted nicely because the tones and colours are rather...cool and frosty. I basically had a photo sesh with my sister and shot spontaneously, letting her do whatever, although it was slightly chilly, i had to snap quick! Hopefully by the image itself, it is self explanatory but i think if i left it untitled without any concept behind it, many different interpretations would have been made which would have been interesting to hear."





"my exit, unfair"
by ~girlfromvenus

"When I shot this I didn't have anything in mind, I was just drawn to the tentacle-like things that seemed to bind him to the earth, like they met there for some odd reason. As I worked on the picture, I was listening to this song (the title's inspiration), and every word hit me as if it was about my past. I think sometimes when people make a drastic exit in their life, from a relationship or place or anything, they do it hoping it will make some profound impact. But what if that's not what happens at all? What if they end up misdirected and alone? Our own ignorance can sometimes lead us to a place of darkness. "Now I spend my days in ever increasingly complicated ways... my exit, unfair if unobserved".





"Green Blue Yeah"
by ~mister-kovacs

"This photo was taken in Nicaragua on the volcanic island Ometepe. After some months of social work my mates and I decided to make a trip to the legendary isla Ometepe, which arose around two volcanoes in the gigantic Nicaragua lake. We lived on the less developed part of the island, in between jungle huts of an economic farm and a tiny village. As we left the farm to explore the island, we passed by a green house with blue windowshutters. My friends kept going to play with the monkeys, that were jumping around the house, while I took some pics of the amazing, colourful wall. The nica-people looked at my as if I were crazy, for they didn't see anything special, worth to be photographed. However I was absolutely aware of the simple beauty and I felt really lucky to have spotted the house. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the funky monkeys that were all around the house. But I guess, it was good to stop by the house, instead of rushing to the monkeys ..."