Solitary Photography

A friend of mine told me that he feels most photographers are solitary people, who like to carry out their craft alone. I think there may be some truth to that in certain cases, and I do like to go out at times by myself and do my photography by myself. But there are times I really like to go with a group of like minded photographers. We may each have our own vision of a scene in mind, and that is good. We don't want our photographs to look like someone else's photographs, and that actually rarely happens. Its amazing how 10 people all taking the same shot will get their own representation of an image, different from the rest. Once or twice a year I go with several other photographers on day trips or even for a week at a time. We can learn from one another, not just the technical stuff, but the artistic side of photography, which is my favorite topic of discussion. Too many focus on the technical issues associated with photography, rather than the artistic side of it. One can focus all he wants on the type of camera, how many pixels, what speed of film, etc., but all that does not result in good art.  I believe that a person can make a good work of art whether its a painting or a photograph. Becoming a good photographer takes a long time, just like it takes a painter a long time to develop his or her craft. It isn't the camera that makes good photography, just like it isn't the brush that a painter uses that makes him or her a good painter. Getting back to the solitary side of photography, I do feel that this solitary side of  an artist does contribute more to development as an artist, because what we portray in the image is a statement of who we are, which can only come from within.