Snapshots vs Photography

[Ian]

I could have titled this "quality vs quantity."

Just sort of thinking out loud…

I spent a portion of this weekend reviewing my photos from my Wonderland hike last year. I took a lot of pictures, and in keeping with the Infinite Monkey Theorem, there should have been a masterpiece in there somewhere. No such luck.

Some of them were okay but I looked at many of them and wondered why I even took the shot. All of them were shot in .jpg format but I've since seen the light and have switched to raw.

I guess this is part of the process in the transformation from taker of snapshots to photographer. Learning what works, what doesn't, and how to manipulate light and your camera to turn your vision into a quality photograph.

I listened to a photographer lecture about landscape photography the other day and one quote that stuck with me is "Any shot worth taking is worth taking on a tripod." He continued on to talk about how that helps him slow down to problem solve on how best to frame his shot and turn his vision into reality.

So that's my assignment to myself this year, to be more mindful and take pictures that count instead of machine gunning my way through the wilderness. More quality and less quantity.

[Dale Wambaugh]

There are "shots of record" that define a time and place and are a simple record of the event (aka snapshots), and then there are artful images, made with the purpose of exploring the photographic medium or interpreting the scene.

Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase, "the medium is the message," defining much of modern art. IMHO, most outdoor or nature photography doesn't play in that area, but leans to interpreting the scene, celebrating and accentuating the natural beauty and exploring the light, textures, colors, odd formations, plants, wild animals and so forth. Compare the work of Minor White and Ansel Adams and you'll have it.

I've never been able to make artful images when hiking with others. I need time and attention to the task rather than worrying about others or distracting or waiting for me.

I agree with tripods. Back in the day when shooting with 4×5 or even 120 film cameras, a tripod was a necessity for a quality image. A typical 4×5 shot with Tri-X black and white film (ASA 320) was 1 second at f16 and Ektachrome transparencies were slower yet. Kodachrome on 35mm was ASA 25! The expense and complexity of the film and equipment required careful consideration too. You wanted to come home with images worth the time and effort. Sitting and waiting for a few hours for the light to change was common. It certainly made you THINK and SEE.

Digital photography should make you more prolific, but the search for quality and your statement hasn't changed a bit. It is nice to be free of the cost of film and processing.

[Ian]

"I've never been able to make artful images when hiking with others. I need time and attention to the task rather than worrying about others or distracting or waiting for me."

Yup. I often times hike with other people but I like going solo so I don't feel like I'm holding other people up.

[Ken Bennett]

As in everything else, it depends on what you're doing and why.

I shoot photos of our hikes as a record – I try to get a shot of everywhere we sleep, people we meet, good views, interesting features, the odd goat or bear. I like taking photos of my partner, and sometimes use a hiking stick to shoot selfies at good views (so sue me). For the most part, when we're hiking I don't have time to stop for good photos, and even if I did, the light is usually not great during the day. So I don't worry about masterpieces, rather I try to make workmanlike images that I can put in an album or make a Blurb book.

For our Long Trail hike we shot with a Canon S100 and an iPhone 5s, and made a large Blurb book. All the photos printed very well, though many of them had some serious tweaking in Lightroom or Photoshop.

If I were going out with the express intention of making good landscape photos, that would dramatically change what I carried, and how I hiked.

[Elliott Wolin]

Years ago I reconciled myself to the fact that I only take snapshots, not photographs.

I just don't want to take the time to plan, think about, compose, get up early, wait for good light, carry a SLR, or whatever it takes to get superior shots. And now that I can take hundreds to over a thousand shots on a long trip instead of dozens I usually find a few good ones in there.

And there's no way I'm carrying a tripod unless I'm specifically going out for flower pictures or something rather than just hiking.

My little Sony RX100 takes some decent shots despite my lack of skill and cavalier attitude. To each his own…

[Richard May]

It's a great question to explore. I like to think I create artful snapshots. :)

There is an element of intention which moves me from "taking pictures" to "creating images." And I'd agree that slowing down helps me think through what I am trying to create. There is an element "ritual" that sets my mind and clarifies my intention in the process of creation.

I feel the same way about prime lenses. They force me to move and adapt to the environment, I have to interact with the space I am in. Zooms allow me to stand still, reframe, re-zoom and get a new image. Primes are limiting in ways that encourage me to be creative.

This is one of my favorite "snapshots." My mind was wandering while walking along the edge of a swamp and I asked myself "Where am I?"

This was the answer:

[Jennifer Mitol]

One of the things I noticed on this past Colorado Thru hike was that the MISSION of being on a thru hike really interfered with my photography! One of my friends I hiked with was much faster than I was so he was able to either hike ahead and spend time "making photographs," or to fall behind then catch up. Reflecting on all the things I learned on that trip, I realized that sometimes my hiking trip will be primarily about the hiking, with some snapshots along the way and an occasional epic shot; and sometimes my trip will be a photography trip when I won't cover as many miles and I can really spend time composing. At this point in my hiking life I'm looking forward to that quite a bit.

[Charlie W]

I pretty much agree with everything above. Some thoughts: 1. It's like skateboarding or anything else. You get from it what you put into it. 2. 99% of the internet bandwidth on photography is about gear. Don't bother. All modern cameras are freaking fantastic. Watch videos on composition or maybe even history of photography/photographers instead. 3. Well, yes, you need a tripod to take a picture in many circumstances. I have a fondness for blue hour photos. If you want to make really big prints you need tripod + good lens + high Mpx. 4. Related to #3, there are other gear-related things that only apply in specific circumstances: a fast lens (i.e., low aperture number) for super shallow depth of field or low light; a full-frame camera for better light sensitivity and highest resolution; a Canikon flapping mirror DSLR if you want to do fast action sports; a big honking 400+ mm lens for safari in Africa; etc. None of these make your photos better. They just allow certain kinds of photos that you couldn't get without that particular thing. 5. Unless you are already very experienced, that extra stuff just leads to confusion and inhibits creativity. Focus on what your camera can do. Not what it can't. 6. Other people (non-photographers) and other priorities (thru-hiking mileage requirements) are detrimental to focus and creativity. On my recent solo JMT I found < 8 mpd was a good pace, since I could get to destination with time to look around and plan evening/morning shots. 12 mpd really started to kill my photography. 7. This guy takes about 20 pictures total in a week dedicated to photography. I don't want to carry his camera, but I take the lesson to heart. Slow down. Take better pictures. Someone mentioned above the benefits of using a single prime lens (fixed focal length) for a while. This is a weird case where more expensive gear actually narrows the possibilities (compared to P&S zoom), thus simplifying. I personally found this to be liberating and a great spur toward creativity. I'm guilty of focusing on gear myself (this is a gear forum, after all). But I feel that my photography has advanced a great deal recently for (mostly) other reasons. [Edit: I moved all my photos over to Photo Gallery. The point of my examples here was to say that some of my photos (my own favorites) could have been shot with an iPhone, others would have required a tripod and decent camera, and still others really needed the full-frame and specialized lens to not look crummy. But even my "iPhone shot" was carefully composed and (I think) artful and not a snapshot.]

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