Those who take and those who make

[Sirius Glass]

Thank you for providing the interesting etymology of snapshot.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Hard to get away with "Just snapping pictures" when using a classy-looking 100+ year old 5x7. They won't believe you. There is a point where feigned modesty starts to sound a bit pretentious.

As the size of the film increases so does the resistance to take snapshots. By 5"x7" my taking snapshots is long dead and buried.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Linguistic terminology is a problem on APUG, particularly between American and English. Some months ago, I posted a thread about being photogenic and it seems in the USA it means being beautiful, but in the UK, it refers to looking good in photographs. My OP is obviously doomed to misunderstanding, as pointed out by Don_ih.

Two countries separated by common language.

From: https://english.stackexchange.com/q...rase-two-nations-divided-by-a-common-language

What is the origin of the phrase "two nations divided by a common language"?​

What is the origin of the phrase "two nations divided by a common language"?
I have seen it attributed to Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and even Winston Churchill.
The most likely looking source I found said:

‘Was it Wilde or Shaw?’ The answer appears to be: both. In The Canterville Ghost (1887), Wilde wrote: ‘We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language’. However, the 1951 Treasury of Humorous Quotations (Esar & Bentley) quotes Shaw as saying: ‘England and America are two countries separated by the same language’, but without giving a source. The quote had earlier been attributed to Shaw in Reader’s Digest (November 1942).

 

[chuckroast]

Sometimes I’m in a Minor White mood, and sometimes Ansel Adams is my go to!

Sometimes, Gomez Aadams is my go to ...

 

[chuckroast]

Those who take and those who make

Photography now seems to be more make than take. I am not just referring to digital, as there are many makers who use film. I realise it is not just a binary choice, but are you primarily a maker or taker? I think of myself as a taker.

Depends on what I am doing.

If am involved with holidays, family events, or looking at the squirrel on my front porch, I am shooting snapshots. That is to say, I am casually capturing what's going on and thus I am just taking what is there. This is a recording process.

Conversely, the attempt to create art is a consciously constructive process that always involves an attempt to interpret what we see. We thus make art out of the things we see and can imagine seeing - or at least we attempt to.

While it is possible to produce an aesthetically pleasing snapshot, unless it was somehow constructed, I'd argue it's never art. But what do I know ...

 

[chuckroast]

I prefer to use common parlance and the commonly understood phrase is to "take" a photo. I understand why people use the word "make", and I hope they continue to use whatever word they prefer, but if I'm honest it gives off an air of elitism and egotism to me. Just like the word "photograph" sounds more high-class than "photo". I don't want to go to wine parties or spend a lot of time in museums. I just want to spend time doing what I find engaging and thrilling, and that happens to involve cameras and film.

Do you feel the same way about other artisans when they say things like, "I made that sculpture" or "Larry made that beautiful wood turning"?

 

[MattKing]

Does anyone actually say to their family, "I'm going out to build (make) some pictures?

I do sometimes say to my wife that I'm going out to make some photos.
To which she usually responds with something about how my "futzing" around with my cameras is best done when she is elsewhere.
Followed by something like "just take something, so we can go!"

 

[Don_ih]

If someone sees you with a large format camera, they generally don't think you're taking snapshots. They think you're an idiot wasting your time with a piece of junk. Or, just as likely, that you're trying to level your transit.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Not my kids...or at least they would think I'm being no more weird than usual. Do you really think you are 'normal'? I am sorry, but you are just as weird as the rest of us here.

But no, I would not say that I was going out to 'take, make, or build' some pictures. I would say what I was actually going to do..."I am off to photograph." Or perhaps "I'm going to check out the light. "...(which my boys would understand even if I did not take a camera.)

If I ever said "I'm going to check out the light." my family would think I was really weird, probably having some sort of religious experience, and lock me up. How about I:m going out to "record" some pictures? I don;t think that word has been mentioned. We do record whether its with film or a sensor/memory card. The one photographer I know who builds his pictures is Creydson.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Try it; you'll likely be surprised.

The opposite, I suppose, is when someone looks at our camera gear and assumes that we are professional because "it looks expensive". The last time that happened I explained that the equiment I was using hasn't been used professionally for 40 years. That gets rid of busybodies too, except those who feign that they know what they are talking about.

You meet some pretty girls using film cameras.

 

[CMoore]

Does anyone actually say to their family, "I'm going out to build (make) some pictures?" Who talks like that? Don't you just say, "I'm going out to shoot (or take) some pictures?" I mean, you can still think you're going out to "build" them. But if you use that word, your kids are going to think you're kind of weird.

