More often than not, photography is a seemingly solitary hobby for me. I generally shoot on my own, often in places where few, if any, people are around; I process photos by myself ; I even tend to think the most about photography when I am walking by myself.
But when I stop and reflect on the subject more deeply, I am often surprised when I realize that photography is really anything but solitary. I talk to people a lot about the photos I take, I share my images with people, both in person and online. I rarely take a shot without showing my wife what it looked like in camera. I post images on here on my blog for others to see. I read other people’s blogs and comment on their photos, and in turn they comment on my photos. I belong to a camera club. I am hardly alone in this pursuit.
However, recently, two things occurred that reminded me how collaborative the process of making images can really be. The first was a simple comment from my friend Wayne. He liked a photo I took, but suggested that cropping the image might make for a stronger composition. I tried it and have to admit, I like what I see.
©Michael D. Pereira
Now I have a new image that I might not have had were I working in isolation.
Another event occurred a little earlier when my good friend Dave asked if he could process a shot that I had taken last spring. At first, it felt a bit odd to have someone else process an image I had made, but once I sent him the file I started to really like the idea of this collaboration. This image now belongs to both Dave and me – a joint effort that yielded another cool image.
©Michael D. Pereira
I still like to head out and shoot alone, but more and more I realize that photography is as much about sharing something with other people as it is about self-discovery. I don’t want to make images just for myself, at least not all the time. I want to make images that I can share with people. More importantly, I want those people to share their thoughts with me, so we can continue to work together to make great images.
So, in the spirit of collaboration, let’s enjoy “Working Together” by Gonzales!!!
Thanks for coming by!
Mike
Mike Pereira Photography 
Both joint efforts look very nice! You’re right, I hadn’t really thought about photography as a collaboration since like you all my shooting and processing is done alone… but neverless, with feedback and sharing it certainly is far from solitary.
Indeed. I think what I like the most is that I can choose when I want to collaborate and when I just want to head out on my own and be solitary. Thanks for dropping by!