Taking or Making Pictures?

JBrunner said:

The main thing Is I'm just happy to be shooting. As ManRay captioned-

Equipment: The camera was faithfully used.

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I like that quote a lot, Jason.

I usually dont think about "taking" or "making"; I just "do." Shooting a snapshot of a family vacation and shooting a vast landscape are the same for me. Of course, i'll do a bit more metering in the landscape to make sure I get the exposure right; I'll probably just use the sunny 16 rule or use the in-camera meter (responsibly) for the family snapshot. If you want to call shooting the landscape "making" because I take the time to get the exposure perfect and call the family snapshot "taking" because it's quick and dirty and imperfect, that's fine with me. I just prefer not to think about it.



Over the last few months, my focus has been on black and white slides. They look really good projected at school, but I dont have much room to project at the house. I have one of those little screens that attach to the projector in front of the lens, so my projections are small. Just for the hell of it, I've been wanting to project the slides on a canvas, trace the outline, and paint it. Since I cant afford a scanner or Ilfochrome printing, that might be the only way to get "prints" from my slides. That would give me the creative freedom to give color to my black and white slides and distort the colors of my color slides (without affecting the original slides).

If I make a painting from slides, the "take" and "make" terminology gets a bit more skewed. Am I "Taking" a photograph and "making" a painting or am I "making" photograph and "taking" the painting from it? It might be a while before I get around to doing that (if I do at all), so I guess that would be a hypothetical question. Either way, I'm sure people that paint without using slides would call me a cheater

Jason, I agree with you, and I believe we were typing our posts at the same time. For some reason, it just took me like 10 minutes longer to post what you said better than I did. Maybe I'll just let you speak for me next time one of these philosophical questions comes up

JBrunner said:

...
The main thing Is I'm just happy to be shooting. As ManRay captioned-

Equipment: The camera was faithfully used.

Click to expand...

I remember that quote, I think, but it seems to me that the source was Minor White quoted by Ansel Adams in one of older editions of Basic Photo series.

Just went out to the library and looked it up. The quotes differ slightly, so it's possible both said something similar. It's on page 88 of Book 5, the one on artificial light, in the 1956 edition. In the caption of a theatrical photograph by MW, "for data-- the camera was faithfully used".

If I could just figure out whether I am making or taking and whether it is art or craft, I am sure I would be a better photographer/artist. Assuming I have the best camera.
Dennis

Are you a hunter or a sculptor?

Kevin Kehler said:

...So let me ask you, do you take pictures or make pictures? To put another way, do you wait for the decisive moment to occur or do you gather elements in a previsualized way? To be overly simplistic, AA or HCB?...

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Not including any darkroom work, AA and HCB were both image takers to me, because, other than selecting the right place and perfect viewpoint, they 'just' waited for the right moment in time to capture most of their images. I compare that to hunting. They were great picture hunters and produced stunning images.

Edward Weston or Helmut Newton, on the other hand, created the scene themselves by positioning their subjects into place. Try that in Yosemite! They didn't wait for something to happen, they made it happen. They were picture sculptors and also made great images their way.

The difference is easy to spot. In the first case (hunting) final image visualization follows composition, and a picture is taken. In the second case (sculpting), it's the other way around, and the picture is made.

For me the entire process is about making pictures.

You TAKE the opportunity to MAKE a photograph.

I never really thought about, just enjoy doing it.

Jeff

dpurdy said:

Assuming I have the best camera.
Dennis

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best camera for your style of work or best camera of all time?

bowzart said:

I remember that quote, I think, but it seems to me that the source was Minor White quoted by Ansel Adams in one of older editions of Basic Photo series.

Just went out to the library and looked it up. The quotes differ slightly, so it's possible both said something similar. It's on page 88 of Book 5, the one on artificial light, in the 1956 edition. In the caption of a theatrical photograph by MW, "for data-- the camera was faithfully used".

Click to expand...

Well, there's an M in there somewhere

Photography is about pictures? Damn.

JBrunner said:

Well, there's an M in there somewhere

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Seems very strange that I would remember that for 45 years. I can't remember anything else.

If I take a bad picture does that mean I can put it back?

Thanks,

Bob

only if we MAKE you

Mike

Regarding the quote about a faithful use of the camera. It is very much in keeping with ManRay's involvement with DADA and the Surrealist movement of the 20's. Unlike Adams or Whites writing styles, neither of which came close to the style-non-style of DADA.