Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/04/05

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Subject: Re: [Leica] British <-> American translations
From: Thomas Kachadurian <kach@freeway.net>
Date: Sun, 05 Apr 1998 22:59:18 -0400

Eric:

I'm not disagreeing with you, but adding to the conversations.Consider
writers. The might TAKE a history or DO an interview, but they WRITE a
story, because they are writers. We photograph things, we are photographers. 

The rest is just chatter, and who cares. Think how odd it would sound to
say we  photographed a picture. 

People react to our images, what they see. The words we use to discribe the
process won't make a weak photograph strong and can't hurt a great photograph.

Wouldn't we rather debate the merits of Matrix metering? <G>

Tom

 At 06:04 PM 4/5/98 -0500, you wrote:
>At 05:21 PM 4/5/98 -0400, you wrote:
>>shutter".   Now we're getting closer.  How about "firing the shutter"?
>>We're back to shooting.
>
>Some people say "I make pictures, not take pictures." While the point is
>well taken, I think it's not necessarily more true. We take light from a
>subject, and make it our own. Kind of legal stealing (unless the subject is
>copyrighted). 
>
>Susan Sontag in her despicable book, "On Photography" criticized
>photographers who use the word shoot and talk about how us macho males are
>out of touch. I think she makes too much fuss out of an insignificant
>point. But what else should I expect from her?
>
>Maybe I'm wrong on this, but we photojournalists often talk about being
>shooters, or calling each other shooters. It's slang, and that's all it is.
>On the other hand, as a journalist, I should respect the usage of language,
>and not contribute to it getting any more sloppy and nebulous in meaning
>that it already is. Dang.
>==========
>
>Eric Welch
>St. Joseph, MO
>http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch
>
>I exist as I am - that is enough.
>
>- Walt Whitman
>
>