Snapshot (discuss!)

PeterSpencer

PeterSpencer

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I am a passionate lover of the snapshot, because of all photographic images it comes closest to truth.
Lisette Model

She goes on to say; "The snapshooter's pictures have an apparent disorder and imperfection, which is exactly their appeal and their style... and out of this real innocence toward the medium, comes an enormous vitality and expression of life."

I'm quoting this on the F&C forum because Lisette Model was a film photographer and accomplished printer. I suppose digital photographers might very well comment as well. My own view is in agreement, snapshots are the spontaneous reactions to the moment and the most vivid representations of human interaction.
 
Yes.

As I might have said in several threads, I'm a happy snapper. I take pictures of people and places I love and things and moments that mean something to me. I don't like it when people describe their "work." I can see why but work is not how I see this hobby. I do think about the pictures I take so I suppose they are often not snapshots in the strictest sense but they mostly are taken in the moment to record the moment.
 
The majority of my photographs could probably be classed as snapshots, at least in the consideration than most of them are unplanned in advance and taken spontaneously when I see something I feel will make a good picture. That's not to say I don't take care when taking them though.
 
I love snapshots, almost all my images are things that I find or spot riding or walking around. I still try to do my best though when looking for composition or lighting. I have not had a planned "model" shoot for years though sometimes plan where to go in a loose way, Blackpool or the Lake district for instance.

Perhaps I should be less spontaneous and more organized find a good spot and then sit there waiting for the woman in a red coat to walk past with a wet cockerspaniel.
 
Sometimes I happen across a scene and take the image and then think to myself, after viewing it,"that could have been so much better, I will go back to that" but I never get round to it.
 
Well I include record shots as snap shots and have many photos.
 
I am inclined to agree. I don't like the way the term snapshot is used in an almost derogatory manner. Without them you probably wouldn't have pictures of your family growing up, or that surprise trip they had planned.
 
Rarely have the time and almost never have the patience to take considered photographs but like to think I take better than reasonable snapshots from time to time!
 
I think this is a really interesting question, and has been bothering me all day!

Wikipedia has the best definition of a snapshot I've been able to find in a 5 minute search (known as "research" these days!):

"A snapshot is a photograph that is "shot" spontaneously and quickly, most often without artistic or journalistic intent and usually made with a relatively cheap and compact camera.

"Common snapshot subjects include the events of everyday life, often portraying family members, friends, pets, children playing, birthday parties and other celebrations, sunsets, tourist attractions and the like."

I suspect most users of this forum think of them selves, one way or another, as photographers rather than "snapshooters". Yet we've only to look at our smart phone "camera roll", or perhaps if you're the right age, look through your own or perhaps your children's envelopes of prints back from the chemist, to see plenty of snapshots.

Do they come "closest to the truth"? Well, you could argue that part of what we try to do as photographers does rather involve bending the truth. We choose our camera, lens, film, aperture, shutter speed, viewpoint, etc to leave some things in and leave others out. Maybe spontaneity and speed leaving no time for that sort of artifice, is truer to life? (Not so in a smartphone these days, there's far too much going on behind the scenes!)

But I do remember a moment, at some famous beauty spot, when a vary morose-looking man came up, barely looked at the view, turned his back on it, phone out, features suddenly re-arranged in his very well-practised Instagrunt look, snap, and he walked off. As false an image as you could imagine.

I do think snapshots can be interesting and revealing, particularly in (maybe long) retrospect. And those group photos and special occasions can be really important.

But I do like a proper photograph, made with intent and a certain amount of skill!
 
Well, anyone that has dabbled in landscape photography will know there is some artifice involved.
 
ChrisR said:
But I do like a proper photograph, made with intent and a certain amount of skill!
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Well of course but you have to think of a pro or joe public that has been in a right place at the right time and taken a "snap" of some event....... e.g. war photographer.
 
ChrisR said:
sunsets,
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Oddly, sunsets are probably the shots I take most time over!

Framing, position of the horizon, timing, exposure compensation and luck are all factors I take into consideration rather than just grabbing a snap of them.

At least the timing of the actual event is predictable!
 