Yeah..... this thread hearkens back to posts about "Being An Artist"
And again, i am not just picking on photography. Most hobbies suffer similar scenarios
Some people, when asked, just cannot stop at......... carpenter, painter, guitar player, photographer, sculptor, etc etc etc.
They have to claim to be an "Artist" ............ not unlike people with a PhD, in one field or another, calling themselves a doctor

 

[AnselMortensen]

Sometimes I take.
Sometimes I make.
Sometimes I Shake & Bake.

 

[Vaughn]

... How about I:m going out to "record" some pictures? ...

That would be questionable use of words. To record a record? (A picture is a type of recording.) Quite understandable if one is photographing in a gallery where there are pictures to record. But I can easily understand if someone said, "I am going out to record my experiences today." Might be with a camera or a journal, or both.

But light is my primary subject, so I get carried away with it..

 

[albireo]

not unlike people with a PhD, in one field or another, calling themselves a doctor

PhD graduates are, quite literally, "doctors". Philosophiae Doctor is what they are. Or DPhil, Doctor of Philosophy, as they are known when they obtain the title from the most prestigious university in the world, University of Oxford, UK.

The ones you are thinking about, who later appropriated the "doctor" title, are "physicians".

 

[Don_ih]

To record a record?

The second word is a verb. The forth word is a noun.

How about I:m going out to "record" some pictures? I don;t think that word has been mentioned.

It's been mentioned several times.

As for Gregory Crewdson, those photos involve a massive amount of preparation and quite a few people, more similar to movie production than to studio photography (which can also be elaborate and involve many people). He tends to expose a number of near-identical sheets of film that all get scanned and combined into the finished photo on a computer (that work is also executed by someone else - he directs it). He "makes" his photos, to use the terminology Clive introduced this thread with, because of the final manipulation of that image.

If he'd set up the scene, exposed one negative, and made a print from that -- that would be "taking" a photo (as Clive put it).

What he built was the scene.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Sometimes I take.
Sometimes I make.
Sometimes I Shake & Bake.

The last line tell us that you live in California.

 

[BrianShaw]

Im taking a break from the keyboard today to document the interactions of light with a variety of subjects including, but not limited to, reflections and shadows using chemical-based recording media.

I shall not take or make or fake, nor shall I shake. And God help me if I even think of shooting anyone or anything.

 

[Milpool]

Im taking a break from the keyboard today to document the interactions of light with a variety of subjects including, but not limited to, reflections and shadows using chemical-based recording media.

I shall not take or make or fake, nor shall I shake. And God help me if I even think of shooting anyone or anything.

Don't capture either. It's not nice.

 

[Don_ih]

nor shall I shake

I was outside "using a camera" a little while ago and I was shaking. It's frigid!

 

[koraks]

The last line tell us that you live in California.

I thought that was "wake & bake"?

 

[AnselMortensen]

I like fried chicken.

 

[chuckroast]

PhD graduates are, quite literally, "doctors". Philosophiae Doctor is what they are. Or DPhil, Doctor of Philosophy, as they are known when they obtain the title from the most prestigious university in the world, University of Oxford, UK.

The ones you are thinking about, who later appropriated the "doctor" title, are "physicians".

Not quite. The term "Doctor" originally meant "teacher" and was applied to many fields, among them medicine. So no medical appropriation can be claimed. See:

https://www.perplexity.ai/search/where-did-the-term-doctor-orig-Tn8dRbnlRQ6EtjUzoQucZg

 

[koraks]

The term "Doctor" originally meant "teacher" and was applied to many fields, among them medicine.

The divide between academic fields wasn't particularly strict in the Renaissance.
On the PhD thing - it's actually amusing to read how e.g. the PhD defense of Felix Platter shows parallels with customs still in use today (see the book by Emmanual Le Roy Ladurie on the Platter family). Platter, coincidentally, was a doctor in medicine, and he obtained a PhD. So he was a doctor, doctor, I guess. Or maybe a doctor, squared, even.

 

[chuckroast]

The divide between academic fields wasn't particularly strict in the Renaissance.
On the PhD thing - it's actually amusing to read how e.g. the PhD defense of Felix Platter shows parallels with customs still in use today (see the book by Emmanual Le Roy Ladurie on the Platter family). Platter, coincidentally, was a doctor in medicine, and he obtained a PhD. So he was a doctor, doctor, I guess. Or maybe a doctor, squared, even.

Very cool historical reference, thanks for that.

I never finished my Ph.D. I thus describe myself as a college drop out.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I thought that was "wake & bake"?

No shake & bake refers to earthquakes & fires and a product for coating food with bread crumbs product called "Shake & Bake".