Deep Thoughts on Photography

A couple of days ago, I posed the question “Who Qualifies as a Photographer?” Since then, there have been several articles written or brought to my attention that expand upon some of the topics I talked about.

Photograph VS Snapshot

Jim Goldstein wrote an article called “Philosophy of Photography: Photograph Versus a Snapshot“, where he lays out his thoughts on the differences between the two types of images. To quote his definitions: “A ‘snapshot' can be taken of anything and of varying quality (composition, exposure, etc.) Usually a ‘snapshot' is a quick rough capture to document a scene or event. A ‘photograph' on the other hand is a well thought, composed, exposed and executed art form.” The REALLY interesting part of the article is in the comments — there's a pretty good discussion happening over there.

Professional VS Amateur

Jim Hunter didn't write an article on the topic, but he sent me a link to a pretty good one called “Value of a Professional Photographer.” It's a bit old, but still applicable. The article separates the amateurs from the professionals by five things: consistency, knowledge of commercial standards, professionals provide solutions, experience, and service. And again, there are a few good comments on the article worth reading.

Digital VS Analog

Lastly, A Marques took on a sensitive topic in an article titled “Are Digital Cameras Destroying Photography?” This topic is as fun as the microstock discussions or the Canon vs. Nikon debates. Typically in topics such as these, people are either strongly opinionated toward one side of the argument or they don't care at all. I think the article was handled pretty well though, and it attempts to make the point that some of the thinking and learning of photography has gone by the wayside at the hand of convenience and ease of use. I can't say that I have an opinion one way or the other on this one — I guess I can see it from both sides. There aren't as many comments on this one as the other two articles, but I'm sure it won't be too long before there's some good discussion there too.

What Is Photography?

Okay, I thought the last one was the last one, but these “deep thought” topics seem to be catching on like wildfire. This one is my favorite — it's called “What is Photography?” It looks like the author beat me to the punch on linking out to the other articles. I swear it — I had already written this article when I found this last one because of a trackback comment on my “Who Qualifies as a Photographer?” post. Anyways, the article is awesome. One main point of it is that every time there's a shift in photography technology, the old photographers are irked by the new photographers because they didn't have to learn things the hard way like they themselves did. The other main point of the article is that there is a difference between artistic talent and technical talent when it comes to photography. Good read all around.