I see more and more comments lately to the effect of "bla bla bla, but this is just a snapshot so..." Phrased in this manner, it seems to be a gentle way to suggest that the photographer has done something cheap and dirty by even entering the challenge. What is the real accusation? Do you mean to say careless, uninspired, insincere, accidental, lacking forethought? Please come out and say what you mean. Snapshot isn't a bad word for some of us. For my own part, it's what I enjoy most about photography. By itself, it's a compliment.
Yep, I'm with you all the way. Snapshot is real photography. Or at the very least, it's the way of real photographs. When all the silly, vacuous 'WOW' nonsense is mercifully forgotten, snapshots will endure, and will define the photograph for posterity. Snapshots are more powerful than Photoshop, more discriminating than megapixels.
Yep, I'm with you all the way. Snapshot is real photography. Or at the very least, it's the way of real photographs. When all the silly, vacuous 'WOW' nonsense is mercifully forgotten, snapshots will endure, and will define the photograph for posterity. Snapshots are more powerful than Photoshop, more discriminating than megapixels.
...either that, or they lost all the versions of the image they worked so hard on and tried to pass off as "Image as taken" shot. :O)
I almost never do "snapshots" but I do appreciate them. Inordinately, even. But the thing of it is, when they WORK, when they attain a level of innuendo or mythos, they become more-than-snapshot, and I still use the term "snapshot" to denote something done casually and without thought or planning. That's not derogatory in my mind, but I suppose others may think so.
Certainly, in my time I've seen/heard people dismissing Cartier-Bresson's work as "snapshots" when we know it was anything BUT, that he consciously made himself available to what he called the "decisive moment".
Certainly, in my time I've seen/heard people dismissing Cartier-Bresson's work as "snapshots" when we know it was anything BUT, that he consciously made himself available to what he called the "decisive moment".
I don't dismiss him as a snapshot artist, but rather celebrate him as one. Winogrand, Mark Cohen, Eggelston... It's a long list.
I am all about the snapshot. It is what I love about photography! Most of my snapshots lack forethought. I just go out and see what there is to see. It's fun. Try it sometime! (It won't generally win you ribbons, though - there's that. But sometimes - every now and then - that ubique guy will like it and it's all good!)
I think snapshots are wonderful. But they should remain in the shoebox under the bed.
Ha! I don't have a shoebox under the bed. I suppose in this day and age I should just keep them on the hard drive, yes? But then what would I do with my DPC membership?
Some snapshots look like it. Some don't. There is always a decisive moment, even if the subjects aren't moving much, even in a studio. I guess that for the label "just a snapshot" to apply, it has to look like it.
Hmmm ... proved me wrong. Not a single comment and I thought I'd get a bunch (figured not many positive, but at least some with "Grampy" in the corner). Oh well.