Nod said:
At least the timing of the actual event is predictable!
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Huh! IMO a great sunset is the least predictable and many times I have seen one and being in the wrong place to take a decent shot. :headbang: Of course if you live in the countryside with VG scenery around you, and with a great sunset appearing you can just pop outside with your camera to take a shot...lucky you.
being in the wrong place :confused: :-

Ibizasunset-800px.jpg
 
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A great one is indeed not totally predictable but a promising looking bank of cloud to the West is a reasonable indication that it could be worth setting up for a few shots.

The room we stay in on Crete is on the NE corner of the hotel and has a sea view in the middle distance with low "mountains" as the horizon, with some conifers in the foreground. The pantheon knows how many shots I've taken of the sunsets from that balcony - although the most recent visit only showed 1 decent show in the fortnight we were there!
 
I've always considered a 'snapshot' to be a photo that is taken by just pointing and shooting. That is, no focussing, no consideration of framing, auto-everything etc. The sort of thing you'd get from compact cameras, Polaroids and the like.

Any photo taken with any given thought process, conscious framing, settings adjustment etc. is a true photograph - whether it's good or bad.

I've heard many arguments about this in the (almost) sixty years I've been taking pictures, but that's the one that has always made most sense to me (and I think it the oldest) . . .
 
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This is a great subject and discussion tbh.

I think I would place myself 50/50 with regard to snapshots.

If I'm planning a photo shoot, ie the recent Tryfan sunrise I captured, the Padarn lone tree, or a local SS Great Britain sunrise, or Clevedon Pier at sunset, Milky Way over Stonehenge then it's obviously a thought out process with a pretty good idea of what I want. Do I enjoy those? Yeah, of course I do :)

But equally, I often just pick a village or woodland or seaside town and just see what I can find whilst walking around - which I guess is the 'snapshot' half of me. Do I enjoy those too? Yes, damn right I do :)

I'm not sure which I enjoy the most. And I'm not sure which has given me the most images or the better images. I don't think it really matters.
 
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Sky said:
I've always considered a 'snapshot' to be a photo that is taken by just pointing and shooting. That is, no focussing, no consideration of framing, auto-everything etc. The sort of thing you'd get from compact cameras, Polaroids and the like.

Any photo taken with any given thought process, conscious framing, settings adjustment etc. is a true photograph - whether it's good or bad.

I've heard many arguments about this in the (almost) sixty years I've been taking pictures, but that's the one that has always made most sense to me (and I think it the oldest) . . .
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I quite like this definition and for me it would cover a good proportion of my output. But, sometimes the unexpected results from a snapshot, as defined here, are better than shots taken 'deliberately'.

My take on that is, for a reasonably experienced photographer say, there is always a subconscious mental process involved in taking a photograph, it's a matter of habit. That's what happens even when using a simple camera.
 
PeterSpencer said:
I quite like this definition and for me it would cover a good proportion of my output. But, sometimes the unexpected results from a snapshot, as defined here, are better than shots taken 'deliberately'.

My take on that is, for a reasonably experienced photographer say, there is always a subconscious mental process involved in taking a photograph, it's a matter of habit. That's what happens even when using a simple camera.
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I would agree that there is a subconscious routine in any reasonably experienced photographer's every use of the camera be it a simple or sophisticated camera. I also find that the first reaction picture is more pleasing than the three or four thought about it a bit more subsequent pictures, note I deliberately avoided using the word better.
 
Maybe we can all agree that a snap is a shot that wasn't planned and ignoring the argument than a snap from a pro is usually better than a snap from joe public.
 
But then, what constitutes planning? We often go "the pretty way" rather than the fastest - if I take a camera, does that make it a "planned" opportunity?
 
This discourse has reminded me that I have a Chroma Snapshot camera, a 4x5 film camera called the Snapshot by Steve @ Chroma Cameras because that's pretty much how he intended it to be used - less considered than the usual arrangement of a field camera although closer in concept to the old Press cameras.
 
Nod said:
But then, what constitutes planning? We often go "the pretty way" rather than the fastest - if I take a camera, does that make it a "planned" opportunity?
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H'mm well e.g. I'm thinking you planned to go to a party and you take shots of guests and I would call them snaps as you can't take every person and set them up in say studio lighting etc to show them at their best.
 
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