Ok, so since this is about the semantics of the two words, maybe I should elaborate.
The problem is that I am not certain if you are are thinking in greek or english as there
could be a difference there.
"Making" usually takes the meaning of constructing, putting something together from a
sum of existing materials, that is manipulating those materials to form something else.
It is used for material and inanimate constructs. For example, a car is just a body with
an engine and wheels.
In greek often also carries the meaning of "repairing".
"Creating" is the act that has a lot of philosophical weight as often it applies to the making
of something and breathing life into it. As if creator is manufacturing another living creature.
Many times it is also implied that a creation will come out of nowhere or its base materials
are completely devalued compared to the final result. So, a creation is not a sum of its parts.
A child is not just a sum of meat and bones and a painting is not just a sum of paints and canvas.
This implication is very often problematic and stumbles upon philosophical and theological obstacles.
Theological as it is in many religions where only the singular deity can be titled creator and giver of life,
thus all artistic depictions are severely limited. Philosophical as its weight feels heavy to many
artists that timidly reject the words art,artist,creation,etc and also debate upon its meaning and extension.
So, it comes to the Absolute/Personal Truth matter, the base of every philosophy and often is unresolved.
A Personal Truth is a truth of the moment: it exists only NOW and is not the one that existed before and
not the one that will exist in the future. It is the sum of a human beings' perception of the Whole and is
limited and dynamic as is the human nature.
The Absolute Truth is an ideal that philosophers and theologians try to reach. It has the meaning of Utopia:
unreachable, but the goal is not to actually reach it but work towards it. Thus, for example, any debate
upon the nature of Creation or Beauty, can be defined as a set of Personal Truths reaching out to the Absolute Truth.
An Absolute Truth is meaningless and that is its point.
As one defines Creation, Beauty, Art, etc, one can always have a different definition and no one has the authority
to make one official, because the Absolute Truth will always escape us.
Only fanatics name their Personal Truths as Absolute or hold a singular text as Absolute Truths.
By I may digress.
Going back to photography,
when one presses the shutter, that very instant, that moment, all one's Personal Truth is contained.
Since a Personal Truth exists only in the moment, a human being's soul is activated by that shutter press.
That shutter press that will make something appear on where it was blank. Because we choose to give
meaning to the changed state of chemicals, we give the meaning of "image" and "blank".
An unexposed film is not immaterial, it just doesn't contain an "image".
So, the making of an image is both physical and ideological. You can choose to see something or not.
You can also name it a construct or a creation, as it is just a Personal Truth.
There is no Absolute Truth to define an artwork as having soul or not, as there is not one that defines a soul.
So, in the end, if you believe your photograph to be a result of making or creating, is relevant only to
yourself and your other artwork and may or may not have an impact on your personal artistic approach.
