| This qualitative study concentrates on three aspects of amateur practice: behaviors, motivations and learning sources. These areas are specified through three major questions: (1) How do amateurs practice photography? (2) Why do amateurs practice photography? (3) How do amateurs say they learn about photography? The work presents detailed case studies on the practice of photography collected from open-ended interviews of thirty-two amateur photographers and twenty-five amateur informants including photography teachers, store clerks and publications personnel from the major amateur oriented photographic magazines.;The researcher defines the term "amateur" by situating it between two other terms for types of photographic practitioners: "camera users," those photographers who are less interested in the photographic aspects of picture making or its aesthetic capabilities but who concentrate more on the record making aspects of photography, and "pre-professionals," those photographers aspiring toward professional practices. Amateurs interviewed included students, camera club members, and independent practitioners. Camera users and pre-professionals were also interviewed.;Amateur photographic activity is analyzed by considering five aspects of practice: planning, shooting, processing, editing and exhibiting. Shooting dominates amateur practice. Amateurs who expand into serious editing and exhibiting usually are encouraged to do these activities through a support institution like a club or classroom. Amateur's major subjects are nature, travel and people whom they know. Amateurs often make pictures while participating in other activities. Identifiable motivations for practices include aesthetic goals, documenting purposes, personal satisfaction from the process of photography, and social gratification through interaction or recognition. Photography attracts amateurs primarily because they enjoy it, they like how they can produce realistic pictures of their worlds, and they like the aesthetic challenge of making pictures that they think look good. Amateurs learn about photography through four major avenues: they are self-taught, they learn from family and friends, they attend classes and they join camera clubs. Where amateurs learn photography heavily influences their characteristics of practice, especially with the types of pictures they choose to make. Amateurs seldom have specific role models and hesitate to emulate photographs out of a fear of copying. Teachers could better meet the needs of amateurs if they understood these characteristics of amateur practices. |
