Are you a snapper?

cliveh · Mar 8, 2012

While driving to work today, I was thinking that I am most probably a snapper. If I am doing a studio shot then I may take a considerable amount of time in preparation before shooting, but if walking about with a camera, I think I could be described a snapper. This is not a very professional term and perhaps a bit demeaning, but do others recognise this or otherwise in their approach to photography?

BrianShaw · Mar 8, 2012

Yes, much of the time.

Vaughn · Mar 8, 2012

No.

BTW...How much a pound does a commie, I mean a red snapper go for these days?

BrianShaw · Mar 8, 2012

Oh... and I don't think I feel demeaned by that expression.

Nick Merritt · Mar 8, 2012

I think of it as finding unexpected photo opportunities. Nothing wrong with that.

dehk · Mar 8, 2012

I'm a snapper, when i think its interesting enough.

John Austin · Mar 8, 2012

Snapshooting is a valuable way to let new threads of seeing emerge

When using LF I am generally very careful and considerate, the medium draws one in that direction, well, film costs do anyway

I use a couple of snapshot cameras, a Vitessa and a Retina for pix of Rae, the garden, travel and all sorts of things - When I have been starting a new portfolio of "serious work" (hear celestial trumpets) I am stunned by the number of times this new work has been pre-figured in my casual images, or where I made an image tangential to the main body of work I was doing

These snap-glimpses are valuable - Where they are not, the pix are loved by Rae's family and friends around the world

Here is a pic of my snap-cameras, a Voigtlander Vitessa and a Kodak Retina - The wretched, overrated and unreliable Leica may be replaced by a FED2 in a couple of months

removed-user-1 · Mar 8, 2012

Grumpy Old Man said:
Snapshooting is a valuable way to let new threads of seeing emergeView attachment 47553

I agree! I take snapshots much of the time. I started out with 35mm and still shoot that format most of the time. "Wasting film" (to hear my parents tell the tale) is how I learned photography. 35mm became a sort of "photo notebook" for me. When I had an RB67, I would sometimes go back to a scene I shot with the 35mm and make a 6x7cm negative of a specific subject that I first found with the 35mm. Now that I have access to 4x5 and 8x10 cameras, that's even more my way of working.

ColdEye · Mar 8, 2012

I used to do a lot of snapshots with 35mm, I'd say almost all of my pictures then were shoot now think later. But now that I do not regularly shoot 35mm ( just a om1+50mm and a few rolls of really old film), I try to lessen "snapshots". The costs will be too prohibitive for me if I continue doing them.

zsas · Mar 8, 2012

I take photographs, I don't recognize that term, it's too deterministic for me. Art is art and I know it when I see it (thanks Potter Stewart), any term to describe the method just gets in the way.

ROL · Mar 8, 2012

More of a whipper.

John Austin · Mar 8, 2012

ColdEye said:
I try to lessen "snapshots". The costs will be too prohibitive for me if I continue doing them.

Regarding price, have you considered the Ultrafine Xtreme bulk loads for about $25 per 100 feet, not the world's greatest quality, by fine for trying out ideas

ColdEye · Mar 8, 2012

Grumpy Old Man said:
Regarding price, have you considered the Ultrafine Xtreme bulk loads for about $25 per 100 feet, not the world's greatest quality, by fine for trying out ideas

I have not considered bulk loading actually. I have come across quite a stash of Acros and Agfa optima (both 120) so for now I will finish them up before buying some 35mm film again. As of late I shoot too slow, 2 rolls of 35mm a month is good shooting for me now a days.

Poisson Du Jour · Mar 8, 2012

I do not recognise the term.
Photographs are not snapped and they certainly are not taken.
They are made.

Mainecoonmaniac · Mar 8, 2012

How about Communist photogs?

ROL said:
More of a whipper.

I'm talkin about Red Snappers.

mopar_guy · Mar 8, 2012

That's what motor drives are for.

blansky · Mar 8, 2012

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't.

Sometimes you do carefully laid out shots and tweak and improve and other times you do grab shots of things you see while out and about.

Nothing right or wrong in any of it.

But when your are hired to do something, then you have to behave as a professional and be precise.

Thomas Bertilsson · Mar 8, 2012

Poisson Du Jour said:
I do not recognise the term.
Photographs are not snapped and they certainly are not taken.
They are made.

What about it is it that you 'make' that wasn't already there?

dehk · Mar 8, 2012

I don't wanna be causing problem here, but when someone said they made a photograph, it makes me think about photo montage.

eddie · Mar 8, 2012

I've always thought that, when I snap the shutter, I "take". When I'm in the darkroom, I "make". In truth, I'm not at all concerned with the terminology.

Thomas Bertilsson · Mar 8, 2012

blansky said:
Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't.

Sometimes you do carefully laid out shots and tweak and improve and other times you do grab shots of things you see while out and about.

Nothing right or wrong in any of it.

But when your are hired to do something, then you have to behave as a professional and be precise.

Absolutely.

To me it's all about reacting when something I find interesting comes my way. Different pictures demand different approach. I just apply my heart and mind to attempt pouring onto paper what I loved about it.
A building doesn't go anywhere, so I can be more deliberate. An interesting moment may never come back so I have to act quicker, which might be considered snapping.

MattKing · Mar 8, 2012

Am I a "snapper"? I don't know.

But then, Superintendent Harry "Snapper" Organs might be

John Austin · Mar 8, 2012

Mainecoonmaniac said:
I'm talkin about Red Snappers.

They are the best, I had a fresh one pan fried on Tuesday night with chips and salad and few (too many) beers

John Austin · Mar 8, 2012

blansky said:
But when your are hired to do something, then you have to behave as a professional and be precise.

I agree, but sometimes it is frustrating - Like Robyn's armpit, she was modelling hand made belt buckles and to change between black and white tops for different belts - During one pass she said "Hey, look at these" while pulling her glorious armpit hair - However, the designer, silver smith and graphique designer were all there, so I did not said "Wait, I have to make a different set-up, you lot make fresh coffee while I photograph something worth while" (Now I definitely would!!!)

Soon after the job she changed boy friends to one who was not mature enough to celebrate natural women, so I spent the next three years trying to convince her to dump him so we could make that picture, then wait for the hair to re-grow

I tried to use this portrait to promote my professional BW portrait work, unsuccessfully

benjiboy · Mar 9, 2012

Yes, I have been a "Snapper" (although this term is often used in a derogatory sense) a long time but some of the Worlds most significant photographs have been "snaps", and a photographers ability to anticipate upcoming situations and use his camera quickly on the hop to capture "the decisive moment " is like a good football players ability to "read the game" and make instant tactical decisions while running at full speed, or a good jazz musicians ability while improvising to make "head arrangements", although not everyone has the type of personality, reflexes or has the wish or to work this way and may prefer a more considered approach.

Are you a snapper?

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