Resteemed this one :) really interesting post. My father in law is actually a painter (https://wildlifewatercolourpaintings.co.uk/)but I have absolutely zero talent for painting. I see photography as similar in many ways, when you talked about the reasons for painting/creating images it got me thinking about what I love about photography. In my professional life I am trying less to imitate reality than to capture it and preserve it as honestly as possible in the form of photojournalism (wedding photography) but in my personal work I'm also trying to preserve rather than imitate. For me photography is all about memories. My wife however started out in Fine Art, so her reason for taking photos is often very different from my own, as is her idea of what looks good!

I love the philosophy side of all of this, and that kind of forced introspection is one of my favourite things about these kinds of posts. But for me photography, and I can't help but feeling - painting also - is so varied because each and every artist has a different 'WHY' and most of the time different ideas that they are trying to manifest.