Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The photography snob factor that I buy into

In learning photography, I have not managed to escape succumbing to a few of the snob factors that come along with it. There is a culture surrounding photography that can be alienating at times. Often, people focus on what lenses you have, if you have the latest & greatest body, or even what your strap says instead of on the photos you produce.

Generally, I have let these obsessions pass me by. If I own a lens with a "red ring," it's because I need (or want!) what that lens can do, not because I like what it looks like on the outside. (If anything, you will become more of a target to thieves with such blatantly expensive equip. -- no thank you!)

However, there is one snob factor that I have totally bought into without realizing it. What is it?

I never call them "pics," or even "pictures," really, preferring instead the more graceful-sounding "photos" or "images."

Yup, that's my sensitive spot: Terminology. Who would've guessed? It's seemingly the least important thing about photography altogether! Leave it to me to pick something random to be OCD about. I guess my love of words shines through in everything I do.

So there you have it. Wrap my L lens in newspaper and give me a Spongebob Squarepants camera strap -- I do not care. But call my photos "pics" and I will eat you for breakfast ;)


  1. "Pics" just sounds informal. Those are the things that people post on their facebook after a night out. Images and Pictures are things you thought about, in my mind. There was a conscious effort put into making an image.

    A photographer I very much admire once told me that you don't "take" and image, you "make" an image. That's another distinction in the lexicon of photography that I'm careful to make.

  2. Brett,
    You're right; "pics" does sound informal. I guess that's why I'm so averse to it. And I've heard the distinction you mention between "make" and "take" -- "make" implying that there were artistic decisions involved in the creation of the image, like you mention. There is not so much something there to take, as there is to make.

    Thanks for the comment!